EV Coups/Speedster platform

I wonder if the new owners of Devin will ever get around to making full-on replica bodies.

Besides the 356, it seems like it would be a real winner. Lotus Elan, too. But you might run into copyright issues.

https://devinsportscarsllc.com/about-devin

Elans are kind of complicated. Steel folded backbone. Glass body with intricate steel trusses outboard.

You can still find them and and most parts are reproduced, as in backbone frames.

I think Lotus might have a problem with an Elan replica.

Yeah, I was thinking more of a set-on body like a 356. Seems like the skateboard would provide all the torsional rigidity you’d need.

But you’re right. Lotus would have a fit. I wonder what Chaterham, Westfield, and Chesil do about the 7.

This would be a fun body to set on one, too.

@DannyP posted:

Elans are kind of complicated. Steel folded backbone. Glass body with intricate steel trusses outboard.

You can still find them and and most parts are reproduced, as in backbone frames.

I think Lotus might have a problem with an Elan replica.

Here is an interesting article from Hagerty about that very topic: Lotus Elan replica

Just picked this out of Wolfgang’s link:

“We are in discussion with several high volume OEMs at the moment around the use of classic body styles on an officially licensed basis,” he says, “what will become of that remains to be seen, but the idea is already being explored.”

Aren't the Lotus Elan and Europa really small cars for big manly Americans --- more so even than the Miata?

I fit in my brothers Elan just fine. Roomier than a Spridget by far. Same with a couple of Miatas I’ve driven. 6’2” 250lbs.

Be still my heart. Dreaming of a 250hp EcoBoost Spyder chassis-ed Gold Leaf Special liveried Elan is going to keep me up tonight.

I was going to post that I have a British friend who used to have a TVR specialist that was next door to him work on his road car. They do the same thing with TVRs.

Everything from tune ups to replacement frames and complete restorations.

Another fun body to drop on an EV skateboard.

@Robert M Thanks for that article, filled in some knowledge gaps for me. I LIKE that Spyder replacement trussed frame, now that's a backbone!

My friend Mike is doing an Elan up right now, he bought a semi-ratty one and got a new chassis for it. The existing backbone was cracked but beyond repair. He's repairing all the cracked and missing fiberglass. His repairs and body work are REALLY nice. The motor is almost ready for assembly with respect to machine work being done. The rubber donut inner CV joints have been upgraded with regular CV joints.

They're no smaller than a Spyder inside and out. I like it. A lot.

I loved my brothers. It had specially valved Bilsteins and after a lifetime of Spridgets, Triumphs and Minis, it rode like a Cadillac and handled like it was on rails. One of the funnest cars I’ve ever driven. Despite what they say, a Gen1 Miata is only about 8/10ths in comparison.

.

@dlearl476 posted:

.

I loved my brothers (Elan)...

...Despite what they say, a Gen1 Miata is only about 8/10ths in comparison.

Amazingly, the Miata (a real featherweight in most people's minds) weighed eight hundred pounds more than an Elan.

The Miata was a respectable 2100 pounds, but the Elan was only 1300 !

A friend's brother had one, so I got a few rides. I think that car must have been the source of the original 'handles like a go-cart' analogy. I later owned a gen 1 Miata. If I recall, the engines in the two cars made about the same power, but shaving 800 pounds does affect acceleration and handling somewhat.

.

After my Elan experience, I so wanted a Miata, I read everything I could about them. I remember a R&T article that mentioned that the Mazda engineers spent 800 hours on the Elan exhaust note alone.

The closest I ever got to one was renting them on several occasions when the expense account and rental availability aligned. Nicely, twice it was when I was doing the Bolshoi Academy shows in Vail.

@dlearl476 posted:

The closest I ever got to one was renting them on several occasions when the expense account and rental availability aligned. Nicely, twice it was when I was doing the Bolshoi Academy shows in Vail.

Vail must have been a great place to try them out. What kind of work were you doing with Bolshoi School shows?

@Michael Pickett posted:

Vail must have been a great place to try them out. What kind of work were you doing with Bolshoi School shows?

I was the sound guy. Production Sound Designer/Engineer in Union-speak. I did it 3-4 years in the early 90’s.

@dlearl476 👍

@Sacto Mitch - I knew old Elans were light. I had no idea they were 1300 lbs. That's the very embodiment of Mr. Chapman's "simplify, add lightness" ethos. It's really, really cool.

However, I'm pretty sure the entire exercise would be lost on me (a corn-fed pipefitter trying desperately not to weigh an eighth of a ton).

Where the guy who said, "complicate, add horsepower"? That's the guy I need to find.

@Stan Galat posted:

Where the guy who said, "complicate, add horsepower"? That's the guy I need to find.

I can just about guarantee he's German.

@Stan Galat posted:

Where the guy who said, "complicate, add horsepower"? That's the guy I need to find.

Actually I think you if you look in the mirror you'll find that fellow.

.

I don’t know, Danny, he might have been British:

.

BITD, the line between kit car and small manufacture was often blurred. Another great candidate for a Body-on-Skateboard EV classic would be a Turner.

Originally a ladder frame with various Triumph, Ford UK bits and powered by everything from BMC 950cc to Ford 105e’s and IIRC, a few Coventry Climax twin cams, and available as a kit here and in the UK.

Best of all?  I doubt there would be any licensing problems as the company had been defunct for decades.

Reminds me of our favorite red-head gearhead, Angela Lane, who once posted on here..."Aerodynamics is for those without enough horsepower"!