DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi Andy
An interesting bit of happenstance, in the March issue of Classic & Sports Car is a review of a new book on the Elite (Lotus Elite, by Matthew Vale/Veloce), the cover ‘shot’ is a primrose yellow car with a silver roof…
I hope the car is a good as it looks and you’re having lots of fun with her.

All the best
Ian F.

23e Heure wrote:Congrats, Andy. Let’s see some driving photos!

Only done relatively local journeys so far James & not taken many photos.

It's quite difficult to capture the shade of yellow accurately as it seems to be one of those colours that appears to vary significantly depending on lighting conditions.

That is so beautiful great buy

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Thanks.


I mentioned earlier that when the (FWB) engine in this car was built, a great deal of research, care & attention had gone into deciding/producing the ultimate spec - with a lot of work going into improving the cylinder head :-

Grind out & weld fill the combustion chambers - followed by resurfacing
Reshape combustion chambers
Gas flow ports
Fit oversize stainless steel valves, new guides, h/d springs & lightweight retainers
Skim head to achieve approx desired compression ratio (10.5:1)

The rest of the engine was then built up incorporating:

High-lift EN40 5-bearing cam* together with new alloy cam carrier
NOS forged steel crankshaft
Hepolite pistons with Carillo rods
New oil pump, etc

All of the relevant parts were balanced separately then again in combination as assembled

New cast alloy inlet manifolds were fitted c/w refurbished period-correct Weber 40 DCOE's
New s/steel 4-branch exhaust manifold

- & to keep it all cool:

Re-cored/uprated radiator
Kenlowe thermostatically-controlled fan
New water pump

* Cam was a custom grind utilising the same valve timing & lift as the QED 'Q420' cam used in many fast road/racing Elan twin-cam engines

The engine will now safely rev to 7000+ rpm & should develop 120-125 bhp ...

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Elites seem to be more sensibly priced than 356s, particularly when you compare to 356s of similar rarity let alone performance. Am I right in thinking Elites used to be more expensive than 356s (20+ years ago)? Well bought either way

fabulous cars. My cousin has 3 of them, 2 road and 1 race. 1 of the road cars was his dad's and as a small child, i used to travel with my uncle and auntie to Oulton Park astride a cushion over the transmission tunnel .....

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Dougieboy1 wrote:My cousin has 3 of them, 2 road and 1 race

Tim Moore ?

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No, not Tim. Sounds like they should get together

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Hugo 356 wrote:Elites seem to be more sensibly priced than 356s, particularly when you compare to 356s of similar rarity let alone performance. Am I right in thinking Elites used to be more expensive than 356s (20+ years ago)? Well bought either way

Just realised that I never responded to this ...

The comparison with a 356 is an interesting one & something that I took into account when considering buying an Elite.

Yes, from memory, good Elites were typically twice the price of an equivalent condition 356B back 20 years ago (£30k vs £15k) - whereas nowadays prices for 356B's are slightly higher than Elites.

Some random statistics:

Approx UK prices when new in 1961: £2006 (Elite) vs £2350 (356B)

Dimensions (Elite vs 356B):

Length - 148" vs 158"

Width - 59.3" vs 65.7"

Height - 46.5" vs 51.8"

Approx kerb weight - 630 kg vs 930 kg

Numbers built - just over 1000 vs 30,000 +


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I wonder how much of that price difference is import tax? Google has let me down on 60 year old tariffs!

You'd probably need to stump up for an Abarth Carrera if you wanted to trouble the Elite on the track

Hugo 356 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:26 pm I wonder how much of that price difference is import tax? Google has let me down on 60 year old tariffs!

I think the import duty was 10% - without that the comparitive new car prices in 1961 would have been £2006 (Elite) vs £2134 (356B) ...

Purchase tax at 25% was levied on the basic price + import duty.

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As it's relatively quiet on here at the moment I hope people don't mind me posting some updates on this thread.

After driving the car for a few months it became clear that to maximise the driving experience a few areas needed attention ...

Firstly the seating - I tend to prefer a low/'laid back' driving position & the original seats, although relatively comfortable & superbly upholstered, were too high & too upright (backrests are not adjustable):



As an initial attempt to improve matters I decided to dispense with the sliders on the driver's seat & mount it directly to the floor, so removed the seat & then the sliders.

Since I always try to make any modifications completely reversible, I didn't want to drill any additional holes in the floorpan so set about devising/fabricating some suitable mounts from 1/2in aluminium flat bar & mounted them to the seat frame using M8 stainless steel button-head allen screws:








The seat was then refitted &, although slightly improved height-wise, was still too upright.

I tried raising the front of the seat (by fitting 1in thick nylon spacers between the front mounts & the floor) but it wasn't enough.




The next alternative was to try a different seat - I usually have a selection of 'period' bucket seats around & the most suitable seat I had size-wise was one of a pair I'd originally bought for my Fulvia (but decided to stick with the original seats).






- so, once again, I fabricated a mounting frame using 1/2in thick aluminium flat bar then trial-fitted the seat:



This proved to be a huge improvement - & after a short test drive it was confirmed to be virtually perfect !


Next on the list would be to replace the dreadful ugly clamp-on door mirror ...

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Even from here that looks vastly more comfortable and supportive for enthusiastic driving!

JW

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- I realise that the previous owner - along with numerous other Elite owners it seems - was reluctant to drill the body in order to fit a permanent door mirror but I'm not so 'precious' ...

Since, as stated earlier, I always prefer to use 'period' parts wherever possible, I didn't want to just buy/fit a new mirror - &, as luck would have it, I just happened to have a suitable candidate 'in stock ...

This advert sprang to mind:




In fact I had one each of the 'Speedmaster' & 'Continental' models but after offering both up to the car, the smaller Speedmaster mirror looked to be the better option.

So, after careful measuring plus reference to numerous period shots of Elites 'back in the day' -$ a little trepidation, I drilled the necessary mounting holes & fitted the mirror ...




Much better !!

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