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“Now I am confident, both as an engineer and as a family man that in the new ‘LOTUS ELAN+2’ we have one of the finest cars available for the discerning motorist who demands safety, performance, styling and comfort in a motor car which reflects his own taste and ideas.”, A. C. B. Chapman BSc Chairman, The Lotus Group of Companies. Lotus Cars Ltd Elan +2 Sales Brochure.
As Lotus strove to move their range upmarket and their balance sheet out of the red, the Plus 2 version of the Elan became the backbone (sorry) of that strategy; it extended the Elan ownership demographic by another perhaps ten years with a hopefully associated increase in their customers’ disposable income. This theoretically allowed them to indulge themselves with an inherently more expensive product which would in turn boost Lotus’ margins. Though conceived way back in 1963, the grown-up Elan for grownups did not reach production until August 1967 with Lotus busy keeping up with demand for and developing the two-seater version, launching the Europa, relocating to Norfolk and winning a couple of Formula One World Championships, as well as cleaning up in pretty much every other form of motor sport including the previously ‘US winners-only’ Indy 500. Obviously, it made sense to retain the link to the hugely successful smaller version though there was an added bonus to be had in terms of development and production costs by utilising as many common parts as possible; it is just that on the +2, those parts were spaced further apart. Though there was a family resemblance with even a hint of Type 14 Elite, the +2 appeared sleeker and wind tunnel tests proved this was not an illusion. Besides the additional seating capacity, it was a more sophisticated machine which was in keeping with its upmarket pitch and allowed Lotus to charge a premium for a product that probably didn’t cost dramatically more to produce - see above.
Replaced by the even more bells and whistles +2S after just eighteen months in production, the +2 is the rarest of Elan variants, early Type 26 models aside.
Built in 1968 and registered on 1st December of that year, not much detail is known of this Elan’s early life though an enquiry to the ever-helpful Lotus Factory Archivist would doubtless reveal a plethora of original build data, supplying dealer information and so on. What we do know is that the car displays a number of interesting features found only on the very earliest examples of the +2 such as the lighter front seats from the two-seater Elan and ‘two large, four small dials’ dash layouts with toggle rather than rocker switches. Indeed, according to the respected Lotus Elan Registry, by chassis number, 50/1119 is one of the 1st two hundred +2s built and consequently it sports the desirable Weber carburettors that were replaced with Stromberg units in late 1968.
With no paint code shown on the chassis plate (not unusual for Lotus at this time and cars were apparently even sold in primer, allowing owners a limitless choice of final finish) it is hard to be sure what colour the Elan was originally though an old V5 on file lists it as white - for us, one of the best shades for a +2. In 1991 a Mr Bennett of Lancing, West Sussex, acquired the Lotus but kept it for just a year before selling it as a stripped project to its most recent private owner in June 1992 for £1,750. Notes and invoices on file indicate that the car was laboriously rebuilt over the next twenty years; the highlights of this project are listed below.
Having admitted that buying a disassembled car was a very bad idea indeed, the then owner’s initial enthusiasm saw the Spyder chassis checked for straightness and fully refurbished by its makers. The engine was stripped and found to be in very good condition with just a hone of the bores and polish of the crank required before it was reassembled with new piston rings, bearings, gaskets and so on. A new clutch was fitted and mated to a gearbox that had been stripped, checked and rebuilt by Atherton Motor Engineers of Warrington. The differential was rebuilt with new bearings and seals along with a 3.9:1 ratio crown wheel and pinion. A number of smaller parts plus the chassis were sand blasted and powder coated. The door hinges were refurbished along with the steering rack and prop shaft while, amongst other items, a new wiring loom, dashboard, rear wishbones, cooling fan, wheel bearings, exhaust system and master cylinders were fitted. Classic Car Automotive sand blasted, painted and re-bushed the front wishbones. They also rebuilt the brake callipers and rear struts.
The owner painstakingly stripped the paint from the body before having it repaired and painted by Atherton Motor Engineers in 2001 and 2002.
In 2015 RSM Motorsport, who also looked after the owner’s Lotus 61, fitted an Aldon Ignitor electronic ignition system and a Lifeline fire extinguisher. They also finessed the wiring, set the ignition timing, balanced the carburettors, attended to a number of small jobs and got the Elan running; an exercise which cost some £2,300.
