Elan Estate

Post by: **Fredtech** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:52 am

May be of interest. There was recently a Classic Car show at the British Embassy in Tokyo, where the
car below appeared.

Looks like there is an Estate, alive and well, living in Japan.
Can't be many of these about.

Post by: **cliveyboy** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:16 pm

The "Elanbulance"
One was up for sale recently cant remember if it was ?50,000 or ?70,000
Clive

Post by: **nebogipfel** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:08 pm

Fredtech wrote:........Can't be many of these about.

Good, say I.
Always thought they were a great way to ruin a beautiful sportscar :twisted:

Only one short step away from building a Lotus truck......... Oh wait! they already did, I forgot about the Europa! :twisted:

Post by: **trw99** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:05 pm

Early in 1972 Roger Perks, who worked for Hexagon of Highgate the well known Lotus dealership hatched the idea of an estate Elan. They wanted to provide the young family man with an alternative to the +2, one where space was allied to the handling and performance characteristics of the Elan. It was proposed as a rival to the Reliant Scimitar GTE or MGB GT. The tailgate opened from the bumper and a flat load area provided enough room for the family dog, a carrycot, golf clubs or other clobber.

The aim was to produce an initial batch of 50 cars; in the event, only two were ever produced. The first was based on a Bahama yellow S4/Sprint FHC, VIN 0203E and first registered as CAC 681J, then later as GGW 874J. It was first sold to a London based brain surgeon. The second was painted French blue and registered as JLX 629K. At one time both cars were owned by well known Lotus racer and collector Malcolm Ricketts, who converted the yellow car to luxury standard, with green leather interior with yellow piping. He used it as a daily driver for a good while. It was sold to a French enthusiast in 2009, from whom the current Japanese owner bought it. The blue car was bought from Malcolm by its current Swedish based owner in 2006.

Tim