1965 Lotus Elan Base 1.6L

Spring time is here! Time to get out and enjoy the backroads. 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 rebuilt. The frame was straightened and reinforced. The back of the body was sawed off and a new/used rear clip was professionaly grafted on by the owner at Fiberglass Solutions in Addison Illinois. The car was then professionaly painted by the local paint shop down the street. The car has been driven as often as the weather allowed since it was rebuit.

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 cloth seats are a bit overstuffed so they are comfortable. Trans was rebuilt and shifts great. New drive donuts were installed about 5 years ago. The problematic headlight vacuum system was replaced with real nifty gas struts. Miniture 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. So you either need to be very mechanically inclined to own this car or have a good local mechanic that married your daugther and will work for free!

If you are interested. I encourage you to come out for a test drive. Ask any questions and I will reply openly and honestly. Thanks for looking!

Also published at eBay.com

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