Rhubarb

Family Hack, Continental Grande Tourer, Concours (was) Show Car. General hobby car and subject of Restoration Guide, (hope you have all got one)

See you all at Donington 17/18 March at the Club Lotus Show.

Gordon…is there no one or no place that is safe from you trying to sell your book!!! Will see you at the show in March, let me know where you’re staying. George (France)

Gordon, I do have your book:- since the profile shot of Rhubarb looks so good, could you let us know what your setup is re tyre size and make, static ride height (Lotus or Spyder chassis), spring rates etc. Does your exhaust also scrape a lot

Gerry M

Gerry,
My +2 is shod with Dunlop SP10, 13x165 80 nothing special. Ride height is as per book at 6" and the spring rates are std UK. Most modern springs sold these days are federal rating which raises the front end by 1" to comply with headlamp height legislation.

Yes, the exhaust pipe in front of the silencer does ground under certain conditions. On hols with a boot full of luggage and a passenger one knows which manhole covers and sleeping policemen to avoid. The workshop manual quotes 5/16" clearance of pipe to chassis but this is dificult to maintain as the silencer box is offset mounted which tries to twist the box and hence lower the box front pipe. Ensure all U clamp ends are pointing to one side.

Gordon,

what happened to Custard after the motorway incident?

best regards, iain

Sorry to say Iain that my Sprint fhc (custard) was so badly damaged after being in colision with the German artic that I didn’t want to engage in a rebuild which would never have resulted in the same car. It went to salvage and eventual auction. I believe it now resides somewhere in the west country where I think it is being rebuilt in the modern idium. ie non std drivetrain & suspension (each to his own). Meanwhile, Rhubarb is back. My old +2 I bought back off the guy who I sold it too. A good polish, a new set of chrome wheels from Stoneleigh, new boots and a new front bumber to finish off. (I always was annoyed with the old slightly bent bumper which was on the car when I bought it in 1981. See you all at Donington in March with the +2 and a friends gorgeous Pistachio over white Sprint dhc on my book stand. Lotus Elan RESTORATION GUIDE Author Gordon Lund, Published by Brooklands Books.

This is a section of a painting that my wife Johanna commissioned for my 50th birthday and our silver wedding. The full picture is portrait format and very dramatic. It is reminise of a time, some time ago in fact, when we were balling down the Mulsanne Straight at a about 120 mph in the +2 on a French holiday. It almost ended in tears when a French farmer decided to pull out of a side road in front of us (like they do). The +2 brakes were up to it though and retarded us in a timely fashon.

Anyway, hope you like the picture. The artist name is John Ketchell and he can be found on tel 01772 743654 (England)

Gordon,
I also have your book and my 72 Elan Sprint Coupe is virtually the same as yours (was) (sorry to hear that), only difference is mine has the black wheels with Nader nuts (knockoffs) as it is a federalised us model.
I often display your book cover to show people that yes, this was the original color (yellow over white) and yes it had gold bumpers originally.
Great book and thanks for the support
David

David,
My Sprint was featured in a Brit Magazine called CLASSICS in the September 2000 Volume 4 number 2 Issue 38. I don’t know if you can get back issues over there but the car got a six page write up.
A number to ring for back issues I got from the mag is
01689 887238 (England).

I attach another pic of EMA (custard) with myself and Johanna in period dress (Mary Quant) :stuck_out_tongue:

Rear of Rhubarb in the garage, my son’s S2 Esprit lurking in the background. He tells me he will have it on the road soon. I wait in anticipation to get whole of my garage back.

The next shot is of Rhubarb’s interior, 18 coats of varnish on that dash 20 years ago. still looking good. The seats, centre armrest and rearseats & quarters are out of an early +2S. I still have the original seats in the loft.

The last photo is my friends Sprint with Rhubarb behing the table on my book stand at Donington last year.

Rhubarb’s paint is two pack Regency Red Service shade. This is slightly lighter than the original Jaguar Regency Red and photographs turn out in all shades of red depending on the light conditions. Not perfect but not bad for a 20 year old paint job. It’s all in the preparation.



