February 5, 2010
Elva Cars
wikipedia
Elva was a sports car manufacturing company based in Hastings (UK).
It was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from French phrase elle va ("she goes"). After financial problems caused by the failure of the U.S. distributor, the company was sold to Trojan in 1961, & production moved to Rye, Sussex; & again in 1966 to the main Trojan factory in Croydon. Ken Sheppard Customized Sports Cars of Shenley, Hertfordshire bought Elva from Trojan in 1965, but production ended in 1968.
Racing cars
Elva Mk VII
Around 1965/66 Elva made a very successful series of Mk 8 sports racers mostly w/1.8L BMW engines (modified from the 1.6L by John Nerus) & some with 1.15L Holbay-Ford engines.
Elva Courier
The main road car, introduced in 1958, was called the Courier & went thru a series of developments thruout the existence of the company. Initially all the cars were exported, home market sales not starting until 1960.
The Mk 1 used a 1500cc MGA or Riley 1.5L engine in a ladder chassis w/Elva designed independent front suspension. The engine was set well back in the chassis to help weight distribution which produced good handling but encroached on the cockpit making the car a little cramped. The chassis carried lightweight 2-seater open fiberglass bodywork. It was produced in kit form. After about 50 cars were made it was upgraded to the Mk II which was the same car but a proprietary curved glass windscreen, replacing the original flat glass V-shaped one & the larger 1600cc MGA engine. Approximately 400 of the Mk I & II were made.
With the Trojan takeover the Mk III was introduced in 1962 & was sold as a complete car. On the home market a complete car cost £965 or the kit version £716. The chassis was now a box frame molded into the body. Triumph rack & pinion steering & front suspension was standardized. A closed coupé body was also available w/either a reverse slope Ford Anglia type rear window or a fastback. The MGA engine was used at 1st to be followed by the MGB version & later the Ford Cortina GT unit was available. The final version, the fixed head coupé Mk IV T type used Lotus DOHC engines w/the body modified to give more interior room. It could be had w/all independent suspension & 4-wheel disc brakes. 210 were made.
GT160
There was also a GT160 which never got beyond production of 3 prototypes. It used a BMW dry sump engine of 2.0L capacity w/bodywork styled by Englishman Trevor Frost (also known as Trevor Fiore, & who also designed the Trident) & made by Fissore of Turin. It weighed 1,230 lbs & had 185 bhp so would have had very impressive performance but was deemed too costly to put into series production.
Tony Ellis
The Courier & the Elva 3000 "Cougar"
by Roger Dunbar
The Elva Courier was conceived as a result of the success story of Elva sports racing cars, being built in small workshops in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. It is generally known that in 1958, the American importer had suggested to Frank Nichols of Elva Engineering that a road going sports racing car would be a worthwhile proposition in the States, & funds were forthcoming to produce an initial batch of 30 cars. Importer Walter Dickson was enthusiastic to get the cars in production & so Frank Nichols worked w/a young Cambridge graduate named Peter Nott to design a suitable ladder frame chassis, ready to take a BMC 'A35' power unit. The design progressed w/the help of body stylist Tim Fry, & before long a prototype car was built w/pretty aluminum panels formed by Williams & Pritchard.
After some modifications, this car was used as the mould to enable fiberglass bodies to be fitted to the production cars that were to follow. The Elva Courier was intended to be competitive, & to appeal to enthusiasts who could enjoy the performance on & off the racetrack. However, it was assumed that owners would be capable of dealing w/the simple maintenance routines, & perhaps minor repairs to the fiberglass bodies, as there would be a limited # of Distributors in the States for these low volume sports cars.
From this relatively simple beginning, the Elva Courier progressively developed into a potent 'street' car that almost every owner eventually raced. Mark Donohue described the Courier as being "perfectly balanced w/no understeer or oversteer characteristics. 4-wheel drifts could be set up & maintained w/ease". Sales of the Courier increased in the States, w/just a small # remaining in the UK, until enough cars could be built to offer them in the UK as 'kits', thus avoiding purchase tax. Various additions & modifications were made during their development at Bexhill & later in the new Elva factory in nearby Hastings. However, there was a serious setback in 1961 when the U.S. Importer was accused of some financial misdemeanors, & a catastrophic cash flow situation meant that the Rights to produce the Courier were sold to Trojan Limited of Croydon. Trojan went on to build further versions of the Courier, including a Mk III built on a square section rather than tubular chassis, & the Mk IV 'T-Type' which featured all independent suspension & the bigger MGB rather than MGA power unit.
