Hi.
Would this have been an original colour scheme on a 1972 Sprint?
Would the gold bumpers only have been on cars with 2-tone paint?
My brother in-law is interested in buying this car.
I figure the value would be affected by whether or not this is an original scheme.
Thanks, Nigel
It’s definitely a re-spray. The straight strip below the door should be painted black. Many re-sprays don’t bother to do this. Solid Sprint body colors were available as an upcharge over the two-tone schemes. The original bumpers weren’t painted the same color as the body, and the chrome trim strip on the bumper on this car is missing… as are the chrome Sprint trim rings on the wheels. The Classic and Sportscar Lotus File, pg 71 says," All Elans had silver painted bumpers as standard, although the factory did produce some special black bumpers for S2 and S3 cars to order. Sprints should have gold bumpers, and no Elan apart from the Mike Spence BRM cars of 1967-68 ever had dayglow orange bumpers." Mine is two-tone, but I assume this statement is correct for solid colored cars, but I have no solid color examples to compare with. (Many books say that the wheels on Sprints only came in black, but there are many vintage Sprint adverts that have the silver wheel color too.) Elans didn’t come with mirrors on the doors either. I think the correct red should be Carnival Red, a much more “electric” red than this car appears.
Gary
'71 Elan Sprint
Miami, Florida
Nigel
Just to play devils advocate.
Exact colour schemes on Elans. Unless this car is bought fully restored and aimed for concours the bumpers not being painted gold are minor points (very usefull for haggling price which I guess is your point) but be more interested in the quality of the car and paint work. respraying the bumpers and adding coach lines etc can be done cheaply at a later stage if the body work is in good condition and merits it.
I personally would pay good money for a quality non standard car over a tatty original.
Clive
Gary,
A very well thought out and comprehensive evaluation considering all you had to base it on was a photograph. The only thing I question is:
It is my understanding that no Elan came with outside mirrors installed on the car. The mirror increased the width of the car (not that the car was all that wide in the first place) and was prone to being damaged during transport. It was the responsibility of the dealer to install the mirror as part of the dealer preparation for sale. Sometimes the dealers installed the mirror on the fender (wing) and sometimes the dealers installed the mirror on the door. Oh, and one more thing. The mirrors were never body colored.
Nigel,
Based on the picture, this particular Elan does look pretty nice.
My monochrome yellow sprint has gold bumpers as I believe all (ish) had.
Ian
I think , all (ish) , should become a word.
In the dictionary it would read something like, “Of or pertaining to Lotus Cars facts.”
Thanks for the info.
It has confirmed what I suspected.
The seller told me that the car had new paint 7 years ago.
It’s quite a distance from us & it’ll be a couple of weeks before we can go and look at it.
Nigel
"I think , all (ish) , should become a word.
In the dictionary it would read something like, “Of or pertaining to Lotus Cars facts.” "
1964 S1 Go to the wikipedia and enter it! 
Hi Nigel,
If the seller will tell you the chassis (unit) number of the car you could email Mike Pomfret at Lotus [email protected] He may have some information on the car when it left the factory. He didn’t have alot of information on my car but could confirm build dates, paint colour, engine number and a few other things.
Steve.
Hi Steve.
I checked with Lotus.
The car was built in June 1972.
Unfortunately the records are lost for the range of serial numbers from 0172 to 0501, so they couldn’t tell me the original colours.
They did confirm that the engine number is in the right sequence.
Nigel
I like the colour very much! Especially the red bumpers! (see also Lotus brochure part in this forum where the S1 is in a catalog with a “red nose”)
Check the body carefully for repairs (best from inside), especially nose section.
Try to find out about its history (former owners might tell You this and that) If the body is in good condition, it can be a nice car. If it drives the right way…
Then it’s a question of how much as well.
Anna
Hi all.
