• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Classic Motorsports video "review"

DrEntropy

Great Pumpkin
Platinum
Country flag
Offline
S-1 Elan restoration. The guy makes a few statements that are totally wrong: Headlights in a Series-1 Elan do NOT pop up if there is no vacuum storage, they instead fail to. Not until the later (after 1967) S-4, with "Super Safety" spring-loaded pods did the headlights stay up without vacuum... those were held DOWN by engine vacuum. Nine hundred Elans built? Maybe just the Series-1's. There were more like 12K Elans built, an "official" number is 12,244, but likely there were more. And his opinion that the cars are "flimsy" is likely due to his physical size. The cars weren't made to be a Jungle Gym! It's just been my experience that big people break things. Pedal spacing? Yeah, they're meant to be close together, to aid heel-and-toe driving. I'm 5'9" and 135lb hosed down, with size 7½ shoes. I can heel-and-toe double-clutch downshift an Elan, with braking hard enough to have a passenger dangling from the harness... the thing was designed for people my size. 😉

"Problems" with unreliability? Sorry, Slick, that is usually due to un-knowledgeable owners and/or shops. Drove mine daily for over a decade, with simple routine maintenance. Doesn't like the bonnet release? He's never spoken to an owner: A couple clothes pegs tethered together with string, stowed in the glovebox is all it takes. Windows don't go fully down so he can hang his arm over the side? Better be DRIVING it "ten-and-two" or you'll eventually get a rude surprise... Or get a series 3 or 4 with power windows. He did allow it was "the best car" he's ever driven at one point. So there's that.

Apologies if I seem overly critical, but I KNOW these cars. I'm just pleased to see there's one more saved.
 
Back
Top