‘It was 2017 and I was at a combined Club Lotus and Lotus Drivers’ Club monthly pub meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon when a friend showed me some photos of his Elan, which had been in his barn for several years. Even worse, it had gone through a couple of previous owners without anyone actually plucking up the courage to start the re-build. That didn’t sound good, but despite this I went to see the car out of curiosity and there it was – totally unrestored and looking a bit like the “before” part of an Airfix kit – lots of components were scattered around, some laid out on the driveway, the body in a barn, the chassis, motor, gearbox and so on elsewhere. A daunting task, but I fancied the challenge so I offered to buy the car.
‘Once I’d acquired a replacement chassis, I was able to turn my attention to the four corners. I refurbished the suspension parts in my workshop and built up each corner of the chassis. The steering column went in, then the front wishbones, brakes and rear uprights, leaving the chassis complete and ready for the engine and body, the latter of which was cut about and in really bad shape. Lotus Heritage didn’t record the original colour but we found bits of orange paint and traces of French Blue underneath; the latter is a 1967 Lotus shade, so that’s the colour that I retained for the restoration.
‘Meanwhile the engine was re-bored, then the crank was checked fully at a trusted local machine shop. Then I re-built the engine block and cylinder head and the gearbox in my workshop. I collected the door frames and the pitted rear light frames after they’d been refurbished and re-chromed and fitted them back on to the body.
‘The headlamp vacuum pods were rusted through and totally beyond repair but a friend had a couple of good Mazda headlamp lift motors so I integrated the motors with matching relays. The old wiring loom served as a pattern and I made and recovered a new one, while incorporating and upgrading more relays and extra wires as necessary. I switched the polarity of the car so that I could fit an alternator; that meant converting the rev counter module to suit. And – other than the headlamps – I installed lots of LED bulbs, which I recommend.
‘The initial plan was to restore the car in a year, but it fought me every single day, taking six long years due to the massive amount of work involved. It’s no trailer queen despite now being pristine; I thoroughly enjoyed 2000 shake-down miles of great driving in the Elan last year, including a memorable Club trip to Chatsworth House.’
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CLUBS & SPECIALISTS
Club Lotus. clublotus.co.uk
