Hi
I have found the factory Build sheet for my Plus 2 S130 from December 1973, it has 5 options listed and
at the top of the sheet it states “White Lodge” - Anybody know what this means ? - I have just traced all
the owners back to registration and the car was owned by Lotus Cars for the first 6 Months before being sold
to Station Garage Taplow (SGT), thanks Chris
Chris
The build sheet is in a different format to the ones I have seen for Sprints. Since the last Sprints came off the line end 72/start 73, the form must have been changed sometime after spring 73.
The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that White Lodge refers to a building at Hethel. Perhaps someone else on here will know.
Tim
Hi
I used to know Malcolm Angood who ran the service side of SGT at the time (I bought my first Elan from him in 74), there were a few Black/Gold +2s around at the time. No idea what White Lodge refers to.
I saw one of the very last +2s that SGT got from Lotus after production stopped, this seemed to have some older features and was I believe that later Monaco White - which I prefer. But this would have been after the date of your +2.
Regards Gray
The info from DVLA shows the first keeper to be Lotus Cars with a postcode of Nor 92W if you google
this it gives the address of
NETHEL AERODROME
NR. WYMONDHAM
NORWICH
NOR 92W
I think this is the Sales address for Lotus Cars in the 1960’s adverts, Can’t find any White Lodge? - Chris
Probably just a huge coincidence but Colin Chapman started Lotus Cars in a lock-up in Hornsey North London and as it happens there is a White Lodge in Hornsey North London whitelodgehornsey.co.uk/
Could there be a link…the mind boggles 
I think I am getting somewhere, with the help of the Archivist at Lotus and Tim’s dealer list;
Dear Mr. Jones,
?
“What a wonderful piece of archive documentation you have there, would you mind please sending me a copy of the complete page and anything else you have as these documents are no longer with us, but provide much needed data regarding colours and options that were available at the time.
?
I have checked our records and White Lodge was a Lotus dealer. A look through the dispatch book shows another Black +2 was allocated to this dealer and returned to the factory and with the notes ?now a company car?, so it would appear the same happened with your car. Without any documentation I cannot say what happened to the dealer or where it was located, but they were not allocated any more Elan +2 after yours.”
Tim - A quick look on your site [lotuselansprint.com](http://www.lotuselansprint.com) shows the dealer to be
Wight Lodge Garage Staines Rd East, Sunbury on Thames , Middx
So just a difference in the “White” spelling But why did they order 2 Plus 2s and return both? did they go
out of business, anybody know the Garage - Chris
Knowing Lotus there was probably some tax dodge or profit fiddle involved in routing the company cars through a dealer and back to the factory
cheers
Rohan
“A look through the dispatch book shows another Black +2 was allocated to this dealer and returned to the factory and with the notes ?now a company car?, so it would appear the same happened with your car. Without any documentation I cannot say what happened to the dealer or where it was located, but they were not allocated any more Elan +2 after yours”
I wonder if the garage found that they could not sell the +2 as easily as the Europa and swapped the two +2s for maybe one or more Europas? I know that toward the end of the Sprint production dealers had to take two Sprints for every Europa they ordered from Hethel.
Tim
I Think the cars must have been unsold and Lotus took them back, It was 1974 , Oil Crisis, New car tax and VAT on the new car tax, petrol rocketed to ?1 a Gallon! - I just spoke to a friend of mine who sold Jaguars in the early
1970s, he said E-types were never easy to sell (ever) but the XJ6 had a 2 year waiting list with no discount through
1970-73, in 1974 there was no waiting list and they sat in the showroom for weeks. A sign of the times.
As to the location of White Lodge Garage, he thought there was a “Golden Mile” of car dealerships around Sunbury on Thames.
Chris
I’ve got a nice Europa Special. Anyone willing to trade two Sprints for it?
Over here its Native Indian and was first said in 1546 WHEN THE natives saw the tents [ lodges ]of the settlers -literally translated it means --THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD —ED
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