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Elan SE - Earls Court Motor Fair 1989 Show Car


Guy Munday

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Hi Guy

I wondered who bought that one at auction, I was tempted myself. Well done you have a great bit of Lotus History.

I recommend you read Mark Hughes book Lotus Elan. It is known as the bible and certainly has loads of information about the development cars, yours is mentioned also.

I own Inital build 10 which has all the early features and remained with Lotus until late 1996.

Did it need much work to get road worthy?

Wait until you start taking it to bits as you will be amazed what messages and info is hidden behind trim/panels etc. I am still finding 1989 stuff now after taking it to bits as part of the investigation.

Fantastic investment and great to have another early Elan saved. ????

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Dave :) 

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Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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Hi Dave,

I was following your thread with interest as there must be similarities between our cars.

It had not been used for five years so needed quite a lot of work. I've concentrated on the mechanical side including brakes, suspension, etc so that I could get the car MOT'd which I have now done. It has been subject to a thorough clean and has come up surprisingly well with little damage to the paint or interior. Next will be to start on some further adjustments and improvements to various bits and pieces - mainly non standard parts that don't fit or function that well (and probably never did).

As I buy and sell Lotus, it will then be offered for sale (rather than me getting involved in a total strip down and rebuild). I do have a conscience, however, and would love this car to stay within the UK Lotus community if possible so if anybody would like to discuss it before it goes on general sale, I would love to hear from you.

I really think it's a car that should be seen and enjoyed again and it would be perfect if a forum member were to take it on.

The images are great, by the way. Many thanks for posting!

Guy

 

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Hi Guy

Thought I knew the name but had a blank moment!

Still glad you are doing all the donkey work to bring PP14 back to life. I had similar issues with IB10 and security devices which thankfully are all removed and in the past now.

It would be great when finished and detailed to try and organise a photoshoot of both cars together.

Still trying to confirm mine was the Detroit motor show car as it carries LHD headlights and was the US emission control development car, Andy Graham confirmed it was built to press car standard.

IMG_0826.PNGDetroit motorshow car

You may find this chart interesting, it was compiled by myself, Dave Speck (LEC) with help from Andy at Lotus. It shows all the early M100 development, build and press cars. Some info is blanked for the usual reasons;

IMG_2349.JPG

Keep us updated on progress and post some pics when finished, you have a very special Elan and like you I hope someone on the forum gets it.

Dave :) 

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Gold FFM
On 10/15/2016 at 14:09, LOTUSMAN33 said:

Hi Guy

Thought I knew the name but had a blank moment!

Still glad you are doing all the donkey work to bring PP14 back to life. I had similar issues with IB10 and security devices which thankfully are all removed and in the past now.

It would be great when finished and detailed to try and organise a photoshoot of both cars together.

Still trying to confirm mine was the Detroit motor show car as it carries LHD headlights and was the US emission control development car, Andy Graham confirmed it was built to press car standard.

IMG_0826.PNGDetroit motorshow car

You may find this chart interesting, it was compiled by myself, Dave Speck (LEC) with help from Andy at Lotus. It shows all the early M100 development, build and press cars. Some info is blanked for the usual reasons;

IMG_2349.JPG

Keep us updated on progress and post some pics when finished, you have a very special Elan and like you I hope someone on the forum gets it.

Dave :) 

Interesting list. I find it strange that there are no Green or Yellow cars listed. was there any particular reason, or was it that the other colors were thought to stand out best.

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  • 4 months later...

I had a chance meeting with Peter Riddle at the weekend. He was Project Manager on the "PP" and "IB" cars and quite a few of the documents on PP14's file are signed by Peter. He had a little trip down memory lane and pointed out quite a few bits that I didn't know about on the car. It sounded like a real nightmare to prepare the cars in time for the show!

Peter returned the following day and very generously provided me with further documents relating to the car, on the understanding that they were passed to future owners and stayed with the car. Included was a pristine condition press release, embargoed until Earls Court press day, further press releases relating to the Design Council award in early 1990 and the speech notes relating to a presentation that Peter undertook at the Nurburgring in 1989.

These are all really valuable pieces of memorabilia and they have duly been handed over with the car that was collected by its' new owner today.

I have to say that, with all of the information that I have gathered, I was in two minds as to whether I should have sold the car or not! It has, however, gone to a Lotus collector (sadly overseas as nobody in the UK could see any value in it) who will now press on with taking the car to the next level, I'm sure. 

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Edited by Guy Munday
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Guy

Fantastic information and what a super bit of luck reuniting it with PP14, I was going to contact you the weekend for a chat about yours but happy it finally sold, real shame it has left the UK though. 

Just finished IB10 and been beating myself up over what to do about keeping it or my dry sump.IMG_0683.thumb.JPG.13ed7fbac502cf81034244080f38bc04.JPG

I think you will regret it in time but business is business I guess.

Did you take copies of that pack or just photos?

Dave :-)

Do or do not, there is no try! 

 

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  • 3 years later...
On 25/01/2017 at 11:58, Guy Munday said:

They went for an all-silver stand at Earl's Court that year, including an Esprit SE and an Excel SE.

Here are my photos taken at Earl's Court that day of the excel and esprit. I also took many of the Elan photos and passed them onto Andy at Lotus as he approached me as I had a number of photos on my old website, going back to 1984. 

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2 minutes ago, Guy Munday said:

I remember that stand so well. 

Three iconic Lotus models.

Was it Andy at lotus who sent you the photos, I also sent him images from the other motorshows I had been to. As a customer of London Lotus Centre I got a 'pass' onto the stands at a number of the shows.

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  • Gold FFM
On 01/12/2020 at 19:51, exeterjeep said:

Here are my photos taken at Earl's Court that day of the excel and esprit. I also took many of the Elan photos and passed them onto Andy at Lotus as he approached me as I had a number of photos on my old website, going back to 1984. 

Do you happen to have them from 1994??

Only here once

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7 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

Do you happen to have them from 1994??

No I don't think so. I re-scanned and sent photos for 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989 and 1995 (elise launch) to Andy G at lotus cars. The shows alternated between the NEC and Earls Court and I did not  go to the NEC very often. Just looked on google the 1994 show was at the NEC.

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