Guide: Lotus Type 26 Elan S1 & S2
Background
Between 1957 and 1963, Lotus lost money on every Type 14 Elite they sold.
Instead of a conventional separate body and chassis, the Elite was built around an advanced monocoque made from glass-reinforced-plastic (GRP).
GRP was used for the Elite’s entire load-bearing structure, not just the exterior skin.
The Elite also bristled with other complex components like an all-alloy Coventry Climax FWE engine and fully independent suspension.
Light, fast and extremely pretty, it was also very expensive to build as monocoque and GRP production methods were still in their infancy.
For the Elite’s replacement, Lotus switched to a more straightforward and less costly arrangement.
The Type 26 Elan was launched at the Earls Court Motor Show in October 1962. It featured a GRP bodyshell mounted on a steel backbone chassis and was powered by a Ford engine modified by Lotus to incorporate dual overhead camshafts.
Manufactured between 1962 and 1966, the Type 26 Elan transformed Lotus’ balance sheet.
It later spawned Type 36 Fixed-Head and Type 45 Drop-Head variants.
Chassis
The folded steel backbone chassis was constructed primarily from 18 gauge mild steel with 16 gauge stiffeners. It weighed just 40kg.
At the front, fully independent suspension was via double wishbones with coil spring and damper units. Front uprights were sourced from Triumph.
A Chapman Strut arrangement was used at the back with a single wishbone bolted to the base of a cast aluminium upright. The coil spring and shock absorber were integrated to the upright and bolted via a rubber ‘Lotocone‘ coupling to the chassis suspension tower.
Girling supplied the ventilated disc brakes. They had a 241mm diameter at the front (outboard) and 254mm diameter at the rear (semi-inboard).
Pressed-steel bolt-on wheels had a 13-inch diameter and measured 4.5-inches wide. They were originally shod with Goodyear tyres.
A 45.5-litre fuel tank was located in the trunk.
Bodywork
The Ron Hickman-designed GRP bodyshell was mounted to the chassis with 16 bolts. Although not a load-bearing structure, it did contribute to the Elan’s overall stiffness.
Hickman’s two-seat roadster featured an aerodynamic profile with retractable headlights that were operated by a vacuum cylinder. Silver-painted full-width wraparound bumpers were fitted at either end.
Compact and handsome with short overhangs, the overall design changed very little before production finally ended in 1973.
Fabrication of the bodyshell was initially contracted to S. Bourne & Co. (Plastics) Ltd. of Nottingham. An order was placed for 1000 bodies to be completed at the rate of 20 per week.
However, because of production problems, fabrication was taken in-house after less than 200 Bourne-bodied Elans had been completed.
Interior
For such a small car, the Elan’s cockpit was remarkably spacious and could comfortably accommodate tall drivers.
The seats were upholstered in vinyl. Rubber mat was used to cover the floors and rear bulkhead. Door panels were padded leatherette. The dash and transmission tunnel trim were formed in textured plastic.
A teak-veneered dash housed a Smiths rev counter and speedometer directly behind the wood-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel. Either side of the main instruments was a fuel meter and combined oil pressure / water temperature gauge.
The dash was also home to a bewildering array of unmarked toggle switches and levers.
Windows could be manually slid up and down, but there was not enough space within the doors for a traditional winding mechanism.
Erecting the hood involved the assembly of aluminium poles to form the basic structure. The canvas roof was then fastened in place over the top.
Engine / Gearbox
The Elan was the first production car to feature the new 1.5-litre Lotus Ford twin-cam engine.
This cracking little motor made its debut in the back of a Lotus 23 driven by Jim Clark at the Nurburgring 1000km race on May 27th 1962.
Entered under the auspices of the Essex Racing Team (but with Lotus Development Director, Mike Costin, in charge of operations), the diminutive Lotus proved the sensation of the race.
Against bigger-engined works cars from Ferrari and Porsche, Clark took the lead on the first lap. He stayed there until lap twelve when a broken exhaust caused the cockpit to fill with fumes.
Overcome, Clark crashed before Trevor Taylor had a chance to drive.
The engine was a four cylinder Ford 116E five bearing block enhanced by Lotus with an aluminium dual overhead camshaft head. The cylinder heads and production engines were assembled in Tottenham by JA Prestwich (JAP).
Most of JAP’s shares were owned by the Villiers Engineering Company and, in 1963, production moved north to Wolverhampton.
Displacement was initially 1499cc, but after 22 cars had been completed, the 100bhp 1.5-litre engine was replaced with a 1.6-litre unit. All 22 of the 1.5-litre cars were recalled to the Lotus factory in Cheshunt where they received the later engine.
Bore had been stretched from 81mm to 82.57mm. Stroke went unchanged at 72.75mm. Displacement was now 1558cc.
With a 9.5:1 compression ratio and two twin-choke Weber 40 DCOE sidedraught carburettors, peak output rose to 105bhp at 5500rpm. The torque rating was 108lb-ft at 4000rpm.
The engine was coupled to a Ford four-speed manual synchromesh gearbox via a hydraulic single dry-plate clutch. The gearbox was housed in a special aluminium casing designed in-house at Lotus.
Weight / Performance
The 585kg, Elan went on to dazzle road testers with its delightful handling and spirited performance.
A top speed of 115mph and 0-62mph time of seven seconds put the car in rarefied company.
Options
Buyers could enhance their cars with a heater, tonneau and radio.
Soon after launch, a hardtop also became available as did a close-ratio gearbox, oil cooler and Dunlop SP tyres.
S1 Production Changes
Before long, a lockable glove box was added.
From the 100th example built, a new clutch master cylinder was fitted.
End of S1 Production
Production of the S1 continued until November 1964.
By this time, around 800 had been completed.
Chassis numbers began at 26/0001, but were not sequential.
By the time the S2 was introduced in November 1964, the last S1 had been numbered 26/3900.
Elan S2
The first S2 Elan was chassis 26/3901, but it wasn’t until chassis 26/4109 that the full complement of updates had filtered through to production.
Early S2s featured improved cooling and fuel supply plus a quick-release petrol cap.
Other changes included chrome-bezelled instruments, smaller pedal pads and redesigned chrome window lifters.
When 26/4109 rolled off the production line a few weeks later, all the S2 improvements were finally in place.
There were new front brake calipers with larger diameter pistons, a new brake master cylinder, a new clutch master cylinder, revised rear brake discs, an uprated differential and new intermediate and outboard shafts.
S2 Production Changes
From chassis 26/4127, one-piece rear light clusters were fitted.
A little later, the battery was moved from behind the passenger seat to the left-hand side of the trunk.
Around the same time, Lotus began to offer the option of centre-lock steel wheels instead of the standard four-bolt type.
Special Equipment Package
From January 1966, the Special Equipment or SE pack was added to the options list.
It came with new carburettor chokes and jets plus high lift camshafts that increased power to 115bhp at 6000rpm. A close-ratio gearbox was included in the price along with servo-assisted brakes.
The additional 10bhp gave a useful performance boost; top speed rose to 120mph and 0-62mph dropped to under seven seconds.
Some early cars were sent back to the factory and converted to Special Equipment trim.
All SEs featured a green Lotus cylinder head in place of the standard blue item.
End of S2 Production
The last S2 built was chassis 26/5810 in June 1966.
Somewhere in the region of 1300 were produced.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lotus - https://www.lotuscars.com
