S1 Bourne Elans - history and details of known cars

[knockoffnut]

Fascinating thread, and thank you to everyone who has posted. I have an early S1 in my set, but not Bourne bodied. I have never seen a Bourne body in the flesh and I am curious about the differences. It appears from the pictures here that the rear fenders rise more gently from the doors (more "swoopy) and the fender lips are smaller. It also looks in some pictures as if the top line of the doors is a bit concave, or is that only the lighting? Can someone please post the differences between the Bourne bodies and the early non-Bourne S1 bodies?

[trw99]

David, according to my records your first car, Unit 3217, was first one of the first three dealer supplied Elans' imported into Australia, being delivered to Geoghegan & Sons Pty Ltd in Sydney.

Re Unit 3324, I have a sales sheet which, frustratingly for you, finishes at 3322:

[attachment=0]3320-3322.jpg[/attachment]

Try Andy at Lotus. There is no other information attached to your second Unit No in my records, not even the Engine No, so he may have nothing to add, I'm afraid.

Tim

[dunclentdr]

Thanks Tim - for 0202 I also have the original hood with the importer's sticker and on which is rather nice!

For 0339 the certificate and letter from Andy say there is no body number recorded sadly.

David

[dunclentdr]

Just found this wonderful photo from the Bourne factory on an old thread - maybe one of our cars is there...

David

[jonsered 11]

Hi Guys,

does anyone on here have any history/ knowledge on Bourne body 26/0205, perhaps someone has owned it in the past?
Any help greatly appreciated!

Jonsered

[trw99]

It would be much easier to know which Unit No was allied to this Body No. If you have that info, I would suggest posting it too.

Body No 205 would have been in the factory in Quarter 4 of 1963. Unit Nos then were in the 31##/32## series.

Tim

[trw99]

This is probably an appropriate thread to post up an article I wrote for Club Lotus News in the autumn of last year concerning Bourne bodies. Hope its helpful in the future.

Tim

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks for the article Tim. Nice historical overview. By the way, I also have a Bourne ID plate glassed into the interior boot of my car. Does anyone else have this?

[paddy]

I also have a Bourne ID plate glassed into the interior boot of my car. Does anyone else have this?

It has been mentioned on other threads. I have looked before but not been able to find it.

Paddy

[Certified Lotus]

Thanks Paddy. Just thought I would post here too as the subject matter is specific to Bourne body?s and might get more responses.

[jonsered 11]

Hi Tim,

thanks for the input on Bourne body26/0205, unfortunately I only have the body number not the unit or chassis numbers, judging by the other Bournes that I have you're correct in suggesting it came out in the last quarter of 63, I have 26/0195 which was October 63, perhaps you have access to records that show it's matching numbers, however I think you investigated that for me before, the search continues!!

Jonsered

[JLFonseca]

I've been following this thread for awhile, and decided to throw in my $00.02.

Just to add to the body of body knowlege, I have two S1 bodies, (bodies only, not complete cars) The earlier one is #3387. And it appears NOT to be a Bourne body, that is, no Bourne ID plate, and the body number is of the Dymo label sort, impressed into the gel coat in the engine bay. Yes, the gray gel coat.

The later S1 body, #3655, seems to have a few detail differences in it, as there is a large number 22 molded into the the upper edge of the engine bay, just above the Dymo label. Might there be other differences as well?

Juts throwing it out there.

Jody Fonseca

[trw99]

I would anticipate that Body No 3387 was fitted to an Elan 1600 in Q2 1964, well after the start of Lotus body manufacture. They were probably using up the grey colour at the time, before going to black.

Body No 3655 was likely fitted to a Q2 car as well. I would suspect the 22 label to be related to a mould.

As Lotus progressed with their in-house fibreglass work I am sure many small differences were introduced along the way. I would expect most were to improve the manufacturing process.

Tim

[types26/36]

The later S1 body, #3655, seems to have a few detail differences in it, as there is a large number 22 molded into the the upper edge of the engine bay, just above the Dymo label. Might there be other differences as well?
Jody Fonseca

This thread may be of interest to you as it mentions the "22" in the ledge, Gary gave his opinion on why it was there.
(PLEASE COME BACK GARY) we need you and its not the same with out you!
lotus-chassis-f36/window-frame-question-t14118-15.html

[SpeedModel]

My S1 is unit number 3463, chassis number 26/0520 and engine LP/1132. It too has Bourne grey gel coat but does not have a Bourne tag. There is the number 3116 molded into upper edge of the engine bay which I always presumed was a body number. Photo is attached.

As an interesting aside, I purchased this car in 1997 from the estate of the original owner in Indianapolis. He bought it from Lotus GT Motors following the 1964 Indy 500 race. During the month leading up to that 1964 race, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Andrew Ferguson were each provided a new Elan for personal use while in Indianapolis. This is one of those three Elans.

Eric