Re: Elans

["Ron Ewing" <ronewing@domain.elided>]

    Actually, only the S1 elans had the body bonded to the chassis, as did
the S1 Europa, and the earlier Elite.  The S2's onward had the bodies bolted
to the frame.
I've owned both and they are stunning around corners, but fragile little
things.  Sold an Elan S2 10 years ago and bought a very nice 73 Alfa Spider
which felt much more like a real car than a very fast coffin on wheels!
    In terms of contemporary comparisons, IIRC the Honda S2000 has a similar
backbone frame, and in spirit is a lot closer to the Elan than the Miata is.
In mine and many others eyes, however, the original Miata was visually an
update of the original Elan, tho amusingly, ads at the time referred to the
mid 50's Porsche Speedster - a red herring if there ever was one!  Cheers,
Ron.
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