Hi Gordon,
Thanks for the follow up and additional photos…question though…at risk of dating myself wasnt Mary Quant the designer of the original mini-skirt?..man ,I remember those, but mainly the boots that were usually attached…very hip…
thanks, David

David,

You are so correct. I don’t want to age myself either but put it this way, I saw the Beatles live at Preston (England) Public Hall when I was a lad. and mini skirts had not quite hit the scene. Yes Mary Quant was one of the founder members.

Here are two more pics of Rhubarb at “Period Costume” shows. Hope you like them. That’s me with the “bucked” teeth (Austin Powers), Jo on left (Hippy) and future daughter in law on right (Felicity Shagwell)


…Yeah, baby!!! :smiley:

Emma,

The name of my Elan Sprint, EMA (1st 3 letters of the registration plate)

We have not seen a picture of your car yet Emma. Or did you have a string at an earlier date that I hav’n’t seen??

+2 or 2 seater Elans, if there is anything you need to know, if I can’t help you I know a few people who probably can.

Gordon Lund

North West Club Lotus
Area News Letter Editor

ice blue white - CTM 939D - and a little bit of a yellow S3 in the background. EMA… what happened?
CTM will have original “thin” KO’s this year and maybe rebuild inner door panels. It was first registered in Luton, like EMMA’s.
But when its could outside, I prefer watching Austin, Avengers or the Persuaders… :mrgreen:

Anna

Anna, Nice cars, what’s under the blue sheet?
Sorry I got your name wrong. Hope the pic of EMA doesn’t upset you too much. It upset me I can tell you. The trucker was in the first lane on the M6 motorway I was in the second. Traffic was nose to tail in a 40 mph limit. Trucker was behind me then he decided to change lane where I was but he did not see me. He collided with my rear left & spun me off his front end, complete 360 deg then pushed me into the Armco where I came to a stop facing the direction I was first going.

There was not a straight panel left, chassis bent, front suspension and steering bent and twisted. You can see from the wheel the impact it took. Luckily I walked away from it ok but very annoyed. I had good witnesses to the accident so eventually I got full insured value for the car. I didn’t have the heart to rebuild her as it would have not been financially viable and it would not have been the same car afterward.

Still I have the veritable +2 which is well on the way to 250,000 miles. Like the family heirloom axe, they can go on forever as long as you don’t hit anything really big.

See you at Donington on the 17/18 March if you can make it to the Lotus Show.

Gordon

:open_mouth: …poor EMA… I understand Your point about “never the same car again”. Ken Adams, who designed all those special Aston Martin devices didn’t do it for “James” but because he was so annoyed about peoples driving habits, especially against small sportscars.

There is a nice TR4 right hand, a GR8 SHAG on the left. Second floor holds some Ford A and an Adler dhc. Also, there should have been a yellow Elite but it will be a fhc Elan instead.

Anna

Hello Anna & Gordon
Just been following your chat & looking at your pictures.

Anna, your S2 looks really nice in those colours, normally I prefer original colour schemes but I really like the colour combination & wheels. What is on the silver stripe through the middle? It’s probably solid but sometimes I have seen people here put things like “Lotus S1,2, 4 or 4” or just “Elan”
in a similar type style as “Elan Sprint”. Can we see more pictures, such as interior & under bonnet please? I am in the slow process of rebuilding an early S3 coupe which will stay it’s original colour of Red (not quite sure which shade but it will be the one it left the factory in if possible). Anyway just wanted to say the S2 looks great. By the way, Is that your garage or a shared one? looks massive (I feel garage envy comming on)
Are you going to Donnington with the car?

Gordon, always a pleasure to see Rhubarb (& in the past custard) at the shows. Yes I have the book & it’s one of my favourites.

I hope to see both cars at Donnington

Regards

Adam

…no need for garage envy - its all shared. The silver stripe is a plain rimmed one. Wheels look nice but I will go back to Lotus KO’s. They’re just too tight at the back and won’t fit an S3 - we tried! I will do some more pictures - what from (details)?
(there is a nice site: Unibrain - about an S2 coupe restoration - very detailled before and after).

Anna

Anna,
Just noticed something…
You are located in Berlin with a Lotus - varrying a british license plate? Strange…
Hope my fhc will look as sharp as your dhc once - but there is still a lot of work to do on it. Basically not a screw has been topuched since the car came out of the factory.

//J - filled with sound envy