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Aladdin's Cave Seen near Lotus Factory in Norfolk UK

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EuropaTC:

--- Quote from: 4129R on Monday,June 05, 2017, 01:42:50 PM ---I didn't see a drophead mould, but I expect it is there somewhere.

--- End quote ---

Allegedly Lotus used the S3/S4 FHC moulds for the DHC and used a custom mould for the windscreen header rail.  I have no idea if that's true or not but it was the tale circulating back in the 80s when I converted my S3 fhc to dhc.

I spent some time looking at a mate's sprint which he'd bought new and it surprised me that the rear bodywork around the hood tray had a short raised lip which conformed exactly the shape of the rear windscreen lip & roof support pillars. Even the hood tray is designed to fit into this weird shape.  So it had some credibility because the earlier S2 had a flat rear deck and even if you had decided a raised lip was better for rigidity there's no reason to make it such a weird shape and complicate the hood tray mould.  And of course there were numerous moulds for header rails kicking around back then !

Brian

RoddyMac:
Brian,
I've heard the same story on the Elan moulds, I wonder if it was true?

Rod

EuropaTC:
I think it probably is Rod although I have no evidence to back up the claim. What convinced me was the rear deck arrangement on my friend's Sprint, which had always been a dhc and yet had exactly the same moulding as mine would have after the rear roof pillars had been cut away. And of course the hood tray, moulded specially to fit into such an odd arrangement.

If you think from a manufacturing viewpoint you could easily mould a body and finish an inch or so up the rear pillars/B post and then add on the top header rail for the top of the windscreen.  That's all that happened with my car, plus of course some reinforcement at the windscreen pillar bases.   

One set of moulds, two styles of cars. It's Chapman all over, isn't it ?  :)

Brian

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