Just collected my latest purchase ...

[IanM]

here's a taster taken a couple of years ago:

Is that the actual one you purchased? Very nice looking car. I like the black leather seats (original Connolly hide?)

[Bootsy]

Very nice

[jwhillracer]

Beautiful, Andy. One of my dream cars ever since I saw one as a schoolboy in Belfast.

JW

[anglophone1]

Looks great!!

[yoda]

Lovely looking thing Andy and look forward to your stories of fine tuning it!

[KS]

It's OK, I suppose.

[KS]

Very OK, in fact...

[DustyM]

That’s lovely. Great choice, look forward to the ongoing story.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alfacat]

.

My main inspiration for starting this thread was to try to generate some additional 'traffic' to the forum (at what is always a quiet time of the year) with hopefully the knock-on effect that some will start posting on their own cars/projects/restorations.

So, to solve the mystery ...

After coming close on numerous occasions & test driving several over the years (from over-restored 'concours queens' to stripped-out ex racers) I've finally bought an Elite !!

Why an Elite ?

Firstly the shape - in addition to looking great from any angle it had a drag coefficient that most cars still can't match (& very few road cars have ever beaten).


It was 'light years' ahead of virtually any other road car that was around in the late '50s/early '60s with so many advanced features for the time - fibreglass monocoque construction, all-aluminium SOHC engine, F2 independent front & rear suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes, etc.

There are parallels to the 2.7RS too - built in limited numbers (approx 1040), owned/driven by many of the top racing drivers of the time, race pedigree (won its class at Le mans 6 times), etc.


I know it won't appeal to many on here but I'll start a separate thread on 'my' car in the Member's Others Gallery section for anyone who may be interested - I haven't taken any pictures of the car yet but here's a taster taken a couple of years ago:





.

Wow Andy, that's absolutely lovely!
Congratulations.

All the best
Ian F.

[rhd racer]

Beautiful, great choice

I hadn’t read Grahams post but did arrive at the Climax engine!

Look forward to the thread

[jeremyg]

Well you won on both counts Andy - you’ve chosen a great car, and you succeeded in generating forum traffic. Win win.

[Tosh]

Beautiful, great choice

I hadn’t read Grahams post but did arrive at the Climax!

Early.

[rhd racer]

Beautiful, great choice

I hadn’t read Grahams post but did arrive at the Climax!

Early.

Ha ha, didn’t know you knew my wife!

[MarkIII]

Fabulous looking car Andy, looking forward to your thread

[Hugo 356]

Cool car Andy. Would love to hear about how you went about buying a 60 year old Lotus as well as how you get on with the new motor