M100 pre production

[Tony Ambridge]

I am in possession of a pre production m100 in British racing green, vin no ending in 0001.
Does anyone know anything about this car ?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

You would be best helped if you go to viewtopic.php?f=121&t=19053&start=40#p246282 and use the email info to contact "Specky" directly.

Dave has as much or more info on the M100 production than Lotus. His email is shown on the heading on the top left of any of his posts.

It would also be appreciated if you would share the history of how you came to own the car and what condition it is in now. And pictures are always welcome.

BCN

[Tony Ambridge]

I am not that good with these tablet things, I will have to get one of the kids to navigate me through it.

The car is in quite good shape, less than twenty thousand miles on the clock, has a uk mot, has a couple of marks on the paint and goes much quicker than my c3 corvette........and it goes round corners !

[Simon_P]

Sounds interesting.
Is it registered as an Elan? Does it have a preproduction vin?

[Tony Ambridge]

I think it has a preproduction number, it is :-
SCC100ZT1LHD16001

It seems to correspond with red one as well as the silver one as mentioned on the forum some time ago.

Please forgive me over the forum thing - I seem to have arrived at the party very late !

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Better late than never...

Let us know more about your car!

When did you get it? What have you done to it (repairs, improvements, etc)

Do you have any plans to improve it? Is it a Turbo or NA model?

[Specky]

I researched this car in 2014...

I still have the emails.

The car was in for repair at a local garage, The garage contacted Lotus to ascertain the paint code. Lotus couldn’t locate the build book, Lotus contacted me to see what I could work out... or what I knew...

I said it should be white and in America... but the car is BRG with yellow stripe... it has a plaque on the dash saying something like first production car.

Reg is G190***

It’s odd because the VIN makes it earlier than any other Elan on the road, it predates the Zante... which doesn’t make sense, I personally believe the factory were up to there usual shenanigans

The car was registered on the road June ‘90, but that doesn’t tally with the VIN, however Lotus didn’t register all their cars straight away.

If the chassis is black it’s a mule... if it’s grey... it’s a production run car... I think you may have a car which was originally a mule and was subsequently re-engineered and registered again... it doesn’t fit with the current thought process of any of the early cars.

Happy to help if you want me to dig further

TTFN

[Tony Ambridge]

Many thanks for your reply,
No doubt I’ll be in touch - any information would obviously be gratefully received.
Tony

[Specky]

Many thanks for your reply,
No doubt I’ll be in touch - any information would obviously be gratefully received.
Tony

Let me have a look at my mule photographs... it might be there

TTFN

[Specky]

Just checked...

I have a bout 4 BRG mules... but it’s impossible to say if any are yours, as they’re unidentifiable in the photographs

All mules had their build number below the windscreen

Another check you can undertake in the future... remove the seats and Capet... on the tunnel cover Lotus will have daubed the official build number.

Have a look in the boot under the carpet and behind the door cards... they will be marked in someway on an early car.

Let me know how you get on, even if it’s months away.

TTFN