Lotus Elan Central

EDIT . TITLE AMENDED TO SHOW 12 AS 609 IS NOT A JC.


Morning all .
Today i am the proud owner of a V5c in my name .
Which means that i am technically the 4th owner of S2 number 613. late registration 12/3/96 N.
This is one of the cars that should have yellow spoke wheels to compliment ( or not ) the red Nardia steering wheel , Red door inserts and red piping on the seats . Apparently 1 of 6 in this edition known as the Jim Clark edition ( though i will research the finer details ) it appears to mirror the Esprit S4 gt championship edition that goes by Championship Edition not Jim Clark .... same interior and wheel spec.

The condition of the car is used though i would say tired in places. The previous owner had it for 17 years and slowly used it less and less. Having been the owner of a silver N/A garage queen i vow not to let this happen again . It is now time to get back into driving and fully appreciating the wet knee ( read project creep JamieN below)
I really like the edition and whilst would have been happy with any elan this one took my fancy . As alway the old "travel for an elan" kicked in , Torquay to anywhere is a long way , And Torquay to Lincoln was a long way . I probably paid over the odds for it but ..... Prices are on the rise (?), i spent to the top of my bracket and the seller was a very reasonable guy . A deal was done . I am pleased with my purchase . We did haggle over the minor money but i was worth the extra to me to be back in the club. Not sit out on the sidelines for another year thinking about what could have should have been .

The car drives beautifully ( though i have said that before and 20 miles later required a full engine rebuild )
This will be my 12th S2 . Having had an elan sabbatical for many years and what with the way spare parts , car prices and general conditions of cars are now i feel that this one is going to stay with me for a long while . My garage is full of elan spares ( from the same coloured s2 26,000 mile cat B burn out that i bought all of) I also have JamieN 's array of excellent replacement rubbers so it will only be a matter of time before project creep sets in .

Even now the car is sitting in Stafford at Arron's mates TVR Aston garage awaiting a respray . Does it need it ? not fully But as i have not driven it more than test milage ( and the sun is not properly yet ) i thought i may as well bung it in and get it smartened up .

Thanks to Pinky and his loan service kit it will come back with belts , pully's & water pump done..


HERES THE PROJECT CREEP QUESTION :-

The garage is going to do an engine out respray . I wish they hadn't mentioned that . Is this the time to "just get them to" ........ pop a new radiator in it ? send up the new fans , overhaul the starter & alternator ? What about the unjacked prongeron i have , or the spanking clean radiator housing frame and brackets in have .
I wish i had have taken more notice of the smaller details of the car when i bought it .

Glad to be back and pictures to follow once i get some ...

See you in a carpark soon .

Clemo

Well done Clemo. About time

Just a thought though... the better weather is just around the corner. Do you really want to be doing a full engine out job, respray, full suspension rebuild, alternator, oil cooler, fans, radiator.... right now when you could be getting in some enjoyable driving ??

Maybe better to do this work in October/November and SORN the car for 6 months. Just my tenpennworth

Get out there and get some good driving down these twisty Devon lanes

Get out there and use it
Winter is coming.............

clemo wrote:This is one of the cars that should have yellow spoke wheels to compliment ( or not ) the red Nardia steering wheel , Red door inserts and red piping on the seats . Apparently 1 of 6 in this edition known as the Jim Clark edition

Didn't realise they did a limited edition Jim Clark in the M100, can't wait to see this back on the road in its full glory
Good luck with the restoration and enjoy the car

It's much better having a car that is associated with a Lotus driver rather than a packet of fags

Rob P wrote:

clemo wrote:This is one of the cars that should have yellow spoke wheels to compliment ( or not ) the red Nardia steering wheel , Red door inserts and red piping on the seats. Apparently 1 of 6 in this edition known as the Jim Clark edition

Didn't realise they did a limited edition Jim Clark in the M100, can't wait to see this back on the road in its full glory
Good luck with the restoration and enjoy the car

To get it back to its former glory though, Clemo needs to paint the S2 wheels yellow. Or nick his own ones back of Stripey when Dan's not looking

I always found the colour combination rather strange. But that was par for the course at Lotus. I suspect they had a designer that was colour blind ?? I can understand the green and yellow for the JC S2 (original heritage colours) but where did the red piping round the seats steering wheel and door cards come from ?? I think it would have looked even better in yellow but that's just my opinion

Same as the red stripe in a blue car. I think red stripe or piping in red car, blue stripe or piping in blue car and yellow for yellow. I guess the choice of these colours was the original buyers choice c25 years ago ???

