Hi Rich,
Welcome to the forum, I think I can partly answer some of your questions, but there are others who are much better qualified on the engine side of things.
Firstly your dads old car SMX550F looks like it may have been exported, I have pasted the enquiry result from the DVLA below, its last recorded colour was blue. There is a surprising amount of room in a +2, you may have to alter the seat brackets to get your full 6’6" in, but I’m 6’1" and I don’t have the seat all the way back, depends on whether you have long legs or a long body I suppose, the Elise is pretty good for leg room as well although the cabin feels claustrophobic compared with a +2. Performance wise the standard +2 does 0-60 in about 8.5 ish seconds, this can be improved upon as the Lotus Twin Cam engine is legendary for tuning potential although it can get a bit costly. The Elan +2 weighs about 830 kilos all up which is a good 100 kilos more than the smaller and some would say more nimble Elan which can manage the 0 - 60 dash in around 7 ish seconds in standard form. The performance figures are real world ones, the period adverts and car tests all had ‘Special’ engines for the tests.
I personally run an Elan +2 that has been converted by Spyder Engineering with 2.0 Ford Zetec engine producing just over 180BHP, it makes a fantastic road car and is a genuine modern Elise alternative with the advantage of a decent boot and light and airy cabin, straight line performance is more than equal to a 111R Elise, handling is about 85 - 90% of an Elise which is to say it’s still very good. The only downside is that its questionable that its still an Elan +2 and its therefore not to everyones taste, also its very pricey if the factory do the conversion.
If anyone wants to check the current status of an old car they used to own go to this site (UK only obviously) taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/index.jsp then click on vehicle enquiry, so long as you know the make and reg number it will give the current details.
[size=85]The enquiry is complete
[size=85]The vehicle details for SMX 550F are:
Date of Liability 01 10 1982
Date of First Registration 04 09 1967
Year of Manufacture Not Available
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1558CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Export
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour BLUE
Vehicle Type Approval null
The information contained on this page is correct at the time of enquiry. [/size]Vehicle Excise Duty Rate for vehicle
6 Months Rate ?104.50
12 Months Rate ?190.00
Please be aware that if the vehicle has recently been relicensed or a SORN declared, these details may not yet be updated on the vehicle record.
If you think that the details on the vehicle record are incorrect please write to:
VCS
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1BA
Including the incorrect V5C Registration Certificate for amendment. [/size]