Elan at Brightwells on 12 July (SOLD)

[Rusty Wishbone]

Here is the catalogue

It looks like quite decent one from the pictures.

The star of the sale, though, must be the Sinclair C5.

[muley]

Shirley the AC has to be the best car there?

Elan looks good, can't see interior so I suspect it is cloth..

(I know where two C5s are stored so if the mood ever took me I could recommission and sell on . )


Jim

[John_W]

Lots of lovely stuff. Just as well I'm not in England with a cheque book.

[Rambo]

Shirley the AC has to be the best car there?

Shirley the AC sounds a bit of a girlie name for a boy's toy

[theelanman]

Shirley the AC has to be the best car there?

Im with you Jim......
always fancied a AC3000M.........

[HJ2]

That AC...... Woooooooowy! I'll take it please!

[simonbuk]

Let's be honest though - the AC is probably a really pants drive ?

Did it have the Ford Essex V6 in it or something ?

[Rob P]

Ford 3 litre V6 transversely mounted and matched to a custom made Transmission.
Sadly the performance doesn't match the looks with a top speed of 120 and 0 - 60 of 8.5 secs. Only about 100 made but a car that I really like. the one at Brightwells doesn't have the customary Wolfrace slotmag wheels that the vast majority had but it is a nice looking motor car.

[Jamie N]

That Elan would be perfect for Gee21. Graeme! . Says it was originally registered in Bradford but the plate (MS) is a Stirlingshire registration code .

[M100_DMM]

Let's be honest though - the AC is probably a really pants drive ?

Did it have the Ford Essex V6 in it or something ?

This article might answer some of your questions on the 3000ME.

[lotusflasherman]

On the subject of the AC ... I ran a couple of Scimitar GTE's from '74 to '90 and founder and Chairman of the Reliant Scimitar and Sabre Owners Club was Robin Rew who operated from a Unit on Silverstone Circuit, (Eddie Jordan's F3 outfit was couple of doors away). Robin had turbocharged the Ford Essex V6 in his Scimitar coupe and did a similar conversion on his AC3000ME. I went to buy a GTE rear axle with LSD from him on an exchange basis and he had a couple of customer's AC 3000ME's there to convert.

I'd been thinking returning my old axle would just be a boring drive, offload it and drive back but when I arrived he was just about to set off on a 'shakedown run' round the Silverstone perimeter road in one of them and said 'jump in'... let me have a drive too, a very memorable 1/2 hour. Nice car to ride in and not 'pants to drive' at all but his Rooster Turbo conversion produced around 200 bhp so a bit more fun than standard ... think SE compared to NA and you won't be far out .

This site mentions 17 with turbo conversions ... ac3000me.com - buyers guide

[alan e]

I had 2 Scimitar back in the 70s one had a reg BOY 25H how I wish I still had it Quick car in its day but a bit tail end happy if you pushed it to hard.

[Rambo]

Let's be honest though - the AC is probably a really pants drive ?

Did it have the Ford Essex V6 in it or something ?

This article might answer some of your questions on the 3000ME.

Good write up David.

Was down in Leominster last week (my home town) to have a look. Cracking car and I might be bidding on it for a client if I can talk his bottom price up a bit Mind you, that lift off oversteer on a greasy Scottish Borders road would take some handling

I didn't see the M100 when I was there so it is maybe a late entry ?? Looks nice from the photos so may be tempted to press the button

[Steve A]

I had 2 Scimitar back in the 70s one had a reg BOY 25H how I wish I still had it Quick car in its day but a bit tail end happy if you pushed it to hard.

I was also once an owner of what was commonly known a "plastic pig", has anybody mentioned princess Ann yet

[lotusflasherman]

Oh, Sod it... trying not to go off topic about GTE's so sent a PM to Alan but what the hell ... Steve, never heard of 'plastic pig' but was in Letchworth in one when the man who designed it introduced himself to me... and told me Princess Anne and Charlie often had 'conversations' with Speed Cops...

PM to Alan was ...

When I gave up racing Mini's at end of '74 I looked at secondhand Elan Plus 2's and GTE's. A lot of Plus 2's I couldn't afford said '£600 spent on driveshafts' and those I could afford and test drove had ominous clunks from the rear so bought a SE5 GTE in Ford Pacific Blue - a deep torquoise, nothing like Elan P.B. Nice car until the gelcoat started cracking like crazy paving after a couple of years. Having a 17 gallon fuel tank behind the rear axle certainly made it tail happy in the wet on a full tank. Great fun though, very predictable and an all round useful car, cheap to run and great for camping holidays too. If the weather was dreadful you could empty the car into the tent, put the seats flat and sleep in the car, warm & dry! Then I came across a very nice Highland Purple SE5A with full length Webasto sunroof, tan leather interior and bent valves due to 'the fibre camwheel broken' problem but at a bargain price I couldn't resist

Used my connections with Oselli Engineering, who were doing a 3.1 conversion of the Essex V6 with 227 bhp , to help sort out 'an interesting engine' to go in the SE5A. Didn't increase capacity and don't know what power at the wheels was but it needed the LSD rear axle I got from Robin Rew. Came in useful in Suffolk in the early '80's when we had several winters with a lot of snow. LSD and chains on the rear and that steel chassis plate underneath the rad' back to the sump meant I could charge through snowdrifts like a snowplough. B roads in Suffolk seem to zigzag along the edge of fields so lots straight followed by 90°right, straight followed by 90°left etc and you could look across the fields to see nothing is coming and enjoy a bit of 'tail out' with the GTE ... Next car I bought was an Eclat Riviera and then realised the GTE was really just a 'high speed Ford tractor' ... going through corners I knew at much higher speeds and nothing was happening until I eventually found the Eclat would 'drift' beautifully at a cornering speed that seemed unreal, no tail out, no understeer, just a little drift ... but Eclat is a much lighter & wider car, bigger tyres, and much lower C of G when compared to the GTE. I ran both for a while as the Eclat wasn't very reliable and GTE certainly wasn't quick compared to the Eclat. Good value for money though...

[Rusty Wishbone]

Oh, Sod it... trying not to go off topic about GTE's so sent a PM to Alan but what the hell ... [/i]

As initiator of this topic, feel free to head off in any direction you wish

There is a whole auction of interesting cars to pore over.

[John_W]

There is a whole auction of interesting cars to pore over.

You are certainly right there. I have locked my cheque book away.
I was at the Glamis show today and there was an Austin Healey 3000 mk3 that had me twitching to let the moths out of my sporran.

[M100_DMM]

Mind you, that lift off oversteer on a greasy Scottish Borders road would take some handling

I didn't see the M100 when I was there so it is maybe a late entry ?? Looks nice from the photos so may be tempted to press the button

Modern tyres and a small tweak to the suspension geometry work wonders, Mark.

The Elan looks nice, but I'd be inclined to give it a fairly thorough once-over (in so far as permissible) before throwing my wallet in the ring.

[Steve A]

I had 2 Scimitar back in the 70s one had a reg BOY 25H how I wish I still had it Quick car in its day but a bit tail end happy if you pushed it to hard.

I was also once an owner of what was commonly known a "plastic pig", has anybody mentioned princess Ann yet

I found an old picture of my "Plastic Pig" BTW I also had it sideways
Even the incidental background cars are classic's

[Saltire]

Now that's what I call a "courageous" car colour (the Minor convertible in the background). Or has the film faded somewhat? I certainly don't remember it being a standard factory colour.