Discussion
I’m sure I’ve started one of these before for this car, but it was a decade ago and I can’t find it so...
Here's the latest garage addition, my father's 69 Lotus Elan. It's been parked up for the last 16 years or so but it's time to get it back on the road!
Last time it had tax on it was 2001 according to the expired discs. Thankfully it was kept in their garage which also houses the boiler so dry environment that never gets properly freezing even in winter.
Going to experiment with some vlogging on this one as well as pictures. Here's how it stands at the moment:
Here's the latest garage addition, my father's 69 Lotus Elan. It's been parked up for the last 16 years or so but it's time to get it back on the road!
Last time it had tax on it was 2001 according to the expired discs. Thankfully it was kept in their garage which also houses the boiler so dry environment that never gets properly freezing even in winter.
Going to experiment with some vlogging on this one as well as pictures. Here's how it stands at the moment:
Project intro video: https://youtu.be/474wLMxTjXg
That looks like an S4 underneath all those body mods...
I had one for 12 years( also with a Stromberg head ) but it looked standard ( from the outside at least ! )
I would put it back to standard if it were mine, the way the values are going these days it must be worth more with the original factory body.
Just IMHO of course !
I had one for 12 years( also with a Stromberg head ) but it looked standard ( from the outside at least ! )
I would put it back to standard if it were mine, the way the values are going these days it must be worth more with the original factory body.
Just IMHO of course !
niva441 said:
Looks good, are the bodywork mods related to the Vegantune Elan?
Yeah, the body was modified by Vegantune, not sure exactly what constitutes a Vegantune Elan specifically. It has also had other changes, its running a Spyder chassis for example.Paul S4 said:
That looks like an S4 underneath all those body mods...
I had one for 12 years( also with a Stromberg head ) but it looked standard ( from the outside at least ! )
I would put it back to standard if it were mine, the way the values are going these days it must be worth more with the original factory body.
Just IMHO of course !
Interesting on-going debate on this. S3 ran 65-68, this is 69 so should be S4 but my dad’s adamant the taillights were done by Vegantune at the time of the conversion and the paperwork says S3. I’m gonna hopefully spend some time going through all the paperwork and see what’s said. I say S4 (despite saying S3 in my video, dunno where that came from!)I had one for 12 years( also with a Stromberg head ) but it looked standard ( from the outside at least ! )
I would put it back to standard if it were mine, the way the values are going these days it must be worth more with the original factory body.
Just IMHO of course !
With respect to going back to standard S4, definitely not happening. Per my comments above, the car’s been a Vegantune Elan or Vegantune modified Elan for at least 40 years.
Ignoring that it’s my father’s car and not mine to make such decisions on
, I could hit up the classifieds and find an S4, I couldn’t find a Vegantune Elan. I remember it being the most awesome thing I’d seen, aged ~6, when we went to pick it up and it’s what I grew up with. My feelings aside, my dad’s very set on the provenance of the car as it stands, to the extent I’m not allowed to fit a stereo, even if it’s period correct. 
This was my S4SE DHC just after I acquired it from my Uncle, who had completely restored the car : A new Lotus chassis, respray from original white to Ford Jade metallic green.
I did about 35,000 hard miles it it, including a great trip to Switzerland.
Over the following 12 years or so I did a lot of work to it, most important was fitting a Spyder roll bar/side bars etc. Not for the purist of course, but it made the car a lot safer and stiffened the car generally.
My mistake on your car...the round wheel arches on yours suggest an S3 shell : the S4 had the squared off ones front and rear.
Your dash looks like an S4 one with the rocker switches.
Some say that the S3 coupe was the purest looking Elan of them all, and I tend to agree.
A Lotus friend ( who restores Elans ) has a Vegatune engine that he may be tempted to sell if you are interested.
I've always loved Elans. Brilliant little things. Way out of my price range unfortunately.
As with 80% of the small British sports cars of the time they share front suspension with Spitfires. You might be interested in some of the funky bits and pieces Canley Classics sells for replacing the trunnions with spherical joints and adjustable upper wishbones if they'll fit
oh, and 4-pot brakes too!
As with 80% of the small British sports cars of the time they share front suspension with Spitfires. You might be interested in some of the funky bits and pieces Canley Classics sells for replacing the trunnions with spherical joints and adjustable upper wishbones if they'll fit
oh, and 4-pot brakes too!The window seals on the car have not aged well, in addition to that, the boot seal was always terrible. As a kid I washed the car for my dad once and the entire boot got soaked when I was a little too enthusiastic with the pressure washer.
Given that, and the drivers side window being stuck down, it had to be a waterless wash to get the dirt and dust off, letting me get a look at how the paint is underneath.
Bit of YouTube research and I was good to go, the detailer's favourite: quick detailer spray and a micro fibre towel (or two)
The dirt was proper stuck to the paint, hence I went a bit heavy with the QD spray but it all came off quite well in the end. Used 1 microfibre for the dirt removal, folding regularly to minimise the amount of dirt getting wiped over the paint. Then used a second microfibre to buff off the residue and clear out some of the more fiddly bits.
I appear to have entirely skipped pictures during the process since I was mucking about videoing it.
Also have the glass a going over with glass cleaner on a jay cloth then buffed with another microfibre.
Here's the video of the stages:
https://youtu.be/6eWqYhrGZGs
Given that, and the drivers side window being stuck down, it had to be a waterless wash to get the dirt and dust off, letting me get a look at how the paint is underneath.
Bit of YouTube research and I was good to go, the detailer's favourite: quick detailer spray and a micro fibre towel (or two)
The dirt was proper stuck to the paint, hence I went a bit heavy with the QD spray but it all came off quite well in the end. Used 1 microfibre for the dirt removal, folding regularly to minimise the amount of dirt getting wiped over the paint. Then used a second microfibre to buff off the residue and clear out some of the more fiddly bits.
I appear to have entirely skipped pictures during the process since I was mucking about videoing it.
Also have the glass a going over with glass cleaner on a jay cloth then buffed with another microfibre.
Here's the video of the stages:
https://youtu.be/6eWqYhrGZGs
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff