Now SOLD to Roger in North Carolina! This will be Roger’s second car from us! Congratulations on a BEAUTIFUL addition to your collection!
This is a special opportunity to own a very special car! I’ve always been passionate about Lotus Elans, and I found this one about seven years ago and have loved it ever since. However, it’s time for it to move on to a new home. I really only got to drive it a few times in past year, and it’s a shame to see it spending more time sitting in storage than out on the road.
So today we have for you my personal Lotus Elan, which has been very well prepared by our staff over the years for a delightful driving experience.
This is a car that you wear; I’ll never forget my first time climbing into one back in the late ’70s and taking it for a drive. It’s truly a car unlike any other. There is something so special about nesting your arm into the driver’s door and coming to the realization that this is a completely minimalist car that’s designed with low weight and high performance in mind. It handles brilliantly, and the steering input and throttle response are always right where you expect it to be and available on demand. The exhaust note is delicious. You can see from my writing why it’s been difficult for me to let go of this car.
When I purchased a car in 2015, it had a completely rebuilt engine which still looks and runs like brand new. We’ve completely rebuilt the Stromberg carburetors and they work flawlessly; they’ve been re-bushed and they’re probably better than new. As such, I have not had any desire to have Weber carburetors on this vehicle; I know the early Elans came equipped with Webers, and sometimes people retrofit them to later cars, but I would not encourage anyone to buy this car and exchange the Strombergs for Webers. The Strombergs work perfectly in this application. Power is excellent, idle is excellent, start up is excellent.
We’ve also changed a bunch of the suspension bushings to tighten things up, and as a result the car rides and handles like new. We put in a cone-shaped K&N air filter to feed the airbox and improve the filtration for this new engine, which has also been a very worthwhile upgrade. The culmination of all of these upgrades is a very special driving experience. The car handles fantastically on back roads but also drives quite nicely on the highway. The only thing that we haven’t addressed is that the speedometer is reading higher than it should, so it’s not very accurate, but other than that everything on the car works (including the heat!). We put on a new top this year and I’ve been able to use this car in the fall, when most other convertibles have been put away; of course, it’s never been used in inclement weather, but it’s nice to be able to use it on a 40° day when the roads are clear and dry. The top fits really nicely and the electric windows work perfectly and make the car pretty weather-tight, particularly with the good heater and fan turned up.
The interior on this car is excellent; it’s an original textured vinyl that’s in sensational shape. I don’t think a lot of miles have been put on this car; it shows approximately 66,500 miles on the odometer and I believe that to be the original mileage. The interior reflects this. It’s in really nice condition, and the dashboard woodwork is also excellent.
The paint is average, typical of an original paint Elan from this era, with some cracking and fading present. I’ve seen newly-painted Elans and always wondered how anybody expected them to look good for very long, because the car is a little bit crude in its fit and finish. They were all built this way, and I don’t think painting an Elan is a particularly smart endeavor, but certainly everyone likes a nicely restored car, so people will keep painting them. Nevertheless, to me this car has an excellent driver quality paint job that is just perfect enough for me, and I didn’t have to worry about it or concern myself with any little nick or chip, not that I added any because I’m pretty obsessive about my cars. I believe the next owner of this car will be someone who appreciates it like I did, for its heritage and its joyful driving experience, and the external cosmetics are somehow secondary. To me the car looks perfect enough.
Much about this car is so raw and crude, the price that was paid to prioritize performance. The way the hood opens, the fit and finish, even the plywood trunk floor, which appears to be original. Colin Chapman knew how to build a fast, stripped-down performance car, and this Elan is evidence of that. So if you’re looking for a rare classic car that is unlike any other, check out my Elan; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! You could drive it cross-country tomorrow. Most of these Elans seem to be pretty clapped out; this one is just a joy to drive.
Give me a call today if you’d like to take home this wonderful piece of British engineering!
