1974 Lotus Elan +2 S130

1974 LOTUS ELAN +2 S130, VGN102M

VGN102M is one of the last Lotus Elan +2 coupes built, 50 years ago.
According to Lotus Archivists it was supplied to the London Lotus dealership, Hexagon of Highgate, as a demonstrator.

The car is only on its 5th owner from new and 51650 miles.
The third owned it from 1981 until 2014, when it was sold from his late estate to a friend of the family, he then passed it on to the current owner, another friend.
The car is registered in the ‘Historic Vehicle’ tax class (zero rate) and is ‘MoT Exempt’.
It can also be registered for ULEZ exemption.

It is finished in its original and rare colour of Renault Metallic Green – such a limited run it didn’t even get a colour code number by Lotus. This colour was only used on a few of the last +2’s ever built before being used on a limited-edition model of the Lotus Europa.
The interior has the original black vinyl seats with new seatbelts and rear lap straps.
The cabin and boot are trimmed in new black carpet and the roof lined with a new headlining.
The walnut dashboard is new with the original gauges (re-chromed, square edged bezels) and an original equipment, Philips Turnolock radio (with 3. 5mm audio jack hidden in the glovebox).

Being a late, S130 model, it has the original ‘Big Valve’ Twin Cam, 1558cc engine with twin 40 Dellorto carburettors and 5-speed manual gearbox.
The exhaust system is a full stainless steel replica of the original, including a stainless heatshield to protect the boot floor from the silencer.
The rolling road results of this car show a maximum power of 127bhp, so not far off the advertised 130bhp of the ‘S130’.
Drive to the rear wheels is via new sliding shaft, universal joint driveshafts. A much more period looking alternative to the CV joint version that is usually chosen to replace the slightly unreliable, original rubber doughnut driveshafts.

The car was bought as a partially stripped, unfinished project in November 2014.
Restoration was started in 2015 by the current owner, then an F1 design engineer, to a highly detailed and original specification.
In parallel with the owner restoring and building a Ford Zetec powered Elan +2, the car was back on the road in July 2020.
Since then, the car has had regular use covering just over 2000miles and had continued refinements.
Some of the most recent work includes fitting new rear shock absorbers and re-setting the suspension geometry to improve the ride and handling.
The installation of a new high torque co-axial starter motor and improvements to the sealing to make the cabin and boot completely water tight.
The paintwork was refreshed and professionally polished just over a year ago, has a couple of ‘touched-up’ chips and scratches but otherwise shows no signs of microblisters or stress cracking typical of fibreglass bodied cars.

Where possible all the work has been done by the owner.
The only exceptions being the paintwork, powder coating, zinc and chrome plating and the engine preparation.
The engine components were checked and prepared for assembly by engine specialist Bill McMillan. This involved re-boring the block, fitting new valve seats and guides and core plugs, before painting and supplying a kit of new parts for the build.
Otherwise, all the chassis and engine assembly, body assembly, interior trimming, wiring etc have been done himself.
The car has been restored to a very high detail as would be expected with the motorsport background of the owner with an emphasis on originality and restoring rather than replacing where possible.
For example, the original bumpers have been stripped and re-plated, the door window frames have been re-chromed, even the dash air vent knobs that are usually worn down to yellow plastic have also been re-chromed and the powder coated fuel tank has had the pressure test text re-sprayed with a stencil just as it left the factory, even though it’s not seen behind the new boot trim panel.

The car is accompanied by an original 1974 Workshop Manual and a folder of documents, receipts and a detailed history of all the work done and a memory stick with over 3000 digital photos shows every step of the restoration from start to finish.

Please contact the owner for the full details of the work carried out or to view this special Elan +2.