Eventually the Courier became less attractive to Trojan, as in 1964 they had signed a contract w/Bruce McLaren, & the Elva factory, now in Rye, was contracted to build the early production big-banger V8 powered sports racers to be called McLaren-Elva, together w/the last of the Mk 8S Elva sports racing cars. A very enthusiastic & more than capable Ken Shepherd took over the build of the last of the 'T-Types' on behalf of Trojan, & these cars were very carefully & individually built to order as a one family business, helped by a friends & neighbors.
Ken bought the Courier back to its hand-built ancestry rather than the production line method of building the cars, which Trojan had tried to establish, & it showed.
Ken Sheppard continued his involvement w/Elva & slowly the available parts & orders for the Mk IV 'T' Type Courier came to a halt. However, this was not to be the end of the story, as Tony Ellis had been responsible for supplying spares & generally helping to keep the various Courier models active in the UK, developing the 'SE' model & a turbocharged car, but best of all, the 'Cougar'.
During 1960, the Hastings factory had built just one all-independent car as a 'reversed rear window' coupe (right & below), similar to the Ford Anglia of the time.
This prototype car was also the test bed for a new Lockheed braking system & was registered as '96 BCG'. I owned & restored this Courier in 1980, & it was this vehicle that had given Tony Ellis the inspiration for a design that was just waiting to happen.
Tony Ellis is an engineer w/wide experience in design & development, & was 1st introduced to an Elva Courier, when in 1962; he bought an early split-screen model as part of a part-exchange deal. He worked on, & improved that car, & as Trojan was not very interested in the Bexhill & Hastings built cars, other Courier owners were referred to him, whenever help & advice were needed, & this included the then owner of Courier coupe '96 BCG'. Tony traded as Ellis Motorworks (EMW) & later Tony Ellis (Sports Cars) Ltd. in Eaton Wick, Near Windsor, Buckinghamshire, & much of his work was involved in tuning a variety of specialist vehicles, particularly Maserati & other competition cars.
His enthusiasm for the Courier gave encouragement to Peter Agg of Trojan to make contact & he asked if Tony would like to buy a 'pile' of the early Courier spares. A deal was struck in 1964 & Tony Ellis (Sports Cars) Ltd. became the official parts & service provider in the UK. Tony also had a close business relationship w/Bob Henderson of Minnow-Fish carbs, then based in Wallington in Surrey, & he undertook work on cars fitted w/this carburetor conversion.
The 1st Courier to be converted to the 'SE' specification was the prototype Mk IV 'T' Type registered as '8148 VB', & the modifications were quite extensive. The car had 1st been built in late 1963 & used by Trojan before being sold to Michael Edds, & then bought by Tony Ellis before being updated to the 'SE' specification. The 'SE' mods were intended to give the car a more relaxed feel when high speed long distance cruising was undertaken, rather than just producing more power.
Up until 1968, a total of 8 of the 'SE' version were produced, 2 as new cars, & the other 6 were built from existing cars. The cost of this conversion was close to £1000/0/0d, which was a lot of money in those days. However, the cars did benefit from a well-modified 1800cc MGB power unit fitted w/a Minnow-Fish carb & manifold, electric fan & oil cooler, special exhaust system, all of which produced 112 bhp at the wheels. The car had a competition clutch, a CR gearbox, & a special high-torque OD unit (w/hold switch). The suspension was as the standard Mk IV 'T' Type but used double action shocks w/external adjustments for damping & spring seats. The brakes had special pads & rear linings, the wire wheels were 14x4.5J, & you also rec’d air horns, a high output coil, a tonneau cover, ammeter, heater & a wood rim steering wheel. Body & trim colors were to the customer's requirement, but all featured the striking nose 'flash'.
The car was capable of 130 mph w/an average fuel consumption of 30 mpg. Altho time was fast running out for the Courier, Tony still had that design for a totally revamped car running around in his head, & he set about building what is arguably the ultimate version. His dream of a fast, stable & reliable car still proudly wearing the Elva badge was to become reality in 1969 as the Elva 3000 Cougar.
