#460384 Restoration

[EuropaTC]

 

I get like that as well Tom. And probably more frequently than most other folks on this forum.....

I'll also be interested to see how it goes and have it in my "watch" list. Although to my mind these things are a $10 bit of plastic, not a $100 piece of fine art like some folks seem to think. When I can remember I'll post a photo of my Elan wheel with it's fake horn push so you can see just how close you can get for little money plus some time.

Brian

edit to add.....  I really am so far out of these things. My regular Ebay search email has just come up with this one.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-lotus-cortina-mk1-Elan-genuine-nos-hornpush-/261846808449?

£149....  ($218)  I really will have to set up my workshop to make these things !!!!

[Chuck Nukem]

Howdy Tom,
Our cars are 8 apart by birth! I have 460392 which is also in need of serious restoration. I am looking forward to your progress. Please take lots of pics when you remove the frame. Mine had it removed before I got it. Tell me you are going to get rid of those turn signals on the nose!

[460384]

Chuck,

You are right about the turn signals.  That was the first thing I removed from the nose.  I still have hard time to take the front bumper off.  The bolts and nuts are very rusty.  I will take a lot of pics so I can remember where all the parts came from.  It is hard to keep track of them.

Tom/Colorado

Tom/Colorado

[jbcollier]

Cut the nuts off and get new chrome bolts.  They are readily available.

[EuropatcSPECIAL]

Hello Tom, no its not French Blue its Lagoon Blue. It was Sable when it left the factory and it has been in JPS colours.
good luck with your project
all the best
Stuart

[460384]

No much process made on 460384.  We have been busy with 2141R (PO Brent Powell, TX) last 4 months. It has been parked for the last 5-6 years. We got it running and drove to Log35 two weeks ago.  My son and I will get back on the S1 soon.  We will cut the frame out from the bottom and try to keep everything stock if we can. 

[460384]

I took my S1a LOTUS VIN/Data plate off in the front compartment yesterday and found it is white color behind it, not French Blue as the rest of the front compartments.  Is this normal because all Europa cars were white first before Lotus painted them different colors? or my car was originally white. Any experience and/or ideas on this?  Tom   

[LotusJoe]

Mine was painted before the vin plate was installed. Under the vin was the same color as the rest of the car.

[EuropaTC]

Hi Tom,

I'd go with the car originally being White and the blue being a respray at some point. The only thought supporting that theory is that i couldn't see Lotus being that organised to know the engine number and then get a chassis plate in place before they painted the car !  Plus of course it's something they'd have to mask off although it sounds as if someone, somewhere has done that job in the past.

Random thought - were the chassis plates used on your car the ones with an area for the paint code stamp or do they pre-date that style ?

Brian

[jbcollier]

Mine had five different colours and that is by no means a record.  Hard to say what your original colour was for sure as sports cars get painted so often.  Lotus painted then attached all the plates badges and what-not.  Lotus did not keep records of what colour S1s were painted.  You can certainly say that it was white before it was painted French Blue.

[460384]

Yes, Lotus did not keep records on colors for each of S1 cars.  I asked Lotus a while back and they do not know. The S1 VIN/data plates do not have color code. Are there other areas I can check for original color?   

[EuropaTC]

Are there other areas I can check for original color?

Well, assuming the blue is a respray, it depends how thorough the paint job was.   Lotus would paint the bodyshell with nothing fitted, as would most enthusiasts doing a colour change so everything looks the same.    But if the base car paintwork was in reasonable condition it's likely that in some areas - the plenum chamber, door shut areas, etc, the average painter wouldn't strip to bare fibreglass but simply rub down and paint over. Areas where I've done that bodge are door shuts, underneath the front & rear valences  and the return edges on bonnet/boot lids.

So if you really want to know it comes down to archaeology - you'll need to dig through the paint layers !  That's ok if the car is being painted, not so good if that wasn't in the plan.

I'm not so sure I'd be bothered unless a full respray was needed because as John said, sports cars tend to get painted more than your average run-about car and it wasn't unknown over here for these types of cars to be repainted in a more modern colour to refresh them for re-sale.  Strange really - these days everyone is on about originality and painting the cars as they came out of the factory 

Brian

[jbcollier]

It all depends on how thorough the intervening painters were.  If the body was not completely stripped, then the last colour you find as you sand your way down.  I found mine in the rear window lip.

[460384]

I am back on the job and took some more parts off the car.  The car looks like was white from the factory.  I am planning to take the frame off the body soon. There are two methods to cut the frame out, (a) cut it from under and lift the body up and (b) extract it from the engine compartment by cutting the firewall.  It appears the cutting from under the car is quicker so you do not have to take everything off the frame. I know Serge and Jim B in Canada extracted the frame from the engine bay.  I have not found any documents on cutting it from below.  What do you have to cut in order to get around the steering system which is located inside the front compartment, not under the car like TC/TCS? Any recommendations on which method (a) or (b) I should go with?

[460384]

As of 10/03/2015, I took a pic of my engine, front and dash areas. I am making some progress. As you can see the original color of white shows up in several locations in the front. No 2 liner is cracked where the red line is pointing.