Lotus Elan Central

Well its official I am as mad as a box of frogs Having finished Jimbob's Elan and with my own Red SE still awaiting attention while I work on my S3 Esprit I just had to buy S2 Elan Press car 009 in Palacio with charcoal leather. I never buy anything simple so yes this needs some superficial accident damage repairing. The journey begins with its pick up for its nearly 300 mile journey North

Wow! ‘Some work’
Nevertheless what a great find

Very nice!!
Do you have a bigger photo by any chance?

I will be posting up more photos as I start the work. Initial assessment and having spoken to the previous owner regarding the nature of the accident is the damage is very superficial. The car runs very well and drives as it should I have managed to source most if not all of the required panels in the correct colour also which is a huge bonus. This car has been extremely well looked after and is an absolute credit to the previous owners. Now just need to get my Esprit on the road so I can crack on with this beauty.

I was tempted to bid on this one Mike, you got it for buttons . The fact it was cat S and no pictures why put me off, looked a damn fine example pre accident tho.

Hi Jamie there were photos on the auction site?
Did you recognise it as the press car?

I think the price was fair as the description stated it was a non driver but, my suspicion was correct the salvage operatives didn't know how to release the S2 handbrake I informed the car transport company driver about the handbrake and sure enough the salvage yard staff were shocked when he got in the car and drove it out the yard onto his vehicle with no problems
The Category S means absolutely nothing really as most insurance assessors have no idea the anatomy of a normal car let alone a fibreglass car. I've just repaired a Cat S Ford Kuga all it had was a dented drivers door no air bags deployed etc. Once a car gets to a certain age the insurance companies aren't prepared to spend money and time investigating the full extent of a vehicles damage its easier just to write it off and also cover their backs by stating the worst case scenario. I've just had a similar conversation on Facebook about the insurance categorisation system. I have been repairing insurance damaged vehicles for nearly 30 years. The whole categorisation system is not accurate at all, I have regularly seen slaughtered cars classed as cat N (or D as it used to be) and Cat B cars with so little damage they should be Cat N. I have to say I am really pleased with the superb pre accident condition of the car and the superficial nature of the damage

when are you estimating to bring this one to a NELOC gathering ?

and on a off tpic note, has the one in beamist found a new home yet ?

Its in the que so the Esprit will hopefully be at a NELOC meeting first fingers crossed

JUFs hasn't even been advertised yet so its sitting waiting for them to get sorted.

Mike what I meant was there were no photos on the site to show why it was a cat S, and yep quite possibly the reason was because there was no structural damage to show, seen it many times
in the past, cat S cars that were hardly even cat N, also seen it the other way as well though with cat N cars that were well into cat S territory, often the fault of assessors of who know next to nothing about
cars (and dont want to get their suit dirty).

Wow a spot of luck picked up replacement panels in the correct colour I will be continuing work on my Esprit mainly while dropping on and off 009 for the time being. I will post photos soon of 009.

This is a lot of good news!

What is so special about the S2 handbrake? Is it a bit like in the Esprit? (That would be strange as it's at a normal location)

Yes the handbrake is the same as the later Esprits. It is a "Fly off" handbrake. When the handbrake is "ON" the lever is floppy and can be lifted up and down with no affect on the hand brake operation i.e. it is disconnected. However if you lift the lever with the button pressed in the handbrake tension can be felt, it feels like a normal handbrake and the lever can then be lowered releasing the rear brakes. The Esprit first adopted this type of handbrake so the lever was left flat to the sill for entry and exit. The Elan is the same to keep the handbrake lever from fouling the drivers elbow.

To me a fly off hand brake is a bit different, as it would need the button to be pressed to lock the lever, while it's not held at all if you don't press the button. And you need to press the button again to release it. And whilst it's engaged, the lever is locked, not like in the Esprit. At least it's what I have seen in a late 40s car.
I concluded this was a real fly off hand brake lever but I might be wrong. It's just that it made sense to me as it could have been useful in a hairpin or something as you couldn't lock it as easily as a normal lever? But really I didn't investigate

As for the Esprit it's obviously very useful to lower it to ease the access in the car, but in the Elan I don't really understand why it would interfere with the elbow while driving? And when seating in it, it's not an issue at all?! The centre console is a bit high indeed, but not the lever?