By now the Trojan Company had dropped the Elva name from the McLaren series, as their dream was F1 under the Trojan banner. Tony knew that he should pay particular attention to the aerodynamics of the new bodywork, & found that the rather blunt rear styling achieved minimum reverse pressure, this being confirmed in tests when Tony admits to having achieved 140 mph in the Cougar. Special pressure plates were used, & various tests made to produce the best airflow over, under & thru the nose to ensure adequate cooling to the engine & transmission, & not to create lift at the intended maximum speed of 160 mph in a turbocharged model. Once the design had been completed, & the 'buck' made on one of the lightweight 'Sebring' chassis frames, Arthur Rothan, a previous employee of Elva, was asked to make the moulds for the bodies.
Arthur was a dedicated craftsman capable of making nothing but the best, having worked w/Frank Nichols at Elva from 1957, & later w/Trojan Limited. The prototype was built during early 1969 &d as a result of the aerodynamics, the Ford V6 powered car was extremely quiet & stable, w/precise handling in all conditions. The engine gave a good torque & power response thruout the rev range, w/very effective braking thru twin servos, altho the rears were later modified to inboard discs w/an LSD.
The snags? Tony admits that the carb would ice up on damp cold mornings, the fly-off handbrake was awkward, space was a little limited, & ground clearance might be a problem w/the car fully loaded. The modified V6 gave over 140 bhp at the rear wheels, via 2000E (Lotus Cortina) gearbox. When tested, the car shown to be almost as quick as an E-Type Jaguar to 100 mph, & w/little effort the Cougar could outpace almost anything else on the road. It was described as being a neutral well-balanced race car for the road (heard that one before?), w/shattering acceleration & road holding that has to be experienced to be believed. There were plans that up to 6 cars would be built each week & once again the majority would be destined for the States. However, it was not to be as the financial investment required would be immense, & was not forthcoming. Just the 1 car was built, but a cracker!
A turbocharged Mk IV 'T' Type, originally built in 1968, was tested 1973 for a magazine, again using the 1800cc MGB engine but this time fitted w/the Minnow turbocharger system. The Minnow-Fish Company had moved to Scotland w/Tony Ellis remaining as the southern distributor & he was very happy to fit the turbo unit to your MGB engine for £310/0/0d. The power increased from the std 63 bhp to around 103 bhp at the rear wheels, & most of this gain was felt at speeds over 50 mph & in particular in 3rd & top gears when overtaking.
Eventually Tony decided that he needed to make changes & he emigrated to New Zealand. In 1974 the de-tuned test car joined him.
Sadly, the Elva 3000 'Cougar' was destroyed in an accident & the last of the Courier models was gone. In excess of 600 cars had been built by the Elva & Trojan Companies, & many survive to be hugely enjoyed today both on & off the race track.
The 'Le Mans' Courier Story
by Roger Dunbar
The story starts w/a U.S. based Field Engineer (DAC) working in France who had a great interest in club racing. He ran a Healey 3000 w/limited success but then he was competing against a field full of Ferrari 250s & E Type Jaguars, so this was hardly a surprise.
Richard (Dick) Osteen met w/a fellow competitor named Ron Lutz, who talked of happy times w/an early Elva Courier, & had even acted as an 'agent' for Elva Cars in helping to supply a few similar cars to U.S. personnel stationed in Europe. Early in 1963 it was decided that both Dick & Ron would each buy a Trojan built Mk III Courier to enter in the 1601cc to 2000cc racing class.
The cars were ordered w/the 1800cc MGB power units but these were given the full race treatment, which included increasing the bore to 2.0L. This was undertaken by Barwell Engineering in Leatherhead, as Barwell offered a wide range of tuning goodies & was the preferred tuning specialist as far as Trojan was concerned. Trojan also had to make special modifications to the Courier Mk III supplied to Dick, as he is 6'7" tall & the pedal box; seat & steering wheel locations needed some revision. The cars were chassis numbers E1037 & E1042, both being ordered on 2/11/1963 & were delivered on 4/26/1963.
These cars raced moderately successfully thruout the season & Ron & Dick discussed the heady idea of entering a Courier in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race. Their enthusiasm was such that Dick managed to relocate to join Ron at Poitiers & they set about organizing their entry for this prestigious race.
As Dick had some influence w/the organizers as a member of "Ecurie Le Mans", he managed to gently persuade those responsible that the special Courier (at that time only planned) was a suitable car to be added to the list of 16 supplementary entries. The car would be invited as a "Voiture Suppleante" (Reserve Car) & in the event of enough of the 55 invited cars w/drawing, which happened for many & varied reasons, then they would be 'in'!
Ron Lutz at the wheel for the maiden run.
