Lotus Elan FHC 1966 for restoration

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280408720838

Lotus Elan FHC 1966 for restoration

Lots of work but will look great when finished.

Eddie

Looks like a good one for Matt to get his teeth into - Esprit, Elan +2 and now an Elan Sprint, it would add nicely to your stable Matt (it would also give you red, white & blue...now that's got to be worth going for it..)

Cheers,
Tim.

I would love it !

I do like ... Elans

I've been working on an S4 Elan for a old chap who lives near me (and braking my rule of never working on other peoples cars) hes had the car many years and now his hips are gone and he felt it would never get back on the road or even finished enough to sell it on, so I offered to help him out. I got his Elan through its MOT this week after many hours of fun, it had been of the road since 1987, I really enjoyed working on it and also learning about its strongberg carbs.




At the moment im still almost aching for an early Europa and seeing the yellow one at the parts fair has just made me want one more !

So if you see a S1 Europa tucked away anywhere please let me know
Matt

Hi Matt,
what a super looking Elan; I don't doubt that you had fun working on such a fine looking example.
You're looking for an S1 Europa?
Please expand, they must be as rare as Rocking Horse Manure & that bonded in Chassis makes restoration one of the biggest headaches you could wish upon yourself.

Cheers
John

Matt -I second what John says, a S1 would be a nightmare...even if you could find one. I read that prices for Europa's are now starting to rise in significant leaps, I sold my Twin Cam nearly three years ago and recon it would be at least £5k more now...oh dear should'nt have done it!
How about an S2 -they are cheaper, log onto Banks Europa website , look on their pinboard, you can also register your interest, someone offered me an S2 for about £4,5k this morning. Classic & Sportscar magazine have a feature on the Europa's this month (worth having a read whilst loitering in W H Smith's).
Cheers, Tim.

I agree with you both that an S1 would be a someones nightmare, I am a little strange in thinking a S2 Europa would be quite easy to restore and that an S1 is a proper challenge ! I also like the purity of the S1, its lightness and its rigidity

Yes Yes maybe I need a straight jacket...

Im in Malta at the moment and I hope to see an S1 as the only RHD cars came here

I'm going to keep looking for the right one

Matt

Good for you Matt, I'll look forward to seeing your S1 Europa then.....one day

Enjoy Malta, Cheers.

Hi Matt,

it sounds very much like you know what you're doing but should you need any help with the restoration of your future S1 I know a couple of guys that have done the job here in Southern Germany on S1's & 47's
I'm sure they would be more than pleased to chat with a fellow enthusiast (nutter)

Cheers
John

Matt,

I also know of some people who have restored S1s. One is here in the UK (Midlands area) and is ongoing. He has had to remove the chassis for repairs and then rebond back in so if you need any hints and tips maybe he could help. I don't think it was that difficult to do but obvioulsy it is very time consuming work.

This is ok if you are doing a full restoration as you would have stripped the car anyway, but if you have a knock and it bends the chassis when it is fully retored then it would be a real pain. You can see why they changed to a bolt on body situation for the later cars. No wonder there are so few left, Insurers would have written them off left, right and centre because of the labour costs involved when they were "newish cars" as it would be cheaper than paying the labour costs to put right. A bit like early Elises now!

As the car is an ongoing project I bet he has lots of photos and obviously you may be able to arrange to have a look at it at some point.

Kim

Hi Kim,

if I remember correctly it was the Insurance issue that was one of the main reasons for Lotus dropping the bonded-in chassis solution.
I assume that Lotus replacement chassi's will be the later bolt in jobs & will have to be suitably modified in order to be bonded into an S1 body?

Cheers
John