History

Update:  David Reilly, who owned EB1821 from 1969 until the early 1990s, recently sent me some notes that fill in some of the gaps in our history.  I've inserted his comments and a copy of his sale notice below.

I'm fortunate to have fairly extensive documentation of the history of EB1821, though some puzzles still remain to be solved.

According to Lotus records published in Dennis Ortenburger's The Original Lotus Elite: Racing Car for the Road, this car was originally sold on 27 October 1961 to someone named Bradford under invoice number RK50058 with engine number FWE400-41-9603.  Although this car was represented to me by its former owner as still having its original engine, examination of the engine block reveals that this was replaced at some point with engine number FWE400-31-9843.  EB1821 is a Series II Elite with a ZF S4-12 gearbox as well as the twin SU H4 carburetors, Royalite rigid interior, and jute sound insulation characteristic of the last of the SII cars.  The body was molded by Bristol Aeroplane Plastics, as confirmed by the original Bristol chassis plate and the tell-tale "double-dimple" indentations on the underside of the rear of the car.  Bristol, who were contracted by Lotus in September 1959, manufactured Elite bodies to a much higher standard than had Lotus' previous contractor, Maximar; but Maximar continued to produce bodies for Lotus until July 1960, including many SII Elites.

I can only assume that Bradford was a dealer, probably near the Welsh border, since the car was first registered on 1 February 1962 with plate number 4830NT.  The "NT" series plates were issued in Shropshire between 1960 and 1963.  The original plates remain with the car and there is no record of it ever having had any others.  In 1976, the DVLA replaced traditional logbooks with a standard keeper document ("V5") and many owners' logbooks were lost or destroyed.  The first remaining logbook for EB1821 dates from 6 January 1966, recording the keeper as John Barrowlough of Salop, as the county of Shropshire was briefly known in the late sixties and seventies, and the color as white.  A second logbook records a change of keeper to David Richard Tattersall of Eastbourne (about 90 minutes by train from London) on 17 January 1969 and a new color: yellow.  Chipping away at the paint, it's easy to see the original white paint under a single coat of yellow.  Tattersall kept the car long enough to leave behind a MOT test certificate issued in Purley in North East Surrey on  25 February 1969 and recording a mileage of 38,421.  The logbook records another change of keeper to Ian Forbes McKenzie of Fentham (Middlesex) on 11 November 1969 and finally to David Norris Reilly of Durham on 6 April 1973.[Reilly, David]  Bought in late 1969 - then to Len Street for full service and taking care of several issues and shipping to USA as dated below.

This is where the story becomes puzzling.  According to U.S. customs documents, David Norris Reilly imported the car to New York on 6 April 1970, three years to the day before the U.K. records list him as its keeper.  What's more, the official DVLA V5 document, issued to Reilly sometime after April 1978 lists him as still living in the U.K.  [Reilly, David] Done to get the V5 and retain the number plate.  The DVLA has no record of the car ever having left the England nor of it ever changing hands again.  I have not been able to find any evidence that the car was ever registered in the US.  [Reilly, David] .Correct. It never was, although it was driven until about 1975  Reilly was, however, a member of club Elite.  According to the club's membership roster for 1989, he kept the car in Pennsylvania and reported that it had covered 43k miles.  Reilly, David]  Plus about 10,000 on and in trailers - but more on that later.

According to Chris Tchorznicki, from whom I purchased the car in December 2001, he bought it from Reilly in the early 1990s.  It was not running at the time and Tchorznicki, who has a business in Ayer, MA selling Caterham Sevens and restoring Elans, took it on as a project, but never found time to begin the work.  [Reilly, David] and there were many many spares with it including the rear lights you illustrated and a set of newly upholstered Elite seats (it had Elan seats in it).  Tchorznicki's account, together with the club records and the MOT certificate from 1969, leads me to believe that EB1821 has probably not moved under its own power in almost 30 years.  [Reilly, David]  Good estimate!  I'd like to speak with Mr. Reilly to fill in some of these blanks.  All I know about him so far  is that he wrote an article on the NACA duct (which, incidentally, EB1821 does not have) for Road & Track in March 1970 and lived in the village of Carlisle, MA when he sold the car to Tchorznicki.  [Reilly, David] Westford, actually  Coincidentally, I also lived in Carlisle at that time, though we never crossed paths, so far as I know.  [Reilly, David]  Don't know. I was  friends with Carl Whitney and spent a lot of time at his shop.

David also provides the following sales notice and comments, "I'm surprised that it is taking so much to restore.  When I sold it in the early 90s, it was road worthy although not running."