Ron Lutz talked w/Trojan & BMC Competitions Department about supplying a car & suitable engines, & once the Le Mans entry had been accepted the project was underway. The Elva Courier Mk 4'T' Type was ordered on the 11/7/1963 & was ready at the end of January 1964. The car #E1137 was actually a rolling chassis w/unpainted lightweight (2 layer) body, but complete w/the differential, gearbox, 2 engine blocks & umpteen special engine tuning parts.
The 1st job was to saw off the nose of the body w/the view to improved aerodynamics, much to the chagrin of Peter Agg, the Managing Director of the Lambretta-Trojan Group, who had contributed to the design the car. There was another reason, as Ron had persuaded Trojan to supply the incomplete car, w/out charge. The deal was for the car to obtain good press coverage by running in this important race, & in that event Peter & his company would be very happy. However, if the car did not run, then it would have to be paid for, or returned to the Trojan factory. A similar agreement was made w/BMC over the engine parts supplied.
A team organizer would be required, & Chuck Foster agreed to help keep everything together to ensure that people, parts & paperwork were all in the right places at the correct time. Not an easy task.
A home was rented w/a large basement garage plus a suitable side room for the engine builds, & various friends were recruited to help, as everything had to be done at weekends, or whenever the 'day' jobs allowed. Dick & Ron were involved in the electronics industry, but they soon found 'Red' Earl to help w/the fiberglass work, & Jim Taylor was appointed as the automotive electrician. Tony Corrado produced the 'elephants toenails', or lamp covers, using the domestic oven to achieve just the right shapes w/ingenious molding & heating methods & great timing. Soon the nose was reshaped to everyone's satisfaction & all that as needed was some hp.
The BMC engine blocks were special castings w/extra thickness around the area of the cam-followers. The std pushrods would not survive the high revs anticipated, & so sturdier pushrods & cam-followers from a Buick V8 provided the answer. Again, a bore to 2.0L & Hepolite racing pistons were used, altho it was also necessary to machine 1.5mm off the face of the blocks, while the induction was care of special Derrington inlets for the 45DCOE Weber carb.
A technical college in Angers was encouraged to electronically balance the crankshaft & flywheel assemblies as part of a class project. They did a wonderful job as both assemblies were balanced to spin, vibration free, up to 10,000 rpm. The likely maximum was to be 7200 rpm but as an addition engine safety measure, high output oil pumps were ordered from Australia.
The 1st completed engine was installed & it immediately blew off the oil filter housing. Next time it pumped up the oil cooler like a rugby ball & after much head scratching it was discovered that the filter bypass hole had been inadvertently plugged. After this & a few other minor maladies were fixed, the car made a perfect maiden run.
Altho the car was supplied as a roadster, the team had decided that it should become a fastback coupe, & so a simple prototype hardtop was fashioned & fitted before the car was taken for a 'shakedown' run at the Monthlery circuit near Paris, in mid March.
The circuit managers were only allowing the oval, steeply banked 'Anneau de Vitesse' part of the complex to be used, but Dick took the car up to the maximum rpm limit & saw over 126 mph. However, the project very nearly came to an early end when he experienced a rear tire blowout at top speed, but that near disaster was avoided & the car returned to Jaunay-Clan for further race preparation. There was to be a 2-day pre-race trial for Le Mans entrants on 4/18 & 4/19/1964.
It had become obvious that a higher diff ratio would be necessary to achieve the anticipated maximum top speed, but funds were getting short & there was still much to do. Ron then hit on the idea of forming a 'supporters club' & produced some very authentic Certificates, which were named 'ELVA au MANS'. Initially, 20 of the Certificates were printed & sold for $25.00 each, thus raising a very useful $500.00 & the new differential unit was purchased.
Within a few weeks the 'membership' had increased to nearly 50 supporters, but the team had spent $1,300.00 already, w/the need for an additional $1,000.00 in sight. More friends of friends were encouraged to join. Other modifications included a very high-speed windscreen wiper motor, which would have plenty of use, & parts to facilitate keeping the prized differential at a reasonable temperature.
During the pre-race trials, the car performed well, apart from the need to watch the 'diff' temperature gauge which resulted in the need to install an oil pump & cooler, plus a rather unexpected problem from the thin, non-standard Courier bonnet. The top speed had been calculated at 150 mph, with 145 mph at 6500 rpm, & Dick gave it full throttle down the Mulsanne straight, watching the revs pass the 6000 rpm mark, until there was a loud 'whump' at around 6200 rpm & the car slowed.
