1965 Lotus Elan S 1.5 on 2040-cars
Des Plaines, Illinois, United States
|
Summer time is here! Time to get out and enjoy the back roads. And what better way to enjoy springtime driving than with a 1965 Series 1.5 Lotus Elan. Yes, this is a very rare Series 1.5. Some people say the S1 was the best Elan, some thought the S2 was better. Here you have the best of both worlds. As some of you know, the late great Colin Chapman would use up all his old parts before he switched to the new parts. So on this car he had run out of the 2 piece dash with a separate glove box and switched to the 1 piece dash with an integrated glove box. But it still has the round tail lights that came on the original S1. Thus you have a series 1.5. I'm selling this car for my friend who is a great wrench and does some amazing things with fiberglass, but he struggles painfully with a pc. So this is one of his daily summer drive toy cars. Time to thin the herd for some parking space so this one was tagged to go. This car was in a nasty accident about 15 years ago but it was bought back from the dead and properly rebuilt. The frame was straightened and reinforced. The back of the body was sawed off and a new/used rear clip was professionally grafted on by the owner at Fiberglass Solutions in Addison Illinois. The car was then professionally painted by the local paint shop down the street. The car has been driven as often as the weather allowed since it was rebuilt. The Twin Cam, weber head engine starts easy and runs well. The car handles fine and gets lots of thumbs up and double takes wherever it is driven. The dark green cloth seats are a bit overstuffed so they are comfortable. Trans was rebuilt and shifts great. New drive donuts were installed about 7 years ago. The problematic headlight vacuum system was replaced with real nifty gas struts. Miniature versions of what holds up the back of a hatchback. You pop up the headlight pods when you want the lights on at night and pop them back down when you don't. Adjustable height coil over shocks in the back. Clutch and brakes are good. Clutch master and slave cylinders were recently rebuilt. Convertible top is old but complete. It has a few patches but it keeps out at least 80 of the rain. Rear fenders have slight flares. Stock generator was replaced with an alternator. Now the warts. The paint is just so-so. It has some scratches and chips and a few cracks here and there. A little TLC would make it better. The engine starts easy and runs good but it is a bit lumpy. Could maybe use a good carb tune up. There are the usual engine oil leaks. Nothing terrible but you want to stay away from fresh concrete driveways. As
this is a Lotus, there will be a certain amount of
fiddling you will have to do on a regular basis. The car has adjustable coil overs in the rear, so it can and has a little larger tires.
If you follow ebay, you will have seen plenty of "project" Elans go for $15-$20k. Why buy a chopped up car that is missing parts and hasn't run in years when you can buy this one, drive it and enjoy it right away and tinker with it later!
Email any questions. We encourage you to come out for a test drive!
We could not find the real VIN number as we were writing this up. We will update it later....... |
Lotus Super Seven for Sale
Lotus elan s4 1968 convertible project car with ca title!(US $10,999.00)
Lotus caterham(US $31,995.00)
2000 birkin lotus 7 reproduction
True lotus super seven series 2, # sb1158, frame #u1123, svra logbook
Factory built, original, right hand drive - brushed aluminum and orange
Caterham superlight r450 carbon fiber leather 3 piece wheels red & black(US $38,900.00)
Auto Services in Illinois
Wheels of Chicago ★★★★★
Vern`s Auto Repair ★★★★★
Transmissions To Go ★★★★★
Transmatic Transmission Specialists ★★★★★
Total Auto Glass ★★★★★
Sunderland Automotive ★★★★★
Auto blog
Lotus settles with ex-CEO Dany Bahar, avoids London High Court
Sun, 25 May 2014Five years after it began, it appears the Dany Bahar tenure at Lotus is finally over. After former Lotus owner Proton brought in the ex-Ferrari and Red Bull marketing savant to run the company in 2009, everything had gone pear-shaped by 2012: Proton had been sold to Malaysian auto supplier DRB-Hicom, who suspended Bahar and then fired him for what it said were expense-account transgressions (although Bob Lutz reportedly said something different).
The separation led to the expected suit and countersuit, Lotus going after Bahar to get its money back, Bahar filing a $10.6-million suit againt Lotus for wrongful termination and potential bonus money. The case was set to go to trial next month but both parties have settled, the terms undisclosed, a DRB-Hicom statement saying only that "the parties involved in the legal suit have signed a Settlement Agreement and Release... and have agreed to withdraw their claims against each other."
Now that that bit of housecleaning is all cleared up, can new CEO Jean-Marc Gales please get our Esprit?
Lotus hits the track with new Elise S Cup R
Mon, 11 Nov 2013If you want to take a Lotus to the track but the Exige V6 Cup is a bit too much to handle, the boys from Hethel have a new offering that may be of interest.
The new Elise S Cup R features all the track-tuned bells and whistles of its six-cylinder brethren, including a competition-spec aero kit, adjustable suspension, Yokohama racing slicks on 17-inch forged alloys, tow hooks, remapped ECU, cross-drilled and ventilated disc brakes and an interior with a HANS-compatible bucket seat, six-point racing harness and quick-release steering wheel. But instead of a heavier and more powerful V6, the Elise S Cup R "adds lightness" with the same 1.8-liter supercharged inline-four with 217 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque as the road-going Elise S. Yet with all that track-tuned gear, it's a good four seconds per three-mile lap faster than the showroom stock version in the automaker's testing.
Interested parties can pick one up in the UK for £39,125 (before taxes, equivalent to about $63k) and either lap it to their hearts' content at private track days or enter it in one of the dozen Lotus Cup series operating around the world. Lotus only released this one photo (click above to enlarge), but you can check out the full specs in the press release below.
Lotus is building 60 extra light, extra aerodynamic Exige Cup 380s
Thu, Apr 20 2017Lotus is never done adding lightness and once again turned its attention to the Exige. Like so many other special Lotuses, this one, called the Exige Cup 380, makes the same 375 horsepower from its supercharged 3.5-liter V6. However, the weight savings is a significant 117 pounds compared with the 2,447-pound Exige Sport 380. This savings comes from the inclusion of many carbon-fiber parts including a one-piece rear hatch, side intakes, hood, front splitter, side sills, and seats, among others. Lotus also removed the gas struts for the hatch to save 2.2 pounds. And if that's not enough, you can save another 2.2 pounds by choosing the optional HVAC and air vent surrounds, and 22 pounds with an optional exhaust system. The Exige Cup 380 also produces significantly more downforce than the Sport, 43-percent more to be exact. That results in maximum downforce of about 441 pounds at the Cup 380's top speed of 175 mph. The car achieves this thanks to a revised front bumper and splitter, vents above the front wheels, more vents behind the rear wheels, and a new rear wing. Even the windshield wiper rests in a vertical position to aid aerodynamics. The Cup 380 doesn't just benefit from better aerodynamics and less weight. The rear tires are wider than the Sport 380 at 285 mm. The Cup 380 also has two-way adjustable shocks and adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars. Even the stability control can be adjusted to the driver's needs. The car is stopped by four-piston brake calipers at all four corners, and a standard steel roll bar protects the driver. If owners wish, they can also add an FIA-certified full roll cage. Lotus will only build 60 of these Exiges, and they're only available in Europe. They're not cheap either. In the UK, buyers will spend GBP83,000 in the UK and ˆ109,900 in Europe. That means this Exige would cost between $106,000 and $118,000, at current exchange rates. Related Video: