The two-seat Lotus Elan – conceived by Colin Chapman – was a thrilling car when it was introduced in 1962. A lightweight fiberglass body with a twin cam engine developed by Harry Mundy (of Facel fame), the Elan could jet from zero to sixty in just over seven seconds. If that wasn’t enough, handling was its strong suit. Its smartly designed wishbone chassis provided rigidity and the unique suspension components gave a great ride. To widen the Elan’s market appeal, a four-seater was introduced in 1967. The Elan +2 was the “luxury” offering, with a parcel-shelf-sized back seat for the children. This new version lost little of the performance of the smaller two-seater but came in a sleek wrapper with a sloped nose and graceful greenhouse. Here on craigslist is a 1970 Lotus Elan +2 project car for sale, with an asking price of $10,000. This car is located in Redding, California. You’ll need a trailer because it doesn’t run. Thanks to Don L. for this tip!
The Elan’s motor was a jewel. The twin cam in-line four-cylinder began life with a displacement of 1.5 liters but by the time the Elan +2 came along, it displaced 1.6 liters. The carburetor situation was somewhat complicated depending on where the car was sold and which series it was, but generally, cars delivered to the US were fitted with Strombergs, and cars staying in the UK received Webers. The cylinder heads for the two sets of carbs are different. Fitting a Weber head to a Stromberg block requires some fiddling. This car already comes with the Weber head and carbs. Horsepower is in the 118 area, and the top speed was claimed to be 120 mph. The transmission was a four-speed manual. Note the air cleaner has lost its front cover in favor of velocity stacks – kinda neat.
I love the interior of the +2. Of all the British cars I’ve ever seen – that’s plenty – this one most evokes the notion of an airplane cockpit, with an abundance of gauges and switches laid against that luxe wood dash. The seller indicates that this car’s interior is in great condition, though the photo is not perfectly revealing.
The car has been sitting, covered, since 1983. The British Racing Green paint is believed to be original. Prices for these versions of the Elan have been rising. Not long ago the 2+2 configuration was considered adamantly undesirable; now some Elan +2 cars rival their two-seat counterparts in value. Lotus cars offer a lot of scope for performance improvements too, particularly in the engine department. At this price, I’m not going to call it a bargain, but it’s not unreasonable given what we see here.
Could be a great project. Note: the velocity stacks are part of the Webers and the air filter cover fits over it, wherever it is now. Blast to drive fits the entire Elan line.
Absolute bargain.
Nice looking car…listing is gone. I know this slander, but I pick up on some Opel gt cues, especially with the headlights up.
Sidenote regarding a Lotus Europa. I saw a pristine red Europa at the recent Zionsville, Indiana all British car show. I did not realize how small and low they are. You better be under 5’8″ and 150 pounds
Love to hear from folks who drove these. Most of us have never experienced a super liteweight rwd manual sportscar.
“What am I too you???” Said the early Mazda Miata.
Or, ya know… any Mazda Miata.
Just an FYI seller has posted this on FB as well and mentioned he’d take $6500 without the motor. Seems a heck of deal for someone wanting to do a motor upgrade such as a Ztec motor.
Sold
@Stan My 64 S2 Elan is still at the top of my all time list of cars owned, driven, and BADLY missed. I had mine in the 70s, when I was working at a Lotus servicing dealer and all around foreign car repair show in Avon Ma. called the Pit Stop with a couple of gearhead racers. Mine came out of New Hampshire and I drove it all over New England. Here’s what you really need to know. If the headlight vacuum system was less than intact, and you jumped on the throttle, the headlights would retract, most exciting at night! And if you romped on a cloverleaf, all the oil would slosh away from the pickup in the pan, and the oil pressure would simply go away, heart stopping! Both problems are remedied easily enough, but those are a couple of quirks that I can attest to. Smiles per mile? A MILLION!!
When restoring a “vintage” Lotus, always begin by sitting down with a parts catalog. Order one of everything, except for carburettor kits, order four of those. Next, order several shop manuals. You need several because no two of them have the same information. Of course, its just as possible that NONE of the shop manuals will have the correct information because Lotii were all produced by hand and none of the hands were attached to brains that could read a design blueprint. And that is a good thing because the blueprints were wrong anyway. But when you get done restoring, and your stint in rehab is over, you will very quickly learn to love these little buggers. There is nothing that drives like a Lotus. It’ll ruin you, emotionally and financially. If you have any money left, buy a roll-back truck to enable you to go get the little bugger and bring it back home. Make it a comfortable roll-back. You’ll get to spend lots of time in it.
Hi Everyone! I bought it. She will be back on the road soon. I’m waiting for parts from UK.
Congratulations! Looks like a good one.