Anyway, whatever my opinions on colour schemes, the general consensus of opinion is, get out and do what it was designed for Clemo

Welcome back - I'd get out there now - cracking weather !!

Should look great with a new paint job !!

Hey Clemo, I've just thought of something else.

After you've thrashed around the Devon lanes for 6 months in your JC S2, then laid it up for a few months to do all this work to bring it back to its former glory, bring it up to Duns, next year.

Chirnside and Duns was where Jimmy was bought up and, as you know, next year will be the 50th anniversary of his untimely death at Hockenheim. There will be a very special event held at the Duns museum organised by Club Lotus (Scotland) and Club Lotus. The new proposed museum might even be built with some of Jimmy's race cars in it

It will be a very special occasion and very fitting if your JC car, and any M100 for that matter, made the pilgrimage. You're welcome to stay at my gaff 30 miles away. JohnW did this a couple of years ago and we both enjoyed a thrash over the hills and twisty Border country lanes to Duns

Perhaps we could even get some of these other LEC M100 garage queens out of retirement

Rambo wrote:I can understand the green and yellow for the JC S2 (original heritage colours) but where did the red piping round the seats steering wheel and door cards come from ?? I think it would have looked even better in yellow but that's just my opinion

From here you silly kipper eater....

Rambo wrote:…next year will be the 50th anniversary of his untimely death at Hockenheim … You're welcome to stay at my gaff 30 miles away.

Put me down for the spare bed.

GeoffSmith wrote:

Rambo wrote:…next year will be the 50th anniversary of his untimely death at Hockenheim … You're welcome to stay at my gaff 30 miles away.

Put me down for the spare bed.

Well, thats 3 cars in convoy from the South West....... room for a tent in the garden?

dapinky wrote:

GeoffSmith wrote:

Rambo wrote:…next year will be the 50th anniversary of his untimely death at Hockenheim … You're welcome to stay at my gaff 30 miles away.

Put me down for the spare bed.

Well, that's 3 cars in convoy from the South West....... room for a tent in the garden?

Hope they will have the museum finished by then, that would be a nice trip to make, last time they celebrated an anniversary of a Jim Clark happening I believe they ran some of his classic F1 cars in the street, amazing

That's true Rob. I'm fairly sure that Ian Scott Watson drove one. Maybe Dario Franchitti too. Sir Jackie Stewart was there on the Saturday too

The main Street was closed off and PC Plod ignored the fact they weren't road legal cars but let them blat along the high street. Not at full chat of course but it's a fairly narrow street with high buildings so the sound was quite impressive. Enough anyway to scare old grannies, cats and young boys under the age of 8

PS I have 3 spare beds, plenty of floorspace as long as you don't mind sharing with Jock and over half an acre of grass for camping

Rambo wrote:Hey Clemo, I've just thought of something else.

After you've thrashed around the Devon lanes for 6 months in your JC S2, then laid it up for a few months to do all this work to bring it back to its former glory, bring it up to Duns, next year.

Chirnside and Duns was where Jimmy was bought up and, as you know, next year will be the 50th anniversary of his untimely death at Hockenheim. There will be a very special event held at the Duns museum organised by Club Lotus (Scotland) and Club Lotus. The new proposed museum might even be built with some of Jimmy's race cars in it

It will be a very special occasion and very fitting if your JC car, and any M100 for that matter, made the pilgrimage. You're welcome to stay at my gaff 30 miles away. JohnW did this a couple of years ago and we both enjoyed a thrash over the hills and twisty Border country lanes to Duns

Perhaps we could even get some of these other LEC M100 garage queens out of retirement

Yes Please . I would very much like that . This was on my to do list ( as in get into your spare room before you brother Geoff ) no Actually to take the car to JC museum . Next year is a fitting tribute and an very much up for this .

You are right we should try and make a LEC meet of this . How big is your back garden for those who haven't bagged the spare room ?

April 7th 2018 date for the LEC / Rambo garden party diary ?

I'll be there.
John

Any pictures yet Clemo?

It would look better with yellow wheels

Hi Clemo- is she behaving herself. First thing I did in 2000 was change the wheels to silver from yellow for an every day car they just did not work for me, second was a kenwood cassette player but that's a different story. Please keep me posted on photos of her.
From that reasonable man in Lincolnshire