Social distancing drive with mates

sdibbers

Well-Known Member
Made for an eclectic mix on the roads of New York and New Jersey.
Glad to say Beryl held up beautifully to 150 mile round trip.
 

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Good to see an early Renault engined Europa alive and well. I had a '75 Twin Cam Special, very nearly the last one made, very late car. They are very much an acquired taste.
 
Good to see an early Renault engined Europa alive and well. I had a '75 Twin Cam Special, very nearly the last one made, very late car. They are very much an acquired taste.
Good eye! In true Lotus fashion it ran out of fuel at the beginning of the run. Turns out the fuel gauge doesn’t register under 1/4 of tank.
 
Some of thats very expensive tin in its day and probably more so now.
One thing I’ve realized is E types are under valued in the US compared to the UK and Europe.
Other thing, is cars were way more colourful back then.
 
Great seeing you out and about with the classics. Off for an all Brit car club ride in 20 minutes myself. We meet up and decide if anyone wants to take a drive, Usually in the 100-150 mile range thru Sonoma, Marin and perhaps Napa counties.Club Ride.jpeg
 
Hnnnggghhhh! There's a yellow one of those street parked not far from me. I sometimes walk a slightly longer detour to pay my respects, so to speak. Lovely things. Yours looks immaculate, as does the aforementioned slumbering banana, which doesn't seem to ever move, yet is always shiny and resplendent.
 
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Smashing car! My dad's is egg-yellow with a silver roof. Original paint with some slight gelcoat cracks, but looks great. They are just amazing handling and driving cars!
 
You are correct. The Elan is the benchmark for handling bar none.
Mine, being an S130 had the silver roof, which is not paint, it is metalflake sprayed into the mould during the shell manufacture. As a result the top gel coat over the metal flake yellows with age making the roof go gold in colour.
When I stripped the car bare to respray I took the decision to cover up the roof.
I malign the old thing on a regular basis, it's payback for all the blood and sweat lost trying to fix it over my ownership. But when it is on song, when, it is the most glorious driving experience ever.
 
Here's the yellow one I mentioned, whose roof does appear to be going golden, and a red one I spotted in Berlin last spring.

yellow-elan-plustwo.jpg

red-elan-plustwo.jpg

I just noticed the front wheel arch is a goofy sort of shape, and now I can't "unsee it".
 
Goofy shape is not helped by the shadow cast on the tyre, I think it is OK. These cars were subject to a lot of dodgy repairs when crashed in the past. Wheeler dealers did an Elan and the car had different shaped wheel arches front to back, series 3 one end and series 4 the other, clearly a front end grafted on in the past and no one checked to see if they got the right one. Edd didn't realise either.

The yellow one is a belter.
Useless fact..... The little stainless steel trim around the air intake on the yellow one comes from a Ford Anglia van, made from unobtainium they are one of the hardest things to find and are not reproduced.
 
Wheeler dealers did an Elan and the car had different shaped wheel arches front to back, series 3 one end and series 4 the other, clearly a front end grafted on in the past and no one checked to see if they got the right one.

On a similar theme, I did recovery work for a commercial vehicle workshop, and they had to fit a new front wing to a ford A-Series. The front wheel had to come off so it could be welded on inside the arch, it was all fitted and sprayed, all going well until time to refit the wheel, and it wouldn't fit. Turns out that the trucks with 16" wheels had a larger arch on the wing than for those running 14" wheels, and they'd been supplied with, and had fitted, the wrong wing..... oh dear, out with the air chisel then...
 
On a similar theme, I did recovery work for a commercial vehicle workshop, and they had to fit a new front wing to a ford A-Series. The front wheel had to come off so it could be welded on inside the arch, it was all fitted and sprayed, all going well until time to refit the wheel, and it wouldn't fit. Turns out that the trucks with 16" wheels had a larger arch on the wing than for those running 14" wheels, and they'd been supplied with, and had fitted, the wrong wing..... oh dear, out with the air chisel then...
Tis easy done I guess :oops:
 
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