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John's Online
LOTUS Museum
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ELITE M50
TYPE 75
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.TYPE 75 - Elite
1974 to 1980
Production GT Car

Engine: Lotus 907 1973cc-140 bhp-------------------------------
Gearbox: Lotus 5-speed manual, or Borg-Warner 165----
Automatic.-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chassis: Central box-section steel backbone---------------
Front Suspension: unequal-length double wishbones,
& coil spring / damper units.-----------------------------------------
Rear Suspension: Strut-type, with tubular lower -----------
wishbones,-& coil spring / damper units.-----------------------
Wheelbase: 8 ft. 1.8 in.--------------------------------------------------
Front Track: 4 ft. 10.5 in.-----------------------------------------------
Rear Track: 4 ft. 11 in.---------------------------------------------------
Length: 14 ft. 7.5 in.------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 2180 lbs.----------------------------------------------------------


The new Elite used the backbone chassis design-------
 to carry a four seat fiberglass body.---------------------------
Power was provided by Lotus' own  twin cam, 4 valve
 per cylinder, all aluminum engine.-------------------------------
Designated the 907,the engine was all Lotus designed.
It was an aluminum, dual overhead cam, four cylinder
 design, displacing 1973cc's.---------------------------------------
This engine was the first engine to use a four valve---
per cylinder design for street use.----------------------------
The 907 produced 140 horsepower and met the---------
strict environmental requirements without the use----
 of smog pumps and catalytic converters.------------------
      As new safety and environmental regulations came------
        on line, Lotus anticipated the need of a car that would----
         address these future concerns.--------------------------------------

       The new Elite was a four place car with a glass-fiber----
       body and a steel backbone chassis.----------------------------
       Ride and handling was superb, because of a 4 wheel---
       independent suspension system.--------------------------------
This car was also the first Lotus to ever be offered--
with an automatic transmission and air conditioning
as options.-------------------------------------------------------------

