Elan photographie

[elansprint71]

LRO 8C in the 1966 International Gulf London Rally.

[elansprint71]

Entry list for 1966 Gulf London Rally, car 15 Ian Walker/Terry Hunter Lotus Elan.

[richardcox_lotus]

I think the number plate survived.

[atthelimit]

Dies any body know anything about

this car, and does it still exist

[trw99]

Yep. I wrote about it in an article on Elan fastbacks a few years ago.

Article attached.

Tim
2018 Apr Elan Fastbacks a.pdf (1.7 MB)

[jcocking]

I am going through all my archives. These are the press photos for US, UK, and Earls Court Motor Show. All are dated 1962 and 1963. Most of the pics of the S1 include a hardtop.

[trw99]

Thanks, Jeff. I have not seen some of those photos.

Tim

[jcocking]

Here another batch. These are from October, 1965 and show a 26R rolling Chassis.

Can you spot the differences?

[trw99]

Great photographs, Jeff. Thank you for posting another batch of never-before-seen photos, (not by me, at least!).

Tim

[vstibbard]

S2 26R chassis I’ve not seen this pictures, thank you.
V

[Andy8421]

A few interesting points. No sign of any additional strengthening to the chassis, adjustable front and rear wishbones, larger bore but standard design of exhaust manifold, and of particular interest to me - what appear to be ball spline rear driveshaft sliding joints.

Edit: I forgot the rear anti roll bar.

Edit #2: On closer inspection, the rear chassis rails seem shorter than on a current chassis (on a modern chassis they are flush at the top where they join the rear cross member). There also appear to be strengthening plates welded on where the rear chassis rails join the rear cross member.

[jcocking]

I was told many years ago, that the easiest way to tell an original 26R chassis from a standard chassis was to look for the drop from the rear cross member to the rear chassis rails.

I was told it allowed the body to sit lower to the ground. I always wondered if there was anything else would be gained by basically adjusting the pitch of the vehicle. If anyone knows, it will be someone here.

Side Note: Archive box #1 has been opened. I have another 20 photos like these. I have a lot of uploading ahead of me.

[vstibbard]

Andy, note the raised rear section of chassis above the differential, specific to s2 26R’s.
va

[atthelimit]

Early in the design process, this is what it might have been.

[JonB]

Those drawings are fascinating. I presume it’s post Elan, pre Plus 2 as it talks about having a metal bumper; CC not liking the fibreglass ones on the Elan. (Correct me if I’m wong!) Also refers to drawings “B” and “C” which are not there. “E” (twin headlamps) looks horrid.

[atthelimit]

Hi JonB

Yes the sketches are (+2) M20 ideas and thoughts. Interesting but ugly at the same time.

The photos are of course elan ideas, front different and note the quarter light and door handle/lock arrangement. When I can find them I’ll post more early photos.

Here’s some of a really early idea and looks like an mg midget, thankfully it developed into the elan we all know. All this material comes from the Ron Hickman archive and it’s fascinating. Some of the stuff shows a real tussle between him and Chapman.

[Spyder_fan]

04ron 04.pdf (95.1 KB)

The previous posts reminded me of the Ron Hickman magazine sketches that Maureen kindly showed me a few years ago. (Maureen is an ex Lotus employee and acted as secretary to Ron Hickman)

[Spyder_fan]

Here’s the other magazine sketches, fascinating stuff

01ron01.pdf (107.0 KB)
02ron02.pdf (127.9 KB)
03ron03.pdf (113.0 KB)

[atthelimit]

So this is how they were made, shirt and tie obligatory!

[Richardsona39]

Wish we could still get beefy side-walled tires like that today, those look ace!