I am the proud new owner of this Elan. I bought the car sight unseen, quite a few photos were emailed to me. The owner seemed very genuine so I decided to take a punt. On Saturday I took off with my trailer to pick it up. 1200 km’s return. Left at 2.00 am and was back home at 6.00pm. The photos did not do the car justice. To my delight it was much better than expected. I have been around Elans for years, I run a fibreglass repair and restoration business and my brother is a mechanic specialising in twin cam and bda engines, and it is one of the best and most original spints we have seen. The body has not been damaged, the original interior is faultless. The Calypso red paintwork dosen’t even have a stone chip.[It was resprayed 6000 miles ago when the car had a full rebuild.] It drives like a new car. All I am going to do is paint the wheels black, fit wheel trims and fit the trim strip around the front bumper. To say I am happy with my purchase is a huge understatement.
Welcome to the forum petervs, may I ask about how much you paid for the red sprint? How is the chassis, original? There seems to be controversy here on elan.net as to whether or not original chassis still survive in good to excellent condition.
Hi Peter
Glad to see you found an Elan. Colin mentioned to me you were looking for a car and asked if I knew of any for sale when I was down at his place chasing some Lotus bits he had for sale ( I ended up with most of a 907 engine and a Ford 1500 block).
Good luck with your new purchase. If your looking for any help on Elans give me a call. I am located in Beaumaris. Though between Colin and yourself you should have most Elan issues well covered.
regards
Rohan
Oh dear!
Hot and bothered over colours- to those for whom this is a matter of life and death I’d suggest painting it the correct colour (preferably red) and then not using it (because it’s too good to use). Instead, ship it to somewhere very hot and leave it outside to bake for a couple of years. When it fades to a nice pink it’ll have a nice patina on it and even better- it’ll still be painted in the “correct” colour and so much better than a feshly painted one in a non-original shade. My advice-it’s your car- do what you like with it.
Purists (the obsessive ones anyway)- get a life.
Happy motoring
John
John
What colour is your gearbox, I have a nice 50’s Ford green engine colour at the moment, its a cross between turquoise and green, looks similar to the colour that Makita uses on all there power tool boxes. The squirrels love it, I thinks it looks rather smart too.
Gary
Hi all. I was unable to post with a quote.
1964 S1, yes the chassis is original and in excellent condition. It was stripped and powder coated when the car was restored 6000 miles ago. I payed mid 30k for the car.
Rohan, thanks for the welcome, as you say, Colin and I should be able to source most things but will certainly take up your offer of assistance if needed.
Cheers Peter
Hi Peter.
Congratulations on snaring the car.
It sounds great.
Perhaps you could post some pictures after you?ve made the cosmetic changes.
I seem to have inadvertently provided some amusement by suggesting the resale value of the car would have been a little higher if it had been restored in an original colour scheme. Of course, that?s just a personal opinion. No sermons from me.
Cheers, Nigel
Hi all
My apologies if I’ve offended anybody with my views on “originality”.
Kidding aside- does originality really matter- I agree that some mods might be thought tasteless but as far as I know very few cars are ever built without the input of the “bean counters” as the americans would say. You could argue therefore that a competent owner etc could engineeer out inherent faults without destroying the original concept. There are many areas on elans less than 100% satisfactory- during the 29 years I’ve owned mine (is it really that long) I’ve altered lots but I don’t think I’ve changed it into something else. I changed colour from the original orange/white to a Toyota red simply because I liked the effect and I thought the chosen colour was slightly preferable to the stock sprint colours- but it’s only my opinion.
I’ve never bothered altering the basic mechanical spec because I don’t have any problems with it-but I have switched to 5 speed because it makes it more useable and I’ve upgraded electrics/cooling etc to what it probably should have been when new. It still looks like the car Lotus made and still runs the same way- but better. If improvements are real improvements do them. If they’re not- why bother?
John
I’m with you John, but originality does matter.
When it comes to collectable value an original whatever the heck it is, is “always” worth more than anything that has been modified. Making something better or more practical doesn’t make it more valuable.