Kit Car - Elva Couriers for English Consumption - Only

A kit car moniker gives an impression of a pile of parts waiting in the garage to be completed . It has definite wrong side of the junkyard association in most peoples minds .

 In a traditional "Kit Car"  the one we think about - First you locate a donor car (VW, Fiero, Sprite et al) and strip off all the mechanical parts. You then scrap the old body and bolt the hopefully cleaned up mechanical parts to a new body or a new body and modified chassis.

The Elva is not a kit car  - it was sold as a complete car in every market - except Britain
and in Britain - you got all the parts for the car - no sourcing involved - More like a complete knockdown car - A CKD car for the domestic market would be a better term for the Elva and other cars.  

Elva and Lotus among others went this "Kit Car" route domestically to avoid  a tax of 8% on a completed car.    It made sense – you were supposed to know how a car goes together if you went racing at that time. You might as well have a heads up on how all these pieces worked together from the get go.

In England the Elva was complete car delivered  - doors on, upholstery in, suspension on, painted   - you had to put the engine and transmission in the car and put the rear axle in - bleed the hydraulics and you were done it was an easy job on a simple car 

 In racing you were going to inevitably break something.  - this was just going to be the first time you accomplished the task - it was not a hurdle or a hindrance to the average race car guy -

If you were going to race any other production car (Porsche, Alfa, MG)  - the engine was going to come out and be changed for to suit a racing lifestyle and so were a lot of other parts

In the Courier case,  in England  - you started out that way 

The Elva Courier is a member of the tax evasion club,  a car built for an owner with mechanical skills.

It is a car built up with a variety of parts sourced from several manufacturers to meet a specific requirement. They raided the british parts bin and made some interesting combinations and but these parts were assembled in a factory and delivered complete on the Elva Courier

 Who knew that the Morris Minor Stub Axle fits in the Triumph Herald front Suspension Upright or that Hillman Minx brakes would bolt to the same setup, Elva did and that is what you got .

It was not a unique vision – Lotus used a similar setup on the Elite and the Lotus 7.

 The same would be true of all the british sports racing marques of the late 50’s and early 60’s. 

MGA Deviant

I did rescue the Elva behind the barn - in all it's horse chewed glory and rusted frame
I resurrected the car - new body - new drive line and sold it to Raymond Hoepper - more about Ray later in this blog

In the process of owning a rare car came in touch with everyone who had ever owned or raced an Elva in the Midwest





Steve Linn in Madison was the previous owner of my car and he campaigned an Elva Courier Spyder in Midwest Council and SCCA E Prod - to good results. The road car shared the pits with the race car

Don Kopiske - the most famous Elva Courier Racer in the Midwest - owner of the car behind the barn

I drove all over collecting discarded parts in my Ford Fiesta
Windshields, Brakes Suspension Parts, Pedal Boxes - stuff still in the attic demanding a sorting through.

I had started an obsession

Astronomical Odds

So in a discussion with a college friend about my obsession with sports cars

She  asked what car I might like to own -  her grandfather had Jaguars and she a had a real interest.

I mentioned that my uncles knew of an Elva Courier lying out behind a barn. 

What's an Elva Courier?

In an amazing piece of luck at the exact moment she asked  - we were by chance standing right next to my car -With five or so street driven Elva Couriers in the USA back in 1979.   The odds were really astronomicalI saw the car  all over the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus that year in the same manner you see the Thunderbird in the Movie American Graffitti - only no Susan Summers

An Article - The Beginning

This unlikely looking group are behind the namesake - ELVA in French "She Goes"

On the left - Frank Nichols - the founder of Elva - Elva was a force in racing in the late 1950's and early 1960's -- Elva built race cars mostly and eventually got absorbed into McClaren.
The car was definitely British but Frank spent a bit of time in France during WW II - and in talking to him personally he led me to believe it was a subtle reference to a fond memory.

Next to Frank is Archie Scott Brown - a very famous name from the fifties mostly associated Lister Jaguars - Archie raced in Formula 1 - once and was a feature sports car driver. He drove for Frank in the early Elva Sports Racers in this case with a Butterworth Engine

Archie Butterworth is next to Archie Scott Brown - Archie also raced in Formula 1 in a car of his own design - The car used a Steyr V8 and was 4 wheel drive and never finished the race.
That same car managed to make it over to the US and was entered in the Pike Peak race as the Butterball Special

It was and still could be housed in the FWD museum in Clintonville Wisconsin - very near to where I grew up and I remember seeing the car - but until last week did not know the connection. Archie was famous for two things his Gin And Tonics - he had a special case for preparation - He is holding one in the picture and he patented a unique valve design.

On the far right is Peter Nott - Peter worked for Hillman and was an engineer and designer. Peter moonlighted for Frank Nichols and penned/designed a lot of Elva cars including the Courier -

The Courier Elva's only road car (barely) and the subject of this blog. Peter went on to design the Imp and that is probably his legacy - though I find the Courier a better looking car.

The Elva Courier was mostly the result of the two guys on the end - the other guys are the color commentary