It may not look like it now, but this Series 1 Elan was once little more than a broken, rusty body sitting in an overgrown field.
The hood on our Lotus Elan had a broken latch catch. While made of easily-repairable fiberglass, the location of the fracture added some difficulty to the repair.
Here's how much power our Lotus Elan's Twin Cam made on the dyno.
Is a Lotus Elan right for your collection? Here are five reasons why it could be.
In two short years, we turned a pile of Lotus parts into a perfect driver worthy of an invitation to Amelia Island.
Fresh from the paint shop, it was time to reunite the body and the chassis, as well as get the Elan showfield-ready.
We had plenty of subassemblies to restore before we could mate our freshly painted Lotus body with the chassis.
We need to create a replacement wooden dashboard face from scratch since our Lotus Elan spent nearly 40 years in a Michigan field.
A crash had torn off the rear bodywork; then the animals and elements nibbled at the remains for 40 years. So of course we thought, "This can be saved."
Our Lotus Elan looked ghastly from top to bottom. We had successfully renewed the frame, but we still needed to restore the suspension.
Once you remove the body, a Lotus Elan looks like this: a pressed steel X-frame. Like the rest of the car, though, ours needed many repairs.
Our wrecked Lotus Elan came with its original Twin Cam engine, which was in need of a rebuild.
Welcome to our hell. Our Lotus Elan has seen more bad days than good, but at least most of it is there. Some assembly required.
Meet Restoration Impossible, a Lotus Elan that has spent the last 40 years in a Michigan field. Our goal: Turn it into an Amelia Island show winner.
When you bring a car to the Amelia Island Concours, you need to realize that just getting invited is the victory.
We are thrilled with how this project turned out and will add the occasional update as we use and enjoy our now finished Elan.
Once we had our Elan on the field at Amelia, it was time to cover it up with our cool new Covercraft cover.
Our Restoration Impossible had actually been possible, and having the car on the field at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance was the ultimate proof of concept.
Time to detail it for the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.
Our Lotus Elan restoration project gets a proper convertible top.
We were finally to the point with our project Lotus Elan where we could install the deck lid and hood.
The doors on an early Lotus Elan are like nothing we have ever seen.
Our Lotus Elan's interior was a pain to install, but we are quite pleased with how it out.
Our Lotus Elan project gets a beautiful wooden dashboard.
Like most everything else on our Elan, the windshield was cracked.
The engine accessories are added to our restoration project Lotus Elan.
Our 1964 Lotus Elan restoration project gets lights.
Our project 1964 Lotus Elan gets a fuel tank installed.
With our body bolted down, we could begin reassembly in earnest.
The body of our Lotus Elan restoration project gets attached to the chassis.
With a color chosen and the bodywork completed, it was now time to actually paint our Elan.
We search for Lotus's original shade of Medici Blue.
Time to set to work under the dash in our project Lotus Elan.
This stage of the restoration took about 200 hours.
With the body now in Gelcoat, we could focus our attention on the smaller body parts
Our 1964 Lotus Elan restoration project gets its headlights restored.
After some coercing, our engine sits on the frame.
What do you do when you can't find the right clutch alignment tool?
Lotus Elans are legendary for electric gremlins.
We add the air box and air cleaner.
The final steps in finishing off our chassis were to replace the brake and fuel lines.
The rear suspension on a Lotus Elan is much more complicated than the front suspension.
Before undertaking the rear suspension rebuild and assembly, we wanted to get the differential rebuilt.
Our Lotus Elan's front suspension comes together.
We rescue our Lotus Elan project's fused-together brake calipers.
Our project 1964 Lotus Elan gets body repairs and new gelcoat.
Our 1964 Lotus Elan gets its frame painted with Eastwood
After strengthening our project Elan's frame, we wanted to strengthen it.
Our friends at Sevens & Elans help us remove hubs that had been wasting away for 40 years.
We order the last of the needed parts to complete our Lotus Elan restoration.
We grafted three frames together to make a perfect one.
Our project Lotus Elan needs some chrome refreshed.
Nisonger brings our Elan's destroyed gauges back to life.
It's time to dismantle the chassis of our project Lotus Elan.
We thought we made good progress. Then we flipped the car over.
Learn how to make fiberglass repairs.
Our project Lotus Elan needs some structure repair around the doors.
Our Lotus Elan's trunk has a 6-inch hole. Here's how to create the replacement piece.
The left rear quarter of our Elan had been hit hard. Here's how you seamlessly graft in a replacement piece.
Our project Lotus Elan is still in the beginning stages of a restoration.
Once you cut, you can't go back.
We decided to start our Lotus Elan's restoration with the toughest part first.
We are getting back into our Lotus in earnest.
After lots of searching we find a rare Elan decklid suspiciously close to where we bought our project.
After a trip to Blast Masters, we see if the fiberglass is salvageable.
With another trip to Twin Cam Sportscars, our Elan's engine is completely refreshed.
We refresh our project Elan's gearbox with the help of Twin Cam Sportscars.
Our Lotus Elan's carburetors get taken from trash to treasure.
Our Lotus Elan's frame was bent and broken. How did we solve the issue?
Our Lotus Elan takes a trip to Blast Masters to get stripped.
With our Lotus Elan's engine refresh underway, it was time to start disassembly of the rest of the car.
With the help of Twin Cam Sportscars, we tear our Elan's engine apart.
We find lots of parts for our project Elan thanks to our friends.
Our Lotus Elan needs a lot of work and parts. Here's the initial list of what we need.
After lots of cleaning, we organize our project and assess the situation.
After dragging our new project to Florida, we begin cleaning it out.
Still in pieces, our impossible restoration project attends its first show.
We had to get three-quarters of a lotus from Michigan to Florida.
Meet our new restoration project: a very rough 1964 Lotus Elan.
