Elite/Eclat/Excel video & picture thread!

[johnpwalsh]

Chopper blade wheels on a Riviera if I'm correct.

[exeterjeep]

15 minutes ago, johnpwalsh said:

wheels on a Riviera

This was not a Riviera, it came with the bonnet and I bought a Riviera boot lid from Derek Dean at Donnington(?)  one year, had it sprayed to match.  Preferred it with the little lip on the end.

[exeterjeep]

My elite s2 and another éclat s2 also had the same style wheels. The blue car being the worst Lotus I bought as it was only running 3 cylinders when I bought it.

[rjwooll]

On 03/03/2021 at 17:28, exeterjeep said:

Not seen them on an elite, of my elites/eclats the favourite ones I had were this style.

Those are Speedline wheels. The design was first introduced on the Esprit S2 in 1978, then on the Eclat and Elite S2.2 (although some Elites continued to use the GKN Turbines), and then on the early Excels until they went to 15” wheels. The design was another of Oliver Winterbottom’s ‘Saturday morning specials’ having been asked by Chapman to come up with a replacement for the Wolfrace wheels used on the S1 Esprit, while Oliver was working at JCL Marine, Chapman’s boat company.

Cheers, Richard

[rjwooll]

On 03/03/2021 at 16:31, exeterjeep said:

2 more - scanned from some old prints, bought a new scanner last week to try to scan more.

The eclat520 I pictured at the factory in 1977 may have had the same wheels. I have never seen an elite with these rims.

I have some pics somewhere of the first elite I saw that was not at a dealer, a nice N reg blue one. Was what made me really want to buy one.

Fabulous pictures! That 520 has the 13” steel wheels - very rare, you don’t see many. The car would have had the Ford four speed gearbox. The wheels were from the Lotus Cortina and may also have been used on the Elan range. Notice the absence of door mirrors on this entry level car!

[makkyh]

Lotus 5.msg

Hi Keith, couldn't resist this.

Same pose some years later.

[exeterjeep]

I knew the car was still around I saw a pic of it at Hethel. I owned it for about 21 years, I got the provenance certificate from Andy G at Lotus (got it free as I did some photo research etc for him). Always thought I would be buried with it...

I took a number of pics of it on the day it left me. So I as then without a Lotus for about 5 years. Has it been re-sprayed yet, as the colour was a bit different on the top and bottom. It looks as if the stripes I put on are still on it.  When I bought it , it had the wiper parked on the wrong side and a covered up access hole where the window motor was accessed. 

There is one(or more?)  elite s2 in the same colour I had seen several times at shows in years gone by.

[makkyh]

The car did have a re spray about 6 years ago, plus re trimmed. I bet it was a wrench when it went. I still have all your paperwork.

I have seen the other Altair Elite, I believe it is up for sale. If you are ever this way, please pop over and taker her for a spin.

[exeterjeep]

1 hour ago, makkyh said:

The car did have a re spray about 6 years ago, plus re trimmed.

That must have been shortly after  I sold it. It was sold to a bloke from the north somewhere.

During the time I had it, it only broke down once - but it restarted straight away. When i had a problem with the left headlight, it turned out to be the wiring in the engine bay where the cable had been immersed in water in the lower part of the right headlamp.  London lots did not find out where the problem was, it went to an electrical local garage and they found out, they were in contact with lotus factory to find a new loom, lotus sent a number down but in the end the garage had to adapt one of the new ones using the parts of the old one as well. Lotus told them it was a bit of a hybrid as it was an early S2, having non galvanised rear radius arms, possibly an experimental 2.2 engine and hence the wiring. I still have a replacement headlamp motor that i bought s/h from derek dean. I did have the headlining done and re-plated the rear hatch hinges.

The main reason it went was I had acquired a 4th mg zr to play with and was not using it much and then the wife stepped in. If I was left to my own devices I would have a field full of cars either jeeps/mg or lotus. And need more garaging.

The day it left 'home'.....

[makkyh]

Well it has a good home now. The offer stands.

Another strange coincidence is I have a 1941 Willy's too.

[exeterjeep]

No longer have any Jeeps, previously had a 2005 GC 3.0 crd, 1996 Cherokee 4.0, 2000 Cherokee 4.0 Orvis, 2008 Cherokee 2.8td (rare kk shape) and a 1.4 Renegade DDCT (ddct not great) Jeeps are a bit different from most other cars and I thought the renegade looks a bit like a Tonka toy - but I liked the look.

Yours is a real classic. 

[89esprit]

Found this little tidbit on YouTube last night.  

1976 Lotus Elite driving review and road test - YouTube

[Don.Hasi]

Nice find of a true and honest review.

By the way... to be honest I am waiting now several years of a similar nice picture set of your wedges in the same way as your Esprit @89esprit  will it ever appear?

[Zeb]

Greetings from Berlin Germany 

[ChrisJ]

Lovely looking car.

[phoenix]

So nice to see an early excel in such a lovely condition. 

[EXCEL V8]

And great number plate!  😀

Pete

[johnpwalsh]

Nice number plate did you say. What about this one on the wifes Excel. C 10TOS

[EXCEL V8]

😅😅

[Zeb]

8 hours ago, phoenix said:

So nice to see an early excel in such a lovely condition. 

Thanks. And it is in non-restored original condition. Really exceptionally nice example original paint 50.000 mls from new everything 100%stock.  It will need some work coming winter as the suspension parts are a little rusty. Otherwise clean with nice patina. Only had it for a month. The more i use it the better it gets..so far. Everything is working. Previous owner only drove like 150mls in the past 7 years. 

[Zeb]

5 hours ago, EXCEL V8 said:

And great number plate!  😀

Pete

Thanks. Us germans can’t get any creative with personalized plates. Only fixed city code 2 alphabetic characters and 3 to 4 digit number. H for historic in this case. That’s it.
This fixed systematic, lack of creativity and most importantly lack of any humor coupled with a shitty font which does not lent to any alpha numeric associative intermingling  makes it quite hard. 

on the plus side we do not have any expensive plates.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Zeb

[johnpwalsh]

I was lucky in that the plate came on another Excel I bought blind years ago. I just transferred it to the wifes Excel. It's now going to be transferred to my Esprit.

[89esprit]

On 19/04/2021 at 06:18, Don.Hasi said:

Nice find of a true and honest review.

By the way... to be honest I am waiting now several years of a similar nice picture set of your wedges in the same way as your Esprit @89esprit  will it ever appear?

I'll dig one up!

[89esprit]

Here you are @Don.Hasi 

[phoenix]

Early elite in blue with cream interior.  An object of beauty.