Author Topic: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa  (Read 4420 times)

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Offline Certified Lotus

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Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« on: Thursday,December 08, 2016, 05:38:29 AM »
My car came without an ashtray. Anyone have one for sale?

Offline BDA

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #1 on: Thursday,December 08, 2016, 06:15:49 AM »
Good luck. They are very hard to come by.

Offline blasterdad

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #2 on: Thursday,December 08, 2016, 11:36:53 AM »
Vito 84 had one for sale in the classifieds, someone said they wanted it but no further posts since... :confused:
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1690.0

Offline Sherman Kaplan

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #3 on: Thursday,December 08, 2016, 08:25:16 PM »
Hi:

Sorry, I'm the guy and I purchased it. 

Regards,
Sherman

Offline blasterdad

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #4 on: Friday,December 09, 2016, 05:48:38 AM »
Hi:

Sorry, I'm the guy and I purchased it. 

Regards,
Sherman
Good grab!
Found this...
http://www.kelsport.net/parts/product_details.asp?PartID=4882&categoryID=25&PartsectionID=62
Looks a little different though, maybe worth calling them for the price!?

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #5 on: Friday,December 09, 2016, 06:51:16 AM »
Thanks but that is for an Elan (I have a couple of those).

Offline blasterdad

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #6 on: Friday,December 09, 2016, 08:13:08 PM »

Offline BDA

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #7 on: Friday,December 09, 2016, 08:54:53 PM »
Boy Blaster! Who knew you could convert 41,040円 to dollars! Does that account for exchange rate fluctuations?!

Before Don Tingle retired (for those who haven't been around that long, he was one of the "usual suspects" who sold Lotus parts), I asked him how much an ashtray was worth and he quoted me a price similar to that. He could justify it because of its rarity, etc. but he allowed that if he had one for sale, he would probably sell it for a lot less and basically it was worth the intersection of what somebody would give you for it and what you could sleep at night after selling it.

Recently, I sold mine to a buddy for $50. I wonder if he knows how good a friend I am! :D

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #8 on: Saturday,December 10, 2016, 05:00:55 AM »
At those prices I should make a mold and start producing them! BDA, you have the right spirit! I have done the same many times with my stock of extra parts for early Elan's.

Still looking for an ash tray (at a reasonable price).

Offline blasterdad

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #9 on: Saturday,December 10, 2016, 07:48:18 AM »
At those prices I should make a mold and start producing them! BDA, you have the right spirit! I have done the same many times with my stock of extra parts for early Elan's.

Still looking for an ash tray (at a reasonable price).

The fact that these cars seem to show up with no ashtrays leads me to believe there is skullduggery afoot.
Mine was a victim of the ashtray fairy as well, & in a stroke of luck I still don't believe, I ended up with one for $25.00.
(Found a guy close to me with new seat rails I needed, when I went to pick them up he asked me if I was looking for anything else, I replied "ashtray"... about hit the floor when he returned about a minute later with one!)
How bout this, I will start a LotusEuropaCommunity community ashtray.
It will work like this... If you still haven't found one by the time you go to show your car, let me know beforehand & I will mail you mine, go to car show, bring home trophy, return ashtray for next community member.
All members with ashtrays would be welcome to join the "Doner" list... :trophy:

& Yes BDA, that did include the exchange rate fluctuation. ;)

 
 

Offline BDA

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #10 on: Saturday,December 10, 2016, 08:31:48 AM »
Great idea Blaster! That's sort of like the valve shims exchange (for TC motors) that Lotus Ltd. provides (or used to).

This may be a good application for a 3-D printer! Someone on this forum has one, I think.

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #11 on: Saturday,December 10, 2016, 08:55:59 AM »
Blasterdad, you are very kind to offer yours as a loaner, but I'm not going to show my car. I'm rebuilding it for personal use. Just like them complete.

Can anyone take good quality photos of all the sides and provide dimensions ?

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday,December 20, 2016, 05:24:39 PM »
What other cars used this model of ashtray? Lotus made very few things bespoke. I imagine the ash tray was from some other manufacturer?

Offline 4129R

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday,December 20, 2016, 10:39:36 PM »
I thought exactly the same as you.

I have done many Google image searches for all his usual sources, Ford, Austin, Morris, Triumph, etc. but found nothing yet.

IMHO it is highly unlikely he made one specifically for the Europa.

The search continues...............

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Ash tray wanted for twin cam Europa
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday,December 21, 2016, 09:58:01 AM »
Ok, I reached out to Andy Graham at Lotus and he didn't have any insights on who actually made the ash trays. Then I asked another renown Lotus expert and he said that it might be possible the ash trays were made for them as smoking was a big part of the culture back in those days. But......maybe try Hillman's as the early Europa stub axles came from the Minx.  Hint hint........