Anyway, I didn't know this S2 feature, thanks!

It’s not a fly-off handbrake like you’d find on a rally or auto test car, Giniw. Like Mike says, it stays flopped down onto the centre console whether it’s ‘off’ or ‘on’. And it would get in the way if it didn’t - bear in mind that the S2 console is a completely different shape from the SE/NA.

Right guys here is an unexpected surprise, although this is ltd edition number 009 it is in fact Chassis number 001. The guys on the S2 registry have just confirmed that Ltd edition number 001 does not have chassis number 001. It is usual with S2s the last 3 numbers of the chassis numbers are normally also the Ltd Ed number. Pottentialy this is the first S2 Elan

Saltire wrote:It’s not a fly-off handbrake like you’d find on a rally or auto test car, Giniw.

Yes OK, the late 40s car I was referring to is a Jaguar XK120.

Like Mike says, it stays flopped down onto the centre console whether it’s ‘off’ or ‘on’. And it would get in the way if it didn’t - bear in mind that the S2 console is a completely different shape from the SE/NA.

Indeed so like in the Esprit. It's just that I have never been annoyed by the SE lever, and I would tend to think that it doesn't really matter if it's in the way of ... nothing while the car is stopped and there is nobody in it
But I guess it's still nice for when you are in the car whilst it's parked, obviously is lets a bit more room since the centre console is higher than in a normal car.

Mike Y wrote:Right guys here is an unexpected surprise, although this is ltd edition number 009 it is in fact Chassis number 001. The guys on the S2 registry have just confirmed that Ltd edition number 001 does not have chassis number 001. It is usual with S2s the last 3 numbers of the chassis numbers are normally also the Ltd Ed number. Pottentialy this is the first S2 Elan

Wow, even nicer!

Mike Y wrote:Right guys here is an unexpected surprise, although this is ltd edition number 009 it is in fact Chassis number 001. The guys on the S2 registry have just confirmed that Ltd edition number 001 does not have chassis number 001. It is usual with S2s the last 3 numbers of the chassis numbers are normally also the Ltd Ed number. Pottentialy this is the first S2 Elan

Seems fairly certain it was the first chassis engraved/stamped for production use (I assume this occurs before the cars were fully assembled - the VIN positioning would surely otherwise make it difficult to do right at the end) - whether or not it was the first finished car off the production line, you probably would have had to be there (although clearly its would be a very early S2)

These cars are absolutely hand assembled and having visited Hethel and seen their somewhat lackadaisical approach to numbering and assembly (and evidenced by the famous random pink panels and infamous mismatched black hand written numbering) - you get the impression anything goes when they were put together (then pulled apart, stored in various factory locations and then somewhat randomly put back together again)


But if you can piece together any more history from anywhere, then please do share - I've tried to find out more over the years but have always drawn a blank! I guess no one building cars expects that nearly 30 years later a group of enthusiasts will be quite so interested in the original manufacturing history of their vehicles.

Hi Jon
Thanks for PM messaging me about your car.

Here is something I have observed, it appears all S2s have in their hand book a photograph of 009 chassis 001 which sort of suggests this car was built before the production run or at the very start as they needed a car to photograph for the hand book. Even 009s Handbook features a photo of itself being driven by John Miles.

I have been in contact with Andy Graham at Lotus archives who has been helping me with information for the insurance categorisation as the car should not have been classified S and potentially not categorised at all due to its factory provenance. He confirmed It is a pre-production car built 3 months prior to production starting and the first RHD S2.

Well after a few weeks of emails to various motor industry and insurance trade bodies, providing evidence of the cars superficial damage and provenance the powers that be and the insurer who had paid out on 009 have agreed they have dealt wrongly with this vehicle It has now been re catagorised. I am pleased that they were prepared to view all the evidence and take another look at the case eventually changing their original assessment. This was very refreshing to see trade bodies working together to come to a sensible concluision.