Elva Engineering was an English builder of sports and racing cars. The Courier was one of their core products and the autos relied on MG as its source for chassis components and drivetrains. A roadster came first in 1958, followed by a coupe in 1962, which includes the seller’s project. It’s likely no older than ’62 and is said to have rusted from the bottom out. Claimed to be a one-owner vehicle, this oddity is available here on Facebook Marketplace for an unknown price (a plug figure of $1.2 million was used). This tip was brought to us by Barn Finder Saul T. Steyk.
The name of the company (Elva) was derived from the French phrase “ell ava” which translates as “she goes”. The Courier was its “main road car” and may have seen 500 copies built over the duration. Most of them were exported, which should explain why this example has left hand drive. SCCA racer Mark Donahue had some success racing these cars, which were largely MGAs under the skin (except for the independent from suspension which was done in-house).
The coupe, like the one you see here, came on the scene in the early 1960s and perhaps accounted for 200 of the total Courier production. Little is known about this little car which may have been a racer given the faded stripe across the hood. A total restoration is recommended, so if you have access to an MGA with a bad body but a good chassis, you may be able to marry the two together. I was not familiar with this sports car before now – how about you?
It should be ”Elle va” in french to be precise.
Never seen these.
Top is too high, looks weird.
I guess that is so you could wear a top hat.
Maybe it was manufactured for Wilt Chamberlain, who was 7 feet 1 inch tall.
“Saul T Steyk” Sure sounds like Salty Steak lol
The Elva’s are rare but that does not necessarily make them valuable. For me,
I would not even attempt to restore this to original. Who really would know anyway but a handful of people in the world? If I was to play with this project,
I would find a donor car chassis and drivetrain ( like a Miata) and graft this body onto it. My brother grafted a Morris Minor body onto a Miata subframe and it came out great as Resto Mod and a solid driver! It brought out many smiles from the public!!
The Elva’s are rare but that does not necessarily make them valuable. For me,
I would not even attempt to restore this to original. Who really would know anyway but a handful of people in the world? If I was to play with this project,
I would find a donor car chassis and drivetrain ( like a Miata) and graft this body onto it. My brother grafted a Morris Minor body onto a Miata subframe and it came out great as Resto Mod and a solid driver! It brought out many smiles from the public!!
Was a nice car at sometime in its life….Why do people do this to cars…sad
20yrs ago it was 2004 and 40yrs ago it 1984 and it was just an old car….
If you have seen an Elva race car you will quickly notice that the bottom half of this car is identical. Don’t know what the price range is on these cars but it would have to be pretty low for me to get excited about it.
IMHO. If you’re holding on to a rare vehicle. And “you know what you’ve got,” and are forever going to restore the car, “someday soon!” At least build a dang garage, or find storage for said vehicle. I cannot wrap my head around these cars parked out in the backyard, sinking into the earth, for years. Then, the seller wants top dollar for his yard art.
Then when he dies the wife sells it to a junkyard.
Ahh… the rarity. Some cars are “rare” for a reason. I love the odd ones, but this looks like a duck.
This Elva is rare, being a coupe and could be a great way to build an unusual and competitive historic racer.
But not at any price for the donor car!
Cool little body, I hope someone is able to give it life again.
I watched these Couriers race SCCA back in the day. They were rare even then and mostly roadsters. They were originally tube frame cars, so it appears as if what is advertised is pretty much just a body. With some period attachments. That being said, there likely is not much real value here.
Pretty sure this is a later Mk II version, with a curved windshield and an Anglia-like rear window. By the time this coupe came out IO suspect they were all road carfs.
What I WOULD like to find in an Elva over-head conversion for the Anglia 100e engines, which powered the first series of Elva cars (to be replaced with the more potent Coventry Climax engine).
Anyone have one to sell?
View from the front – Hey, kinda looks like a cool little Lotus
View from the back – What happened?
Colin Chapman at Lotus actually used these cars for development of his own cars to save money, even though the similarities, in the end, were few.
I had one. It was made of square bar framing much like tubular construction
The fiberglass body was bonded to the
Frame with fiberglass glass. It was then mounted to the frame. Everything was mga except the front suspension. I agree
An old mga frame would probably work.
That’s why I like this site… it makes us aware us of long forgotten vehicles like this one. From the Bay View 1998-1999 Classic Car Buyer’s Guide, it appears this is a Mk III, as they were the ones with MGB engines (along with rack and pinion steering and front discs). Earlier models had Riley or MGA engine with split windscreens. Later models had Cortina engines. Surprisingly, most production was shipped to America. Also, the guide gives these 4 out of 5 for collectibility. I’ve never seem one in person, ut would love the opportunity.
I see a lot of Elva roadsters racing in vintage events and they are very competitive because of their light weight….about half of what the cars carrying the same running gear are…MGA’s and MGB’s mostly. Most of the cars I see are now running the faster MGB motors/running gear used in later Elva models.
Have only seen 1 Elva coupe racing in the last 20 years and while it went pretty well, it was frankly ugly as sin. While the roadsters have such beautiful lines and the Elva sports racers are gorgeous, the Elva Courier coupes are uncharacteristically terribly unattractive.
As others have pointed out, it may be relatively rare, but maybe they just didn’t make too many because no one wanted them.
Also, as pointed out the tube frame/fiberglass construction usually requires a lot…A LOT…of work to bring back, not unlike the later TVRs. A friend spent several years just repairing frame issues and the fiberglass on his Elva and ended up having it all re-redone by an Elva expert as he wasn’t happy with his own work…which tends to be quite good.
These are lovely light cars that are fun to drive/race. There is a nice one in CT that is road ready, an earlier generation with MGA running gear.
I don’t have Facebook so can’t see what they are asking for this, but I would pass even if it were free.
They should have restored the MGs rather than used their drivetrains to build these. That is one butt ugly car.
Looks like a car Dr. Seuss would have created for the people of Whoville.
Funny, I was looking at this car yesterday and then it pops up on barnfinds. That happens alot with this website, don’t know why.. Geographically, I’m not far from it. Personally, I like the rarer cars.
This one appears to have a homemade coupe top. I don’t see any others quite like this one.