Reply With QuoteVery very nice. You should be chuffed to bits with that.
After over three years and lots of work and frustration (and money) my 1967 Lotus Elan S3 is finally complete. It needed a full restoration with pretty much everything either being restored, rebuilt or replaced (not much other than trim was replaced though). I did a lot of the work myself, but left the specialised things, such as engine rebuild/tuning, and final assembly, to the specialists. So, finally, today I went to pick it up and drove it 150 miles back home. It's fabulous! Just in time for some great car events this summer starting with Le Mans Classic.
Very very nice. You should be chuffed to bits with that.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
Wow!
Just fantastic, and a lovely colour too.
Looks absolutely beautiful. All your hard work has paid off. 8)
Have fun this summer from a fellow Lotus owner (S1 Elise). :hello2:
Don't make them like that anymore , stunner
Congratulations - that is seriously well done 8)
It's just a matter of time...
Stunning mate - don't see many of these about, and certainly not in as nice condition.
Now, whatever you do, DO NOT add up what the project cost...!
Mike 8)
Stunning car, the interior looks as nice as the exterior.
God, that's absolutely gorgeous 8)
Doesn't it just highlight how bland cars these days have become?
You're a lucky man - it's a real stunner.
Very cool - congratulations, and I hope you have a great summer in it (not to mention the winter too.......).
Wow it looks like its just left the factory.
That dashboard is absolutely fantastic, well done.
Interior looks fantastic and what a great colour for the body work! you should be very proud!
What a lovely car, well done, your time and effort has truly paid off. Lets hope for a bit of sunshine now so you can thoroughly enjoy it
What a cracking car, and great colour.
My uncle had one when I was a lot younger and used to take me out in it what a beautiful car youve done a fantastic restoration hope you enjoy it as much as I did
Love the look of that. Well done on a fantastic job! Our Lotus was the best car we ever had (Elise type r). I hope to have another one some day.
A stunning car and a great job mate :wink: enjoy it :wink:
Thank you everyone! I am really happy with how it came out, but even happier with how it drives.
The interior is such a lovely place to be. At one point, a while ago now, while working on it in the back garden, I had a hard time seeing the light...
Absolutely fantastic.
You are one lucky son of a gun.
scooter
Stunning car, congrats!
Fas est ab hoste doceri
That's very impressive. The difference between the before and after shots so just how much work you must have put in.
Love the colour!
*almost* perfect. Just needs a Diana Rigg to finish it off
Nice choice of colour too.
Absolutely stunning 8) modern cars just don't have the same appeal do they..............
looks like you have a very enjoyable summer ahead of you 8)
I'm not much into cars (I don't even drive), but I think that one is a beauty!
Best wishes,
Bob
That's absolutely lovely - congratulations on a marvellous job. :thumbup:
Congratulations - a stunner! I have very fond memories of a 1973 Elan Sprint DHC I owned in the mid 80's - one car I'd really love to have again...
I take my hat off to you!what a beauty and that colour looks ace.you must have an incredible sense of satisfaction.
Beautiful and love the colour too, I don't recall seeing any in that colour at the time. Is it an original colour to that model?
Make sure you dress up in a leather catsuit when driving it :wink: and take my tip and keep a fire extinguisher in the cabin.
Seeing something like this only accentuates how bland modern cars are.
Congratulations.
Cheers,
Neil.
Thank you all very much, I am really happy everyone responds to it so positively.
The colour is Wedgewood Blue and it was originally offered by Lotus for the Series 3 cars like mine. It was red when I bought it, but originally, I believe, it was yellow, which are both very common on the Elans. I first wanted to do it in a darker blue, but after some research, decided on something which would've been offered by Lotus in period.
I'm gonna take my wife out in it today. The last time she sat in it, it smelled of damp and was falling apart.
Regards,
Adi
Superb job well done
I had a sprint in canary over white..........Ah the memories.
B
Just purely out of interest, how much would a Lotus in this condition be worth these days?
I think that colour is absolutely gorgeous - similar to the MG Iris Blue. It is so 1960's.
The values have been rapidly rising over the last few years, so there was a spread of prices between £20-35k throughout the winter for the fully sorted cars as market was trying to settle. But looking at the current prices, I don't think you'd get much change from £25000 even privately, going up to £40k-ish from the dealers. Even running projects seem to start at at least 15k, while a similar car would've been 5-6k only three years ago.Originally Posted by tredders
Unless something goes really wrong in my life, my car will never be for sale regardless of value.