At that speed the bonnet had 'caved in' to produce almost an 'air brake' effect, but would pop back into shape once the car returned to more normal speeds. The local hardware store provided the answer in the form of lightweight aluminum tubing to brace the underside of the molding. The rest of the weekend was uneventful, & having achieved everything that was expected of the much-modified prototype 'Le Mans' Courier, it was back to base to make the car look rather more respectable.
  
April trials in the wet.
Chuck Foster by the LR wheel.
The French enjoy the Little Elva & the Grand (Tall) Driver.
However, there was one important task, which was to fabricate a new 120L fuel tank, being the maximum capacity for an up to 2.0L engined car. This involved lots of thought in order to make the tank fit safely into the rather confined boot space, & the much neglected slide rule came in useful in calculating shapes vs. volume!
Other detailing included the mandatory illumination of the race #s, some bodywork flaring to cover the tires sufficiently, & lots of bodywork preparation prior to painting. A cracked windscreen during installation created a last minute drama, which involved a train trip to Paris, where a new Renault Floride/Caravel unit was obtained. This screen was fitted upside down to give a greater 'rake' & better aerodynamics.
The car was then ready for painting in white w/contrasting blue racing stripes, & once this was completed, the Courier was taken to the Le Mans circuit ready for the 'Pesage' or scrutineering on the Tuesday morning prior to the race weekend.
Dick Osteen getting ready to drive.
Altho roll bars were not mandatory in 1964, the team had wisely fitted a hoop to the car, but as a result the 'FIA Suitcase' would not fit inside the car as the rules required. After much discussion, it was agreed that the roll hoop would have to be removed, until a more senior scrutineer heard about the problem & declared in a voice of doom, “These boys are complying w/the spirit of our rules on safety. If they remove the roll bar, the suitcase will fit. But if they then have an accident, I do not want their blood on my hands!” So the bar stayed in place & the car was approved & accepted.
The team were now ready for the serious business of the 3-day pre-race trials. Trojan Limited had agreed to send a helping hand, & the next day Arthur Rothan arrived. Arthur had 1st become involved w/Elva in the earliest days, working w/Frank Nichols at Bexhill & then at the new factories in Hastings & Rye, before transferring to Croydon after the full Trojan takeover.
Ron Lutz was the 1st to take the car on the circuit & soon returned complaining of severe high-speed vibrations, which Dick confirmed. The car was promptly taken for a full suspension alignment check, & the wheels were dynamically balanced, w/limited improvements. However, an elderly member of the Dunlop Tire Co. support team learnt of the problem & volunteered to help, & he mounted the wheels & tires on a small stand, spun the wheels by hand, occasionally stopping to wrap a small length of soldering wire around carefully selected wheel spokes. The Elva guys were not exactly convinced, & w/some trepidation took the car back on the track, but it was perfect!
Dick just had to thank the Dunlop representative for his help & commented on the fact that they had used the latest most sophisticated equipment to balance the wheels, to no effect. The droll response was "Ain't sophisticated equipment that solves problems son, it's experience." A lesson learnt!
The car was back on track & Ron tried to beat the mandatory 5-minute lap requirement, but was just outside the time w/problems w/the differential still overheating. His 5 minute 2.9 second lap was not enough to qualify, & so Dick had a try & after a few circuits improved steadily to manage a couple of laps in 4 minute 56 second (in excess of 100 mph). He achieved 132 mph, but was still having to lift off at the end of the Mulsanne straight due to the diff temperature readings, & so later that evening a couple of 'mouse ear' air scoops were added to the rear of the roof & air was ducted down towards the offending unit. At the same time the hard top was lowered to increase the top speed. However, the next afternoon trials showed that the diff was still not running at the correct temperature, & w/others dropping out, the team were now close to being accepted for the major event.
Practicing for a race like the 24 hour Le Mans endurance race would always be full of incidents, & Dick was flat out coming into the 'S' bends just before 'Arnage', when he came across scattered parts from a very broken Porsche 904 GTS which had been entered by a Swiss team. Threading his way passed the scene, he then picked up speed out of 'Arnage' & headed for the very fast 'White House' 'S' bends w/brick built walls either side of the turns. The Deep Sanderson just ahead decided to bounce off the walls to ricochet back & forth w/Dick trying to avoid the mini-based missile at about 130 mph! The Courier survived & further thought was given to the diff unit before attempting the night trials.