Tackling this Elan’s weakest suits first, as shown in the photo gallery, the body displays some evidence of a previous front-end repair having been made. Though carried out to a reasonable standard with good alignment, one or two places where panels have been mated together could benefit from some further finessing. This repair also explains the presence of the fog light recesses below the bumper not normally found on the early cars. It may also account for the ‘Stromberg specification’ bonnet, though we admit we quite like its offset bulge. This aside, the rest of the bodywork is pretty good with an acceptable fit of the closing panels, though there is still some room for improvement, especially to the headlight pods. The doors have been rehung on reconditioned door hinges and again, there is room for a little further ‘tweaking’. Straight and ripple-free the fiberglass shows no signs of the tell-tale ‘spiders web’ effect that betrays the deeper-seated issue of crazing, the bane of many bodies constructed from this material. Tell-tales on +2s are the ridges on the tops of the front wings which are often blunted or lost altogether during careless pre-paint rubbing down or even by the application of too much paint; in this case it is great to see they are still factory-sharp.
Also on the condition ’naughty step’, the Elan’s paint is poor. The current red hue displays a chameleon-like range of shades along with numerous chips, some of which have been touched in with varying degrees of success. On the upside, these chips show that actually, there are not many coats of paint on the car so preparing the body for repainting should not be too onerous. Though some might appreciate the ‘rat rod’ look, others would argue in favour of a full strip and repaint.
There are a couple of slight ‘dinks’ to the rims of the Factory steel wheels along with a few chips in their silver paint finish. The wheel spinners are in excellent condition with no hammer marks while the Avon 165/80 R 13 tyres have a generous amount of tread remaining.
Sticking with the +2’s exterior, the chrome is generally pretty good with the fuel filler cap, window frames, door handles, front bumper etc. in very good order and in our opinion they need nothing more than a good polish. The rear bumper is in similar condition aside from a light scuff on its nearside corner. This rare item is not dented or distorted and judging by how well it fits its corresponding body moulding, it is an original item (reproduction items do not fit particularly well). It is encouraging to see the front air intake surround is present as these so often go missing. The ‘monkey metal’ light units are also in unusually good shape and their associated lenses are free from cracks and chips (please see the photo gallery). Correct silver/white on black (or in the case of the front, white on intake grill) number plates are a nice feature though the slightly oversized door mirrors can, in our opinion, be removed and filed under “quick win”. The rare and desirable “Speedblade” windscreen wipers and what looks to be a new Lotus nose badge ensure the Elan’s exterior assessment finishes on a high.
Though the lack of door trims and carpeting give a poor first impression of the Elan’s interior, a more considered examination reveals there is much to like in the cockpit. The basketweave trim is dusty but actually in very good underlying condition and should require nothing more than a good clean. There is a small nick in the passenger seat base but this might be able to be hidden under the seat back with some careful manipulation of the vinyl. The vinyl of the driver’s seat is undamaged if a little ‘baggy’. The headlining is in excellent stain-free condition and its few slight wrinkles could be removed with a little re-tensioning. Inertia reel seat belts are fitted along with the correct Elan +2 ‘Chapman Signature’ steering wheel, Lotus horn push (set at a very jaunty angle) and wooden gear knob, while the full set of white on black Smiths instruments add to the classy ambience of the cockpit. Thankfully this +2 is old enough to still have toggle switches (though one is not of the original type) with rockers just for the electric windows. Being virtually new the walnut dashboard is in excellent order with no cracking or lifting to the varnish or veneer. At first it looks strangely empty though this is simply down to the deletion of the radio and ashtray. Thankfully no additional holes have been drilled for instruments or switches with the pull for a Lifeline plumbed in fire extinguisher (ironically) taking the place of the cigarette lighter and a non-standard voltmeter substituting for the Factory preferred ammeter (though we didn’t pay enough attention in physics at school to have developed a preference for either.) Being critical, the electric windows were not working, there don’t appear to be any heater controls fitted, the gear knob and centre console were loose and the lower dash trims were missing though all of these strike us as being potentially easy fixes.
In the boot the steel spare wheel, jack and spinner hammer are all in place along with a battery cut out switch (a sensible addition for enhanced safety and security) along with a couple of pieces of spare trim.