Brilliant. And the colour is awesome (have a look at my avatar...). What did you do to overcome the electrical gremlins associated with these cars? Is this the model without the Coventry Climax engine? I always thought that Lotus decided to replace the Elite's CC engine for a Ford-ish engine for the Elan, off course reworked with a twin cam head. Am I correct?
Menno
Oh mate, you should be seriously proud of that car, it's beautiful!
Coincidently, I saw one on my way into work on Friday and had to do a double take as it's years since I've seen one on the road - this one was red over white but was in nowhere as good a condition as yours.
Looks better than new! Be proud en drive it like you stole it!
Lotus Ford twin cam with DCOE's IIRC.
I used to do a fair bit of carb work on them back in the day hence my previous reference to a fire extinguisher. :wink:
Cheers,
Neil.
Funny you mention a fire extinguisher. A few years back, I've read a story about the famous Coventry Climax engines and their thrist for oil. As far as I know, these CC engines were also used to drive fire brigade pumps. One of the features of a fire brigade pump is high revving even when cold. CC built their engines with wider tolerances and oil consumption in mind making sure that all engine parts were fully lubricated under heavy load right away after starting up....reference to a fire extinguisher
Oh well, drifting away from the topic. Sorry for that!
Back on topic: I own a Saab Sonett III (too) and one of the headaches of that car is the wiring. Since that car's body is, like the Lotus', made of fiberglass it's pretty hard to use the car's metal parts as 'earth' for the wiring! I'm familiar with 60s British car wiring (Lucas...) and combined with fiberglass, I can see why you posted a few pics of the secrets behind the dashboard! And that you had some trouble seeing the end of the tunnel. That's why I asked you about your solutions. One of the solutions the Saab engineers came up with, are three centralised earth points. All earth wiring is directed to one of the three points, making it pretty easy (well, less difficult...) to source electrical gremlins.
Menno
What a beautiful work here, congrats it's fantastic
Yeah, the Webers can spit back, and do... I do have a fire extinguisher. Hope to never use it!
The Lotus Twin Cam is a Ford block with a Lotus designed head. One of the iconic racing engines as used in Lotus Cortinas, etc.
As for the electrics, I never had any issues even before the rebuild, but during the restoration I had a new loom fitted anyhow. There are three main earthing points on an Elan, each at the various body to chassis mounting points. If everything is clean and in good order, there shouldn't be any problems (obviously easier said than done!). There are some known problem spots, which often cause hard to diagnose problems, such as ignition being wired through the rev counter and can cause poor running, a completely crazy tacho (a very common thing with Elans), etc. I had my rev counter rebuilt so everything is as it should be for the moment.
Took it out again today and went for a longish drive in the Yorkshire Dales. A wonderful day out. My wife really enjoyed it too!
Here's another, sunny day picture:
Yes, I remember that. There was a Lotus Cortina in the workshop a few years back. That car had the symptoms you mentioned. Luckily, one of the mechanic's father owns one too and the guys working on the car found the problems pretty quick!...such as ignition being wired through the rev counter
Menno
Sunny day pic looks great, well done on a great job...I'd say it's a joy to drive.
+1 an absolute beauty, congrats
It's great that just looking at your pictures made me smile.
Class. Well done.
Great result, Adi!
Do you know if the number plate is its original? If so, I think the MSS suggests it was first registered somewhere around Edinburgh :)
Thanks again gentlemen!
David, yes, the registration is original. That is very interesting to know, thank you. There is little info Lotus have on the 60's Elans (until they changed their numbering and started keeping better records on the later cars), so my inquiry with them provided almost no answers. Many Elans were sold as "kits" to avoid purchase tax, but were then assembled by Lotus employees at the weekends. The famous Jim Clark's Elan is both a number 2 and 5 car off the line at the same time (a cheat by Lotus to satisfy some regulation)... So, good record keeping wasn't something they were particularly interested in. :lol:
Adi, I thought MSS was Aberdeen but a quick dig found SS was Aberdeen from 1974, prior to that it was Haddington just east of Edinburgh:
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/miscellaneous/regs.htm
BTW you can ask DVLA to give the owner history, costs just £5 (probably the biggest bargain of any UK govt department!) via form V888, takes a few weeks but a great bit of paperwork if you're keeping the car:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... DG_4022067
A labour of love. And a LOT of hard work.
Excellent restoration, enjoy driving her. 8)
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
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