Lotus Elan Sprint?

[cjay]

The M100 Elan was not made by Kia, they were made at Hethel by Lotus.

Kia bought the rights form Lotus in late 1996

The M100 is a great car, I have had two

They were extremely reliable and great to drive, if you ever get a chance to take one for a drive go for it The look much better in the flesh as well.

The brakes were crap though

[StillIC]

Where do you think the inspiration by Mazda and Toyota to develop 16 valve engines came from? Surprise surprise it came from the Ford bda which was in production well before it was copied by the Japanese and others and a lot easier to develop.

I beg to differ:
Cosworth BDA released 1969
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosworth
Nissan S20 released 1968: The world's first volume production 4 valve per cylinder car engine?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_S20_engine

Don't dis the Japanese, please.

[davekmoore]

The original Elan was a lovely looking and handling car for its time. Expensive though, and expensive to maintain, regularly needing suspension work and tuning of the carburetors. A highly tuned, highly strung big valve version gave the same power as a modern day completely docile ND 1.5L which only needs servicing every 10,000kms.

This looks like a decent one at $50k though: http://www.carsales.com.au/private/deta ... 3176/?Cr=2

Or for well under $40k you can have a new ND.

In a similar vein I had a potential customer today who wasn't sure whether to spend $40k on a "fully restored" (slow, dangerous, evil handling) MGB or about $37k on an ND. The MGB will need restoring again by 2026. And the ND .............. won't.

[tumble]

The M100 Elan was not made by Kia, they were made at Hethel by Lotus.

That's good to know.

I wonder whether it was a major inspiration for the MX-3.

[pcmx5]

The original Elan was a lovely looking and handling car for its time. Expensive though, and expensive to maintain, regularly needing suspension work and tuning of the carburetors. A highly tuned, highly strung big valve version gave the same power as a modern day completely docile ND 1.5L which only needs servicing every 10,000kms.

This looks like a decent one at $50k though: http://www.carsales.com.au/private/deta ... 3176/?Cr=2

Or for well under $40k you can have a new ND.

In a similar vein I had a potential customer today who wasn't sure whether to spend $40k on a "fully restored" (slow, dangerous, evil handling) MGB or about $37k on an ND. The MGB will need restoring again by 2026. And the ND .............. won't.

And the commercials continue no matter what the subject is!!!!

I did a few Grand Prix Rallies when it was based in Adelaide and there were some unbelievable cars in the 250 car field but my personal favourites were an Elan dríven by( I think) Keith? Berryman,mellow yellow, sounded fantastic and its handling on motorkana tests and Collingrove were a delight to watch, together with a couple of Sunbean Tigers and Renault Apines. A couple of Mercedes Gullwings were ok too, not too mention two Ferrari roadsters(circa 1955) brought out from the US by a oil pipline multi millionaire Art Valdez. At one stage we were running on the road between one of his cars valued at over $4 mill and a genuine C Type Jag worth over $ 2 mil in about 1990. Which would i have loved to take home, the Elan.
Peter

[ralt]

Hi stillic.
I take your point regarding the s20 Nissan engine. However my point was regarding 1.6 engines not 2 litre 6 cylinder engines. Also the Toyota,mazda, ford engines were belt drive arrangement not the older technology chain drive used in the 6 cylinder s20.
Gee you must have been upset when BMW announced to the world their(only a few years ago )6 cylinder twin turbo engine which according to them was a world first. Perhaps they overlooked (conveniently) that Nissan had produced the rb26dett engine and (released in 1989) which powered the r32,33 and 34 skyline gtr. Also Toyota had produced and sold their 6 cylinder 2 litre twin overhead cam twin turbo engine from the mid eighties.
One thing I don't understand from your post. What does " dis " mean?

[taminga16]

And the commercials continue no matter what the subject is!!!!
Mazda drew from a lot of places when putting the MX-5 together. See here. viewtopic.php?f=53&t=47360&start=420#p855117

Greg.

[rjastra2]

[youtu]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KWU1qlfIM[/youtu]

[StillIC]

What does " dis " mean?

It's short for disrespect. Apparently all the kids are saying it now.

It's generally quite difficult to define "the first",and lots of people/companies get it wrong. I remember when Wheels magazine ran an article where a ute was released (in the 90s...Commodore??) and the manufacturer was claiming it to be the first ute with independent rear suspension. Of course Subaru Brumby owners were livid, and wrote letters of complaint by the truck load, claiming the Brumby was the first, back in the 70s. Of course, this annoyed the owner of the VW Kombi ute, who reminded them the Brumby was not the first. Not even close.

[oppolock]

I owned and Elan Sprint Big Valve, back in the day early 70's when I lived in the UK. In those days it was a very fast car - 0-60mph in about 6.5 seconds. It only weighed about 750kg and had 126bhp. Great handling with a very supple suspension. Not good in heavy rain as it tended to aquaplane.
Bit of a handful to keep on the road though as bits would come loose and the electrics were a bit sus. Hard to get a some bits, for example with the the distributor and old fashioned points sitting right under the two twin choke Webbers.
I have just ordered a 2.0 ND, maybe to relive old memories. But it will need a bit of engine work to keep up with my old Elan.

[davekmoore]

I have just ordered a 2.0 ND, maybe to relive old memories. But it will need a bit of engine work to keep up with my old Elan.

By the time you add a driver and passenger and a bit of fuel the power to weight ratio will be the same. Might need a very noisy intake to partly mimic the Webers (2x40DCOEs?) and sound as quick though.

[smy0003]

Nice, I'd love to have the opportunity to buy an Elan new from the dealer. I missed that boat by a couple of decades though.

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