Discussion
Bob Falfa said:
Does the roof on the old S1-S4 Elan coupe come off? I know some old coupes like the Herald and Vitesse have bolt on/off roofs. Is the Elan the same? Or can a safe modification be done to turn a coupe into a convertible?
It doesn't come off. I've never heard of anyone doing a conversion... I suspect you'd be better off buying a drophead and getting a hardtop made for it.The S1/2 (type 26) Elans were all roadsters but a hard top was avaiable for them, the S3/4/Sprint was available as a DHC (type45) or FHC(type36) and a hardtop was(is) available for the drop head. Some people have converted the FHC to drop head.
The +2 Elan was only available from Lotus as fixed head but a kit was marketed by C.Neil to convert it.
The +2 Elan was only available from Lotus as fixed head but a kit was marketed by C.Neil to convert it.
Edited by lotus-types on Tuesday 5th June 10:43
^^^^ as above, but just to add that you can tell from chassis numbers whether a car was an original drophead or a fixed head coope that has been converted.
At the moment, the difference in values between a genuine drophead and a coupe aren't enough for the conversion to make sense and, since many people (myself included!) prefer the fixed head, that's likey to remain the case for the forseeable future.
If you prefer the drophead, buy one; don't butcher a perfectly good fixed head!
At the moment, the difference in values between a genuine drophead and a coupe aren't enough for the conversion to make sense and, since many people (myself included!) prefer the fixed head, that's likey to remain the case for the forseeable future.
If you prefer the drophead, buy one; don't butcher a perfectly good fixed head!
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