One to Buy: ex-Bob Hayhurst 1967 Lotus Elan S3 SE FHC BRM

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<<<ONE TO BUY PORTAL
<<<CLASSIC MOTOR HUB PORTAL

In 1967, Lotus main dealer Mike Spence Ltd. created the Elan BRM special edition which most notably offered a tuned engine and unique colour scheme.

At the time, Mike Spence was in his second season as a works BRM F1 driver having spent three years with Team Lotus earlier in the decade. Accordingly, Spence was uniquely positioned to make his concept for a Lotus-BRM crossover a reality. BRM had of course already supplied tuned engines for several Lotus competition cars to include the Elan 26R and 47,

Following the death of Jim Clark at Hockenheim in April 1968, Spence re-joined Lotus for that year’s Indianapolis 500. However, he was fatally injured during practice when his four-wheel drive, gas turbine-powered Lotus 56 hit the wall and one of the car’s front wheels struck Spence’s head.

As a consequence of the tragedy at Indianapolis, the Elan BRM project was quickly abandoned. Although over 20 engines had been completed, only around ten to twelve cars were actually completed.

One of these exceedingly rare machines is currently on offer at the Classic Motor Hub showroom in the Cotswolds.

Presented in the trademark BRM colour scheme of Dark Green with Blaze Orange bumpers, this particular example was frequently hillclimbed by its first owner, Bob Hayhurst, who retained it until 1987.

Today, this super little Elan has undergone a complete restoration to include installation of a new Lotus backbone chassis. Importantly, the original chassis is offered as part of the package.

For more information visit the Classic Motor Hub website at: https://classicmotorhub.com/

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One to Buy: rare mono paint Lagoon Blue Metallic 1973 Lotus Elan Sprint FHC

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<<<ONE TO BUY PORTAL
<<<THE HAIRPIN COMPANY PORTAL

Lotus decided on a more back-to-basics approach for their successor to the Elite which had been based around a state-of-the-art fibreglass monocoque.

The resultant Elan debuted at the London Motor Show in October 1962 and featured a simple steel backbone chassis to which a fibreglass bodyshell was mounted. In the engine bay was the firm’s Ford-based dual overhead camshaft inline four.

Over the next few years a Fixed Head variant joined the original Elan Roadster and in 1970 the car’s engine was uprated to Sprint specification with larger inlet valves, hotter camshafts and improved carburettors. Famously, the Sprint was also offered with a triple-tone paint finish inspired by the Lotus racing team’s title sponsor, Gold Leaf tobacco, which saw a coloured upper body, gold pinstripe and white lower section.

Although exceedingly popular, the Gold Leaf livery was often somewhat gaudy which makes the rare Elan Sprints painted monotune exceddingly desirable today.

One such car is currently on offer with The Hairpin Company in Wiltshire.

Configured in gorgeous Lagoon Blue Metallic with Black upholstery, this particular example was ordered by a first owner who retained it until 1999. Since then the car has gone through the hands of four more owners and been subjected to a two-year restoration by Lotus specialists.

For more information visit The Hairpin Company website at: https://www.thehairpincompany.co.uk/

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VIN: The Avengers / Emma Peel Lotus Elan S3 DHC chassis 45/6114

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HISTORY OF CHASSIS 45/6114

Chassis 6114 was a Type 45 Elan S3 DHC supplied new to Associated British Productions in Teddington, London.

It was the second Elan destined for use in the popular TV show, The Avengers, after a Cirrus White S2 had appeared during series four (aired between September 1965 and March 1966).

Lotus had succeeded in getting an Elan positioned in The Avengers after Sales Director, Graham Arnold, strategically parked one outside Teddington Studios to get it noticed. The production team agreed it would make the perfect mode of transport for central protagonist John Steed’s sidekick, Emma Peel. Peel was portrayed by Diana Rigg who replaced Honor Blackman’s character, Cathy Gale.

Rigg had joined The Avengers for series four; with her avant-garde outfits, feisty personality and strong independent streak, she quickly became an icon of sixties Britain.

This was perfectly exemplified in the production team’s choice of a Lotus Elan for Emma Peel’s character. It was also a direct contrast to the cars used by suited and booted John Steed (Patrick Macnee) who relied upon a fleet of vintage Bentleys and Rolls-Royces.

As the fifth series of The Avengers was the first to be filmed in colour, it opened up a new range of possibilities for Emma Peel’s Lotus. Accordingly, the production team ordered a new Elan S3 DHC in Jaguar Opalescent Blue.

Upon completion, chassis 6114 was registered SJH 499D and fitted with a glovebox-mounted Westminster radio transceiver.

Emma Peel’s Lotus went on to appear in 19 episodes of The Avengers during season five (aired between January and November of 1967).

By this time, Diana Rigg had become a household name. However, unhappy with her treatment from the production company, she left to pursue other projects. Perhaps the most famous of these was her portrayal of Tracy Bond in the 1969 James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, opposite George Lazenby.

Although not an enthusiastic driver (she had passed her test in order to play the role of Emma Peel), Associated British Productions gifted chassis 6114 to Diana Rigg once filming for series five of the The Avengers was completed.

Soon afterwards, Rigg in turn gave the car to a friend.

By 1983, chassis 6114 was owned by a collector in Lancashire and underwent its first restoration.

Years later, the Lotus ended up in the Cars of the Stars Museum in Keswick where it remained until the exhibition closed in 2011. Chassis 6114 (along with many of the vehicles from the Cars of the Stars Museum) was purchased by Michael Dezer for his Miami Auto Museum.

