The Lotus Elan, an unsuspecting giant killer 

Yeah. When both in GM ownership the plans of the elan were given to a Brit design house who converted it to a steel body for Mazda

@@oneoldgit What a pile of , sorry you say "crock" over the pond.

@@oneoldgit GM have never owned Mazda. The dimensions of the MX5 are nowhere near the same as the Elan. And finally, IAD in the UK created a prototype for Mazda featuring a fibreglass body. The Elan was a source of inspiration for the MX5, nothing more.

@@mrdainase I must admit I have always believed the story about Mazda being owned by GM. But having checked you are correct. However I worked with guys from IAD who claimed that was the case. They also said they had the drawings of the Lotus to use as guide lines.

As an older guy, when I drive my Miata, I often fantasize an Elan, especially after watching a video like this. It's true. Sure wish my dashboard look more like that!

They are suprisingly quick and fun to drive!

Looks like instruments are not working at all!

I have a 72 TR6 and a 71 Elan. I have a definite favourite!

Mine as well, top ten in fact. Though I wonder if I could fit in one. My knees are in the dash of my little, but comparably much larger NB Miata.

He owned a couple +2 including an S 130. In the US the S 130 came with a Stromberg head. Get one with a Weber head. They can be converted though. The +2 is a fantastic touring car in my opinion. Plenty of space. You can bring a jacket and a hat. I sold an Esprit for lack of space inside. Not useful as a touring car at all.

@@paulblouin6955 That is good advice, thank you. Still looking.

Copied the plans when both in GM ownership

@@oneoldgit Oh dear.....

Thats bootstrap, im currently in the proccess of restoring.... in my spare time 😅

They took the wipers off because racecar...

I own an elan m100 miatas arch nemesis 😂 but got u wave from a miata the other day or because I'm from Scotland mx5

In my experience, 90 percent of the folks driving a manual transmission don’t know how to do it with elan.

Ouch poor clutch. Also none of the gauges work????

Maybe it's still has its original Rotoflex couplings, which need a different technique to avoid kangaroo starts

And or one is trying not to run over their videographer 😆

There’s two positions for the seats - second one is designed so someone more your height can fit into one

Hmmm...street engine pushing out 181bhp, please post engine spec - you maybe able to make a fortune.

@@richarda8097 The 26R put out 180bhp in 1964... I think perhaps a good engine tuner could emulate that these days without too much trouble... 😊👍

Hi Barry Agreed. The Ian Walker prepared 26r knocked out around 180bhp in race trim, but that wouldn't be very useful for street use...as originally asserted. Imho 150bhp is about as far as you get for street use and keeping to the original 1558cc. But if someone has come up with super-duper spec that offers a tractable non-turbo'd or nitro'd 180bhp, I would love to see sight of the spec.

@@AskewRichard et al • New CNC Lotus Twincam Weber cylinder head. Street ported. Aluminum LM25 TF alloy. No cam bearings needed. • New Weber DCOE 40’s (151) with relatively small 32 mm chokes for better street tractability but engine still is able to develop substantial horsepower and torque at streetable rpms (7K redline). This elevated output belies the common wisdom that Weber 45’s and larger chokes are needed to generate this level of power. Horsepower and torque are similar or exceed the performance of many Lotus 26R and GTS racing variants and at lower (non-race) rpm’s. • Valves: Manley Mfg. Stainless steel with hard chrome finish on stems. 1.625” on the intake and 1.375” on the exhaust. By comparison with the Elan “Big Valve” Sprint @ 1.565” intake, 1.325” exhaust. • Cams: Kent Cams. High lift/short duration o Lift 0.440” gross vs Elan Sprint “D” cam @ 0.360” o 250deg duration measured @ .050” lift vs Sprint 232deg o 105deg lobe center on the intake and 107deg lobe center on the exhaust o 0.008” lash intake cold o 0.010” lash exhaust cold • Formula Ford SCAT crank, robust square main bearing caps • Long 4.928" rods vs standard 4.8”, ARP 2000 bolts • Custom forged CP racing pistons, 3.2765" in diameter, Engine Bore 3.2795 (83.3mm vs 82.5). Displacement: 1692 cc vs 1558 • 10.25 compression ratio, uses unleaded pump gas (US 91 (R+M)/2 octane) • Custom made Lotus 26R deep airbox and mounting plate (the smaller stock airbox reduced bhp by 7hp on the dyno) • Custom baffled engine sump to reduce cornering oil pressure losses • Lightened flywheel (Fidanza), saves 7.5 pounds and provides more dynamic response of the engine. No loss of smoothness at idle or in street driving. Dyno at the flywheel: 181.3 @ 6900, 142.9 torque @5100 . ~Flat torque 4K - 7K Thus, it is reasonable that the Vegher engine in this car could be in the 150 hp range. Lest, those doubters think that my engine is unique and not legitimately developing the stated power, please see Lotus7.com for similar examples of modern high output twin cams from another master builder, Tony Ingram. lotus7.com/1741_CC.html

@@AskewRichard True - then.... My point was that with today's engineering a lot more is available - reliably too... 😊

Correct. In actual fact Colin Chapman managed to provide a completed car, less the road wheels fitted. That got round the car sales tax for a while until the government cottoned on...

British racing green.

@@FerrarisOnline Must be a darker shade of BRG... looks much richer and deeper than the typical Lotus BRG - Either way pretty awesome car, nice review!

@@michaelreis4789 thanks.

...I think you'll find it was from a Ford Corsair GB not Anglia.

If your talking about the project car in primer, it is a replica Ferrari 512M (the racecar not the street car.) 🙂

@@FerrarisOnline yes that’s the one!! You have some very interesting projects on the go!!

Ah, imho there's no better sound than an brace of 40DCOE's wide open responding to a lumpy cam on a clear road !!!

Neither was I so I bought +2s 130, which has better lines and more room.

We just got a frame off resto europa. :) I just have to assembled it. Should be fun.

@@FerrarisOnline well they are easy to take apart - as in body off chassis. The S2 wasn’t so good with its Renault engine but the twin cam is good fun. The ones destined for the states lacked the same performance due to emissions regs. Fitted with rubbish Strombergs aligned to paired up inlet ports on the cylinder heads. That Elan you have is how we got them in the U.K.

This elan sold, however we do have a europa undergoing a restoration at the moment.

Not true.The Webber dcoe was fitted to all series elans from the start although engine output was gradually increased as the years went by. The Strombergs only appeared on some series 4 cars mainly for US emission versions but not exclusively so. Some Sprints were supplied with Dellorto carbs similar to the Webbers but I am not sure why this was done, possibly supply issues.

Big Value engine? I think it was Big Valve.

Cage is currently out of the car. As it was in the proccess of being restored

The trick is to always have a passenger. Then, when you pull out, you glance across to their face. If it's stark horror, you know something's coming the other way.

Exactly!

To add,, the gyrating and gesticulating and hair flipping is annoying.

And also across the pond, they call them Jagwar not JagUar

If you want to be a pronunciation Nazi, it's actually spoken as Eylarn. You're welcome.

@@jeffhildreth9244 Well, you should stop doing it then.