  The Elite M50 was designed to compete against the Mercedes
350SLC in the marketplace.----------------------------------------------------
It originally was designed to be powered by a V8 engine, (the-
Lotus Type 909 V8), which used the heads and pistons from--
the Type 907 engine.-------------------------------------------------------------
That plan was shelved when the first big Gas Crisis hit.-----------
When General Motors bought Lotus, they had the Lotus-----
engineers develop the Type 909 into the LT- 5 V8, which was
installed in the ZR- 1 "King of the Hill" Corvette.--------------------
Lotus had no problem with doing this, as they thought that---
they would be able to use the engine in future Lotus designs.
However, GM was only interested in raiding the advanced
technology that Lotus was working on, and quickly sold Lotus
once they had what they wanted.--------------------------------------------
Because of this, Lotus was never able to use the LT- 5 engine, 
and they had to develop a totally new engine for the Esprit` V8.
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Prototype Lotus Type 909 4.4 liter V8 Engine
(Notice incomplete Cross-Ram Intake Manifold)
This V8 engine was developed by using components
from the LV-240 Racing Engine.--------------------------------
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Lotus LV-240 2.0 liter Racing Engine
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Lotus Type 907 2.0 liter Engine
(This production engine was developed from the LV-240 Racing Engine)
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09/21/1998
Greetings Rio,
  My name is J.M.M. 
I live in Haines Falls, N.Y., U.S.A..
I own a 1974 Lotus Elite,Type "504"* (Unit# 74/120280B).
I also own a 1976 Lotus Elite,Type 504 (Unit# 76/030463B), that was damaged by fire.
Of the 352 Elites imported into the U.S., only 3 were 504's with the
automatic transmission.
I bought the '74 Elite originally to repair the '76,but once I learned of it's history I decided to restore it instead.
  The '74 Elite(Type 503) was purchased in 1988, from La Monsa Motors (in Mahwah,N.J.), who was the distributor for this model.
I bought the car as a "rolling chassis", sans engine & transmission, as the distributor had removed these items from his "Show/Demo" vehicle to satify a customers problem with their drivetrain.
The original engine was Ser.# 741210567.
If anyone knows the where-abouts of this particular engine, I would be
interested in corresponding with them.
  The distributor told me that this car was the vehicle shown on the Lotus stand at the Motor Show at the old New York Colissium.
He told me that when the car first came into the country it was painted 
Metallic Blue, but it was slightly damaged at the docks,and was re-painted Burgundy before the show.
He gave me the January,1975 issue of ROAD TEST magazine which, on page 35, shows the car sitting in a field behind the importer's facility.
I have since re-painted it British Racing Green with Yellow accents, 
as befits a Lotus.
* I placed the engine and transmission from my damaged '76 Elite 504
into this 503 chassis.
The engine in the "504" was actually a hand picked, close-tolerence, 
"European Block", (with 9.0:1 compression flat-top pistons), and twin 
Zenith-Stromberg carbs for federal emissions.
I believe that Lotus "snuck" this configuration in, to make up for the
power-train losses of the automatic transmission, for road-test purposes.
  I have since up-graded the engine with 11.5:1 high compression
pistons, full race cams, dual Dellorto DHLA 45 carbs, and electronic
ignition.
The engine now puts out 200+ H.P. @ 7000 RPM.
  I also re-built the transmission, a Borg-Warner 65, with heavier
components, and performed some standard "street-racing" tricks to the valve body to increase response.
  The suspension has been upgraded with Spax adjustable racing 
shocks (adjustable damper settings & adjustable spring seats for ride
height), a stiffer front anti-roll bar and the addition of a rear anti-roll
bar, and custom-made adjustable titanium rear lower links.
I replaced all rubber bushings with polyurethane ones.
  I am currently working on adapting Jaguar rear disc brakes to the
Salisbury differential of this car. 
More about that later.
  I stripped out all the sound-deadening foam, rhino-hide, and carpeting
from the body, and replaced them with lighter modern components, to
save weight.
  I replaced the federal front bumper with a European-spec one, as I
had a bit of a problem with over-heating in the thinner mountain air
where I live.
The extra air intake area in front of the radiator really helped.
I also replaced all the hoses with Aeroquip lines.
  My wife uses this car as a daily driver, and it has been very reliable, (unusual for a Lotus).
It goes like the devil.
Ferrari's, (308 & 328), & Porsche Turbo's have a hard time staying with 
me on the twisty mountain roads that this car calls home.
Corvette's, Camaro's, & Firebird's aren't even a consideration.
  Please include my vehicle in your registry.
                               ----------------------Sincerely,
----------------------------------------------John M. Mamarella 
 ---------------   -----------------  E-Mail:[email protected]
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P.S.
  The attached image file is of the '76 Elite 504, in front of my old
house on Long Island,N.Y., shortly after I purchased it in Sept.,1986.
Sadly, the entire nose of this car was destroyed by a fire.
I was able to salvage the engine & tranny, (which now reside in my '74
Type 504), the chassis frame with all suspension components, and the
full rear body clip with doors and all glass.
Anyone interested in any of my extra Elite parts can contact me at
the above e-Mail address.
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P.S.S. 
  I also own a 1967 Lotus Europa S1A (Unit# 460453).
I have upgraded this car with a Spyder space-frame chassis with full 
I.R.S., (I wish Spyder would make these for Elites!), a Gordini Hemi engine (with 13.5:1 pistons, high-lift racing cam, dual Weber DCOE 45 carbs,  & 2 in.dia. header pipes dumping into a 4 in. collector), putting out 190 H.P., a specially modified Renault 395 transaxle, and all the suspension mods that are on my Elite.
(I did them on the Europa first.).
This car, (which only weighes 900 lbs.), is street-legal, will do 0-60 MPH in 4.2 sec., and has a theoretical top-speed of 184 MPH! 
I have only driven it up to 140 MPH, where I pinned my speedometer.
I have also pinned the speedometer on the Elite at 140 MPH.
I need higher reading speedo's. 
LOTUS RULES!
.JMM

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