Within two years this famous Lotus, which had reputedly still only covered less than 2500 miles, returned to the UK where it was restored again.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Studio Canal - https://www.studiocanal.com/

VIN: the Jack Gordon Lotus Elan S2 chassis 26/4143

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HISTORY OF CHASSIS 26/4143

Chassis 26/4143 was an Elan S2 ordered by Jack Gordon of New Providence in the Bahamas. Gordon purchased the car to contest the Nassau Speed Week races in which he had previously run an Austin-Healey Sprite (during 1963 and ‘64).

The Elan was configured in Cirrus White with a Black interior and a Grey hood. It was invoiced to East Bay Service Ltd. in Nassau on February 2nd 1965 and registered NP 8219.

Having used his Elan on the local roads for several months, Gordon began to prepare 26/4143 for the 1965 Speed Week which ran from November 11th to December 5th. To save weight, he removed the windscreen and roof assembly. An aero screen, roll over hoop and dash-mounted rear view mirror were then installed and the headlight apertures were taped up to improve airflow.

Gordon contested all three of the 1965 Speed Week events that were organised exclusively for residents of the Bahamas.

Races seven and eight (out of twelve) were a pair of five lap heats around the Oakes Field Course. Gordon was pipped to victory by Hans Schenk’s Porsche 718 RSK in Heat 1, but when Schenk dropped out early with a broken fuel pump in Heat 2, Gordon swept to victory ahead of Walt Wingenroth’s Porsche 356 Carrera.

The twelve lap Bahamas Cup took place a day later (December 5th) and would determine local bragging rights for the months to come. Unfortunately, Gordon was hampered by some kind of issue and came home in tenth. Victory went to Schenk in his red Porsche Spyder.

For 1966, Jack Gordon set about further improving 26/4143 by having the rear wheelarches flared to accommodate a set of magnesium JAP wheels. His big rival, Hans Schenk, had acquired a Porsche 904 Bergspyder, but for reasons unknown, Schenk only entered the Bahamas Cup that year. This left Gordon clear to take a brace of comfortable wins in the pair of Locals Heats on December 3rd.

In the Bahamas Cup the following day, Schenk’s race came to an end on lap six of twelve and Gordon took another win, on this occasion from Patsy Kennedy’s Porsche 356 Carrera.

Unfortunately, following Rodrigo Borjes Zingg’s death during a fiery opening lap accident in his Ferrari 365 P2 while contesting the the Nassau Trophy finale, any further running of the Bahamas Speed Week was abandoned.

Precisely how long Jack Gordon retained 26/4143 is unclear. In later years the cars was exported to the USA before making its way back to Europe in 2008.

Notable History

02/02/1965 invoiced to East Bay Service Ltd., Nassau

Sold to Jack Gordon, New Providence

04/12/1965 BSW Nassau Locals Heat 1 (J. Gordon) 2nd oa (#111N)
04/12/1965 BSW Nassau Locals Heat 2 (J. Gordon) 1st oa (#111N)
05/12/1965 BSW Bahamas Cup (J. Gordon) 10th oa (#111N)

03/12/1966 BSW Nassau Locals Heat 1 (J. Gordon) 1st oa (#111N)
03/12/1966 BSW Nassau Locals Heat 2 (J. Gordon) 1st oa (#111N)
04/12/1966 BSW Bahamas Cup (J. Gordon) 1st oa (#111N)

Later exported to the USA and then back to Europe

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed

Guide: Lotus Type 26 Elan S1 & S2 - a Historical & Technical Appraisal

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<<<TYPE 26 ELAN FOR SALE

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 / TRANSMISSION

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

Short: Lotus Elan - Jim Clark's company cars

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Jim Clark was custodian of three Lotus Elans prior to his untimely death in April 1968.

A Team Lotus driver for his entire F1 career, Clark had just completed his successful 1962 campaign (which yielded three wins and second in the Driver’s standings) when Colin Chapman gave him the keys to 997 NUR.

Although built to standard specification, this was no ordinary Elan. It was actually unit number 001 (chassis 002): the first pre-production development car manufactured.

Painted Carmen Red with a silver prototype hardtop, Clark ran 997 NUR for about nine months and covered over 15,000 miles in it. 002 was often seen at racing circuits during Clark’s 1963 campaign which yielded his first Formula 1 Driver’s title (with seven Grand Prix wins from ten races).

Always the property of Lotus Cars, after Clark’s custodianship, it returned to the factory and was freshened up before being sold to Clark’s early mentor, Ian Scott Watson in Berwick.

One of eight Elans equipped with the smaller 1498cc version of the Ford Twin Cam engine, Scott Watson blew the original motor during an overtake so Colin Chapman sent up a standard 1558cc replacement the following day.

Clark’s next Elan was a unique Radford conversion: S1 unit 26/3387 (registration CRO 291B).

Painted Cirrus White with matching hardtop and red upholstery, it was specially enhanced with electric windows, a padded dashboard and customised switchgear on the transmission tunnel.

Whereas 997 NUR was later discover in scrapyard, the Radford conversion was stolen and never recovered.

By contrast, Clark’s final Elan remained treasured in long term ownership.

Unit 36/6778 was a standard 1966 S3 SE Fixed-Head Coupe painted Lotus Yellow. Registered NLD 550E, it was later given to Clark’s dear friend, Gerard Crombac.

Crombac was the founder of the French magazine, Sport Auto. For a while, he and Clark shared an apartment in Paris.

Crombac retained the car until the early 2000s.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lotus - https://www.lotuscars.com