The Ferrari team had refused a set of new Lucas quartz-iodine driving lamps, but the Elva team were delighted to accept the offer, & were perhaps the 1st team to use these lights at Le Mans. They worked brilliantly too! So, the night testing went well & on Saturday morning, Peter Agg from Trojan arrived in a BRG Trojan Mk 4 'T' Type Courier to inspect the troops & found that they were now the last of the supplementary cars not yet 'in'.
Everyone anxiously waited for the news that someone had dropped out, when it was discovered that a French entered A.C. Cobra was having difficulties in draining the fuel tank. This has to be done to ensure that officials can observe the filling of tanks, & thus confirm correct capacity. The Rules are very clear in stating that cars must be in front of their pits w/empty tanks at 1.00pm, but the car was still in the paddock. The Cobra had not complied but was not eliminated, & so Ron Lutz & Peter Agg protested to the organizers, but in vain.
The Courier sat in the Paddock at 4.00pm when the race started, & the Le Mans attempt had come to an end.
The Courier sits & waits in vain just before 4.00pm.
Obviously everyone was dismayed & distraught at being so close to the race, & Dick found some consolation in working w/Paddy Hopkirk & his 'works' MGB, altho the fact that the Courier had put up rather faster times than the 'B' was best not mentioned!
One can only guess at how the race would have run had the Elva been able to compete, but it is more than possible that it would have experienced problems w/the unsolved overheating diff. The ratio used gave the car around 70 mph in 1st, 95 mph in 2nd, 125 mph in 3rd & an estimated 150 mph in top.
Ferrari win & Elva miss the race by one.
For the record, it seems that the car was timed on the famous Mulsanne straight at approximately 149 mph, which puts it up for the award as the fastest Courier ever, despite the V6 Cougar, which would appear some 5 years later. Peter Agg was pleased that 'his' Courier had achieved that much, until he discovered that this was not quite the end of the story! Both Ron & Dick were hugely frustrated that they had not been able to prove the car under racing conditions, & also to repay all their friends & supporters by allowing them to see the car race. The Le Mans Courier was therefore entered in the 'Coupes de Paris' race at Monthlery for early September, & the Team invited everyone to attend. Except, it seems, Peter Agg.
Race line up - note banked circuit.
The Courier wins.
Having trailed the car to the circuit, a toss of a coin decided that Dick would drive, & w/a std diff ratio fitted, he put the car on pole position.
The car was quick enough to be 'protested' by the Paris Monceau Triumph team who were running 2 highly modified TR4s, but this protest was soon dismissed as the Le Mans approved stickers were still in place. The Courier easily won the race, almost lapping the car in 2nd place, & Ron was then entered into a race w/bigger capacity cars to finish mid field (10th).
A very successful day, which made up in a small way for the disappointment of Le Mans, until a less than happy Peter Agg telephoned to complain that the car was not to be used unless it was paid for. He probably did not realize that the Courier had achieved an outstanding win in front of possibly 8,000 spectators w/the resultant glowing publicity for Elva, but it was reluctantly agreed that the car had to be sold & it went to another owner in the UK.
The 'Elva au Mans' team paid the BMC Competitions Department for 1 engine & returned the other block & spares. Somehow you cannot help feeling that both Trojan & BMC did pretty well out of the Le Mans attempt, due to the dedication & determination of 2 amateur racers & their friends, but both Dick & Ron experienced the thrills & terrors of driving at arguably the world’s most famous high speed motor racing circuit, in a car they had prepared to exacting standards. No mean feat, & not too many people would have been bold enough to make such an attempt in an unproven car w/little or no financial support. A brave attempt indeed.
The car races in 1965.
Where is it now?
Well the 'Le Mans' Courier was raced in the UK during 1965 & entered by Advance Trade Motors. It appeared at a Castle Coombe Test Day in June, at Brands Hatch in July & in the Martini race at Silverstone w/Broadmani in the driver’s seat. The car was almost certainly shipped to the U.S. sometime thereafter. I did hear that it was advertised for sale just a few months ago (if the same car) but the present whereabouts is unknown. The green Courier Mk III, which Dick Osteen drove before 'Le Mans' now has a home in California & is currently raced in vintage events by Heidi Dunn-Gilred.
The only other Elva to run at Le Mans is the ELVA-BMW GT160 coupe, which was entered in 1965 & driven by Sir Richard Wrottesley & Tony Lanfranchi. Sadly it was a DNF, but then that is another story.
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