Lotus radio's

Does anybody know if Lotus put thier own radio's into the Elans? My 66 has a radio opening, but there never was anything in it. Did Lotus use a particular brand, and was there a factory block off plate for radio delete?

I must be getting close to finished this car if I'm worried about a stupid radio, which I'll never hear over the carbs anyway...

I know these people from when I was in the UK. They have a good reputation and I'm sure they will be able to help you with this question.

https://www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk/

Questions regarding original equipment are common over at the Elan list and the common wisdom seems to be that whatever was on the shelf that day went into the car. This also applies to things like the exact position of the nose emblem.

If you get an authoritative answer on this please post it here - I'd be interested to know if there was a particular radio they favored (any more than they favored a particular washer bottle, for example). My guess is that lots of different radios were used, especially when owners assembled their own car, and that anything "period" would be authentic.

For info in the US, you might try Don Tingle ( www.tingleslotus.com ) or Ray at www.rdent.com . Both have lots of years of experience with Elans.

[ 11-14-2002: Message edited by: coldplugs ]</p>

Well this is as close to an expert opinoin as iI probably will get..and I quote

Dear Mr Collet

Thank you for your enquiry. The original radio used was either Radiomobile or Philips and, for the domestic market, were MW/LW.
I can see that for the US, Lotus listed a different radio but it does not tell us what frequencies are on the radio.

Regards
Clive
Paul Matty Sports Cars Limited
12 Old Birmingham Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, B60 1DE
Tel: + (44) 1527 835656 Fax: +(44) 1527 575172

Anybody know what MW/LW means?

MW/LW (medium wave / long wave) are both "areas" of the AM radio spectrum. The domestic (Brit) market for this car probably emphasized these parts of the radio when this car was built.

In other words, your car came with an AM-only radio.

Some Euro cars also used to come with SW (shortwave) recievers...another part of the AM spectrum....usually expensive cars.

[ 11-22-2002: Message edited by: aeronca65t ]</p>

Ahhh.. I see...