Not sure if anyone has seen this before? They are selling it as a very special JPS, one of only 50 ever built. Surely the JPS were built in the black and gold colours? And I think some think like 100 were made.
Is this correct?
Dave
Not sure if anyone has seen this before? They are selling it as a very special JPS, one of only 50 ever built. Surely the JPS were built in the black and gold colours? And I think some think like 100 were made.
Is this correct?
Dave
This might shed a little more light …
geocities.com/trevorsparrow/ … elhist.htm
BTW, not a bad site and worth exploring IMHO.
Regards,
Stuart.
I did a bit of research on the JPS Plus 2 when I bought mine last year.
All JPS cars were Black with Gold metalflake roof / sills, and were fully optioned with green tinted glass, oatmeal trim with cloth seat inserts, Turnolock radio and the 5 speed gearbox.
There is no mention of JPS in the Lotus records?they just show up as black, with all the options (the gold roof / sills never mentioned). That?s the only way of telling that it?s a real JPS, and then it has to fit into the correct chassis range.
All JPS cars were made in 1973, within the range of 7306 to 7310. The first JPS produced was Chassis 1476, with some 109 cars in ?black? on the books over the following few months. It is generally believed that 85 of these were JPS cars, although some were repainted all black towards the end of the JPS life as they weren?t selling.
So if this car was a JPS and has been repainted the wrong colour?well, it?s not really a JPS anymore!
Mark
JPS or not, it looks like a nice car - but then I’m biased as it’s the same (or very similar) colour as mine…
It looks to be well built (e.g. neat brake pipes in engine bay - not sure about the bright green petrol hoses though ) and even ‘sits’ perfectly. For perfection, it just needs the sill trims, a proper gear knob (yuk!), correct front fog lights, and (for a ‘no expense spared’ job) maybe an original rear bumper (the repros never seem to fit quite right at the ends…). Although not a bargain, as long as it’s a quality body job, has a new Lotus chassis, a good engine and drives well, it would make someone a great Christmas present…
BUT, I am always wary of illiterate sellers…
Matthew
Looks like it’s got a four speed 'box.
Were all JPS cars fitted as five speed? I toyed with buying a de-JPS-ised car a few years ago (painted all black) which also had a four speed. Perhaps a few customers specified they didn’t want the optional extra of the gearbox?
Based on Mark’s info above then my car was the 12th jps built. It is a 4 speed and I’m sure always has been. I have letter from Lotus confirming build date etc but that does not state whether 4 or 5 speed g/box fitted.
As a straight forward +2 the car looks superb (apart from the green fuel lines!!). It?s a shame that Lotus never badge the JPS up differently ? a bit like they did with the Europa and Esprit; it would have made things a lot easier.
When I purchased my +2 it was painted black with a standard gold roof; the PO had then added a JPS sticker to the rear quarter (it covered up a crack in the gel goat).
My car is a 1970 +2s originally painted white, then changed to burnt sands and then some time around 1973/4 painted black. It was obviously a popular colour and statement at that time ? JPS.
I think he may be a bit optimistic on the value ? it is nice but ?12K!!!
Dave
PS any idea what the colour is? Std Lotus or not?
So John, I guess your car is 1488? Mine is 1492…pretty close. Yours may be earlier than the 12th built, as there were some other colours built during ‘the run’.
I know that 1491, 1492 and 1493 were ‘black’, 1494 was ‘all tawny’ and 1495 was a regency ‘press car’, allocated as a company car. Then 1496 throught to 1503 were all black cars…presumably JPS’. They are all on a copy of the page of the sales ledger on which my car was listed.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised that a genuine JPS has a 4 speed. I’m sure that if a customer had asked for one, he’d have got it. There’s also been plenty of time in the past 34 years for a 5 speed box to have been replaced…I remember folks mumbling about the reliability of the 5 speed back in the '70s! No records were ever kept at the factory as to whether a 5 speed was fitted or not.
I’ll try and dig out the rest of the chassis numbers for the real JPS cars…I think that I know a man who can…but not sure whether he will
Mark
Hi All,
It does look a very well re-built car with lots of attention to detail. Interestingly, I’ve just done a bit of a search and it seems it was built on 3rd Jan 1974 and is still registered as black so could well be a JPS.
Alex
Hi
According to John Hostler at Lotus, they recently counted up how many JPS+2s were produced by going back through their invoice book. Apparently there were 115 made…
C
To me this is crazy to change the colour so radicaly and still claim it is a JPS is the person not aware that main feature of the JPS car is the paint job black with gold roof and rocker panals
Although the bronze colour was one I had imagined for the Plus 2 as I have seen it on the Nissan 350z and it does suit the car
The ad mentions nothing about the chassis being replaced?? IF the chassis was replaced, it is a bargain! JPS or not. . . . I like the colour though. It is not as “brown” as my own tawny car.
May I add a small contribution ?
one of the last JPS was registered on 8th Jan 1974 with chassis number 7311 1781L…(I owned it)
They did come in both 4 and 5 speed with the centre nuts not the spinners …and they all had cloth inserts which became standard in 1974 on all +2’s…
After tracing the recent history of this car ( and with the help of forum member Yandy) I decided to go and look at the Elan yesterday, it was a 600 mile round trip from Edinburgh but it was worth it and I bought the car. I had been to look at 6 or 7 +2s over the last 4 Months and with a budget of ?7k, was getting nowhere, the good cars sell for more than my budget and Ebay cars at the ?5 mark all really needed restoring, this car had been restored and fairly recently. The Chap who bought the car last time on Ebay (a few months ago) was a Classic Car enthusiast and owned an S4/Sprint and was not put off by the description, he bought it and sorted out the faults, even put a set of the correct size tyres on the car, he’s not a Forum member but may well join as he wants to research his own Sprint.
After a good inspection and test drive, up on a jack , wheels off I couldn’t find anything really wrong, owner even suggested we scrape some of the black paint off the chassis and underneath there’s a galvanized Lotus replacement.
I have posted some images on my own web space at
Only real issues was a judder from the clutch in reverse (forward is fine and car changes gear smoothly) and the bottom of the drivers door appears to stick out slightly. Only gel crack is a stone-chip to the headlamp pod, can only be seen when raised, appears to have been painted a few years ago.
This car had been to Northampton Motor Sport before Easter for ?1200
worth of tuning by a PO, hence the webber linkeages, after a carb overhaul, new Lucas electronic distributor facet fuel pump and regulator and rolling road set-up, the receipts and dyno print-outs are with the paperwork, also all MOT’s back to 1981 except a couple of years it was SORN, an Engine rebuild by an MG garage in the 1980s but no receipts for the adjustable shockers all round, solid driveshafts and new chassis (or paint and restoration).
As to wether it was a JPS car, no idea, the build sheet from Lotus was there with a S130/5 header page but the 4-speed gearbox option was ticked, the colour on the build sheet was Black and Gold and the car’s number is 7312 1832L.
I am not a big fan of the oatmeal interior and when funds allow it will be going Black!.
I would be interested to know who done the restoration work on this car and painted it, it has been done to a very high standard, I know of one PO who owned it for a short time and sold it quickly to buy a Lotus 23b replica to race but I think the restoration work and paint was prior to him owning the car, anybody know?
Chris