So, I was in the final stage of assembly and testing of the Detroit car. Also known as Elan restoration #12. I had taken multiple rides through the neighborhood forest preserve. Everything was working as it should. Most things worked fine right away. A few things needed some prodding to get working right. The carbs didn’t work right and it took a couple days of fiddling and re-jetting and head scratching to figure them out. I also didn t like the front springs. Somehow I had fitted springs that were too short for street use. I cranked and cranked the adjustable spring perches up and up but the front end was still a bit low. I removed the shocks and replaced the springs with some 12” instead of the 10” long ones ones I had somehow acquired.
So, everything was looking good, running good, sounding good. Time to put the icing on the cake beautiful re-- the chromed hub caps. I unwrapped them and started to pop them on the wheels. There are three studs or buttons that hold the hub caps onto the wheels. When you offer the hub cap up to the triangleshaped pattern, you hook the cap onto the first two studs and then pop the lip of the hub cap over the third stud with the bottom of your fist. They should and almost always pop into place with a snap that tells you they should stay in place. Occasionally, you will get one that is just a bit loose. A little duct tape around the studs tightens things enough to keep them from flying off when you make an aggressive turn. And aggressive turns are quite common when you drive an Elan. So, as I was saying, I went to pop on the hub caps and the right rear would not pop. The cap just flopped on and did not even come close to staying on the wheel. What the heck? I tried another hub cap same thing. I gave the wheel a good inspection and everything looked ok. No dings. These are all wheels that go through quite a quality inspection and restoration before they get to go on one of my cars. These wheels are getting harder and harder to find. When Colin Chapman had the wheels made back in the day, he specifically asked for the manufacturer to use lighter steel. This made for less unsprung weight, which is a good thing for race cars, and, for some aspects, it is also a good thing for sporty type cars. However, the lighter weight steel rims have a tendency to bend and dent. Sometimes they can be straightened, sometimes not. What I usually do is take a wheel candidate and plop it onto a wheel hub mounted in Paul Quiniff’s massive vice at his work shop. I then spin the wheel on the hub and look for dents and bends and general out of roundedness. Often a dent or a ding can be fixed with a large adjustable Crescent wrench. You just bend the lip back into place. Some more stubborn bends can be persuaded via the use of two small sledge hammers. You mark where you wish to smite the bend, place the wheel on the concrete floor, place one pointy sledge on the offending bend and smite it mightily with the other sledge. Ear plugs are recommended. Sometimes the sledging and smiting works. Sometime it does not. Sometimes I have to go looking for spare wheels. But this wheel along with the other wheels had passed my rigorous inspection before I had sandblasted, primed, painted and clear coated the wheels. This wheel looked fine and ran true but somehow the three little studs that hold the hub cap in place were not where they should be. OK, so this will make a good spare. But then I recalled that the spare tire/wheel that was in the trunk was a bit marginal. My tire whisperer guy had said that it was ok but there might be a vibration, so it was sentenced to live its life in the trunk. What to do? Hmmmmm. Wait a minute. I think I have one of those in stock. So let me tell you that story.
Let ’ s back up about 8 months shall we? I ’ m always on the lookout for spare Lotus Elan parts. Most parts you can buy brand new. Most of the new parts are as good or better than the originals. Especially if you buy them from RD Enterprises or Dave Bean. They generally only carry good stuff. And that s a good thing. (Ask Dennis Stahl what he thinks about the new parts he gets from other famous British car part suppliers for his Jaguar XK120 restoration project. Stand back after you ask him that question. He is liable to turn red and start spitting nails …) So, most new Elan parts are good but there are a few things they don’t make yet. Like original style bolton steel wheels. I always look for those few that pop up here and there. Last summer Greg Zelazek asked me to drive into Chicago to pick up an Elan headlight pod that he had bought from a guy who was finally giving up on restoring an S1 Elan that his grandfather had totaled (and later had died from the crash) some 50 years ago. When I arrived at the typical, packed, Chicago two-car garage I could see buried under a ton of furniture ,the front end of an Elan chassis. It was bent up pretty badly but the front wheels looked pretty good. I bought them from him and took them home along with Greg ’ s headlight pod.
At some time during the next few months I had an occasion to check them for general roundness, sand blast, prime, paint and clear coat the two wheels. I had looked on the internet for the very rare 13” tires that are still being made that fit an Elan. I prefer a slightly wider 165X65X13 over the original 145 by 80 tires which many people put on their Elans. Since I use smaller diameter rear springs, I am able to tuck the 165’s in there where they would normally rub on the rear springs, if they are of the stock diameter. After scouring the country I find just one tire that matches the Achilles brand that I have been using on my latest restorations. "What am I going to do with just one tire?" I think. Oh well, I buy it and have it mounted and balanced by the Tire Whisperer in Elk Grove Village. I tuck the tire away up in the garage attic …….
So now, back to the present day and I need a new wheel and I just happen to have one. In stock. With the correct make and size tire already mounted. So I grab the ladder, get the tire/wheel down and mount it on the Detroit Elan. I offer up the hub cap and it goes "Pop" right into place. Sometimes you make your own luck!
PS. This morning, just before I finished writing up this article, I was scrolling through ebay and I found a nolongeravailable NOS Ford Cortina 6-blade, plastic, radiator fan blade. They fit Elans and are much more efficient at moving air. I don’t need one now but I might need one down the road so I hit “Buy it now ”……