Under the bonnet everything is very well presented from the correct cam cover (an early example of the single Lotus logo version with the characteristic ‘shadow’ of the earlier twin logos), twin Weber 40 DCOE carburettors and now hard to find air box. Interestingly the engine sports a desirable die cast cylinder head, sometimes referred to as a D-type after the shape of the casting between the camshafts; these seem to have been produced up until about June 1966, a couple of years and a factory move before this car was produced. This is either indicative of a replacement head having been fitted at some point or Lotus’ less than exemplary stock rotation but either way it can be considered to be an unexpected bonus. There is an easily spotted Kenlowe cooling fan with adjustable thermostat, though the Aldon Ignitor electronic ignition fitted inside the distributor is less obvious. A new looking Girling brake servo and pair of headlight vacuum pods represent a cool £1,000 invested by the previous owner for the benefit of the next one, while the top-quality Gates alternator belt and Lotus oil filter point to a lack of corner cutting. It is good to see there is plenty of adjustment left on the cam chain tensioner screw (please see the photo gallery) as one would expect from an engine that has apparently covered very few miles since it was rebuilt. Air horns and a correct air filter housing are tucked away in the nose of the Elan and the new wiring loom is clear to see.
Where the +2 really shines (literally) is underneath as having been comprehensively mechanically restored, it scores very well indeed. Up on the vendor’s lift it is clear to see that the main mechanical components of engine, gearbox and differential are all reasonably leak free; exceptionally so in the case of the engine and ‘box with just a slightest of weeps from the differential and a moist area on the exhaust directly below the gearbox filler plug which seems likely to have resulted from a past slight over fill. The refurbished and powder coated Spyder chassis is in great order as are the what look to be new galvanised sills, with just a few areas of perhaps jack induced paint chipping but no signs of any rust. The Spyder tubular front wishbones are in very good order but the rears have a few areas of flaking paint, though this only exposes the underlying bright silver finish. There are one or two chips to the anti-roll bar and some light surface rust on the front uprights. All the suspension joints and bushes look to be in good condition and there is a plethora of new nuts and bolts fitted. The sliding spline driveshafts have been refurbished and are considered by many to be the ideal solution to the drivetrain windup suffered by the standard set up, at least on the +2 Elans. Braided brake, clutch and fuel hoses have been fitted and the rigid items look to be new. The refurbished brake callipers still look bright and the surface rust on the discs will doubtless clean off with a bit of use. A new tubular exhaust manifold feeds into a stainless steel exhaust system which culminates in an inline silencer box. The fresh, clean saddle of matting that sits between the chassis and body points to very few miles having been covered since the Elan was rebuilt. To appreciate the above, please see the photo gallery or better still view the car in the flesh.
From cold with just a couple of pumps on the throttle, the engine fires easily and seems to be well set up, pulling well and sounding crisp after a few minutes warming through, at which point the oil pressure sits at a perfect 40 PSI climbing to 50 with a few more revs, though a non-functioning tachometer made it hard to gauge exactly how many more. With no appreciable smoke or nasty noises, it idles sweetly and steadily.
A well-stocked history file is present containing an extensive collection of bills from the likes of marque experts Paul Matty, Classic Car Automotive and RSM Motorsport. The current V5C registration document confirming the Elan’s Historic status is accompanied by a previous V5 and an MOT certificate dating from 2020. There is a copy of an amusing article written by the long-term owner entitled “How not to rebuild a classic car” which summarises not only the work carried out but the trials and tribulations associated with it.
Early +2s are rapidly gaining in popularity as the purest and lightest (something inherent in Lotus’ DNA even to this day) of the ‘Family Elan’ breed. It is also worth remembering that when it was a current model, the +2 cost some 35% more than the two-seater Elan whereas today the situation is dramatically reversed with the value of the former something like half to two thirds of the latter, which only reinforces just what cracking value +2s represent. This particular example is mechanically excellent with room for some improvements to its bodywork, paint and interior. With the added bonus of being usable exactly as it currently is and with the days lengthening, it could be ideal for the enthusiast with perhaps more patience and time than mechanical know how, not to mention funds.
Hi is this car available? Is still advertised on piston heads. Regards Rob Underhill
February 12th at 07 : 58 PM
February 11th at 07 : 01 PM
February 11th at 06 : 06 PM
February 11th at 02 : 49 PM
February 09th at 03 : 48 PM
February 05th at 06 : 00 PM
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