Is she an Elan Sprint?
Discussion
Hi Willy,
You're probably on the wrong forum...half the young pups on here wouldn't know an Elan Sprint if it ran them over...
Try www.lotuselan.net/ or the Lotus Elan forum on Yahoo Groups.
However (anorak on!), for what it's worth, the bible on Lotus Elan originality(Authentic Lotus Elan by Robinshaw and Ross), states (quote):
'After January 1970, the chassis numbering/identification system was revised and...carried a suffix letter coded as follows:
A S4 FHC UK market
B S4 FHC Export
C S4 DHC UK market
D S4 DHC Export
E S4 S/E FHC UK market
F S4 S/E FHC Export
G S4 S/E DHC UK market
H S4 S/E DHC Export
J S4 FHC Federal market
K S4 DHC Federal market
...It should be appreciated that as Elan Sprint models (despite their superficial bodywork amendments) were mechanically refined versions of the S4 S/E cars (ie strictly speaking they were S4 Sprint FHC or S4 Sprint DHC models) they carried the applicable type number and suffix letter defined above.'
End Quote.
By 1972, Elans would have been almost without exception Sprint models - I'm not even sure if non-Sprint spec. S/E cars would have been available even if you wanted one - so the short answer is that, yes, the car you are looking at is almost certainly a Sprint.
If you are particularly bothered about originality, however, you may wish to check that all the 'Sprint' features of the car still exist. This information will be readily available on lotuselan.net, or e-mail me off-list, if you like: m.a.stuart@btinternet.com
You're probably on the wrong forum...half the young pups on here wouldn't know an Elan Sprint if it ran them over...
Try www.lotuselan.net/ or the Lotus Elan forum on Yahoo Groups.
However (anorak on!), for what it's worth, the bible on Lotus Elan originality(Authentic Lotus Elan by Robinshaw and Ross), states (quote):
'After January 1970, the chassis numbering/identification system was revised and...carried a suffix letter coded as follows:
A S4 FHC UK market
B S4 FHC Export
C S4 DHC UK market
D S4 DHC Export
E S4 S/E FHC UK market
F S4 S/E FHC Export
G S4 S/E DHC UK market
H S4 S/E DHC Export
J S4 FHC Federal market
K S4 DHC Federal market
...It should be appreciated that as Elan Sprint models (despite their superficial bodywork amendments) were mechanically refined versions of the S4 S/E cars (ie strictly speaking they were S4 Sprint FHC or S4 Sprint DHC models) they carried the applicable type number and suffix letter defined above.'
End Quote.
By 1972, Elans would have been almost without exception Sprint models - I'm not even sure if non-Sprint spec. S/E cars would have been available even if you wanted one - so the short answer is that, yes, the car you are looking at is almost certainly a Sprint.
If you are particularly bothered about originality, however, you may wish to check that all the 'Sprint' features of the car still exist. This information will be readily available on lotuselan.net, or e-mail me off-list, if you like: m.a.stuart@btinternet.com
Actually, I quite like that colour combination; probably my favourite, along with yellow over white. Pistachio, I think the green was called!Gassing Station | General Lotus Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff