Elva Courier - an MGA Comparative - Sort of

“Scott would you like too buy the red Elva Courier”  a voice across the phone inquired.  I looked across my garage - I had just fitted the new body parts to my car,  newly painted assemblies waited on the floor,  but it was a long way to reach a finished state.    I replied “Yeah sure - how much” .   The red car was mine.   What a nice ride - I drove it everywhere - Trips to the vintage races at Road America, Sports Car Tours, Car Shows.    It was everything I thought it would be.   Of course I had to work nights fixing British Sports cars to pay for my sins. 

The Elva Courier is an interesting car - a product of the late 50’s produced by a company that built race cars and was convinced by the US distributer to dip a toe into the booming US Sports car market.

  The engine and transmission would be familiar to the MGA crowd -  BMC B Series, 1600 in this case, in an MGA state of tune and mating 4 speed.

  The headlights and taillights are familiar as well, but that’s where it ends.  The car differs greatly at this point.

  The front suspension uses the Triumph developed uprights Alden and Alford  - in the same manner Lotus used on the front of the Seven and Elite with adjustable Koni shocks.  The A - arms are Elva manufacture,  and so is the huge copper radiator - not a hint of overheating ever.

The steering is the Morris Minor rack found on spridgets and Formula 1 cars of the era.  The rear axle is from the Riley 1.5  B-series powered Morris Minor clone.   Imagine - BMC built a Big Block Morris Minor, hold back the insurance companies, traffic laws will be violated.

The rear end is solid, but lighter weight than the equivalent MGA but with ratios from 3.5 to 5.12  and  connected to the chassis with proprietary linkages and a very long spring Koni shock units - identical to the Lotus Elite. 

The best driving analogy I can make, is that the Elva Courier is a Lotus Seven Series 1 with a full body and a Big Block motor,  or the Elva is an open top Lotus Elite - with a steel chassis and a simpler motor  reliable and in expensive motive power.

The car weighs 500 lbs. less than the equivalent MGA 1600.   It was a tempting car for the era - 

Elva built 12 a week - most were raced.

Adolescence: 

I had not heard of Elva nor did I remember that my Scaletrix McLaren had a hyphenated name . 


 In High School I lusted after Porsche 924‘s Datsun 280Z’s and Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT’s  even the occasional VW Scirocco - Giugiaro had it right by my standards .


I dreamed of street legal McLaren M6Bs, Lola T310s, Chaparral 2Fs, Ford GT40s and Ferrari P4 s.


 I was enticed by my two sports racing car crazed uncles with race wrecked Lotus 7’s or used up Lotus 23’s without motors , none of them materializing despite my waving 100’s of testosterone fused dollars  in their face.


They forced me to make do with a Ford Custom 500  -  6 cylinder -  three on the tree -  dog dish hub caps.   A car that through my wishing it were not what it was ,  shed clutches at an astonishing rate. 


A full size Ford was not meant to be double clutch down shifted to recover a full 4 wheel drift out of a farmers field.




Noticing the frustrations of youth, car wise, my uncle Mike mentioned that he knew of an Elva Courier behind a barn.

Trojan Archives

I hit up the Trojan Museum for copy that they had on file for the Elva Courier - lots of cool watercolor pictures   --  I will start using them for illustrating the blog. 

Road Trip to Reno

  Picking roads to travel in the Intermountain west is a challenge my car does not have much in the way of ground clearance - maybe 2 inches maybe just a bit more.   the roads we find are beautiful and scenic but sometimes .  

require a bit of travel to get to them. 

Reno stands out  - as a western destination - 8 hrs away 

the road down to Lake view Oregon is punctuated by stunning views and a few climbs up mountain ridges but nothing sustained.     There is little bit of fun right before Lakeview - but short 

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Going down through Alturas and over to Gerlach was our travel plan

The road over the mountains from Alturas to Cedarville,  CA were fun and beautiful and I wish we had friends along to share.

Cedarville CA is nice and very western - wood sidewalks - real cow people in trucks  - and a real nice place to stop.

After Cedarville,  CA 

a trip through the Surprise Valley 

and then the climb up and over the mountains into Gerlach Nevada 

After Gerlach = An early morning trip is best 

to Nixon -  beautiful and nice turns at the end of Pyramid Lake 

Go to Virginia City - What a road  - just made for a small sports car 

MG 2011 Recon for Reno

Last week I made a short trip to Reno, Nevada for a business trip
but along the way - I started to think about how to drive to the
MG 2011 Reno  event in the most appropriate manner to enjoy an older british car
we are hoping for a few spirited driving companions along the way.
I sussed out  California State Route 139 along the way -  Susanville to Alturas
Nice road especially out of Susanville north and a nice trip past Eagle Lake where there  were actually Eagles in residence.

I have tried Nevada State Route 447 which is beautiful posted 75 mph 2 lane  past Pyramid Lake to the
Black Rock Desert  - the drive out of Gerlach to Eagleville is sports car heaven - I unfortunately drove it in a Vanagon Westfalia where I reached an indicated 88 mph with a wicked tailwind - Should have taken a picture of the speedo there is a Hot springs - Hotel in Cedarville before crossing the Warner Mtns into Alturas

Oregon Coast

There is a correct perception that the distances between towns out - "West"    is too too far for little british cars

Yes to to pass over the mountains from where I live,  requires a two hour commitment

But if I take back roads when I am there  - the pacing and views are incredible  - there is now a reason to stop  and smell the

roses.   Driving an older car is interesting as it is more engaging  especially if you can reach over and touch

the road

Pilgrimage to Molsheim

One of the more interesting small automotive themed tours was a pilgrimage to Molsheim

This is the Bugatti castle and next to it is Jeans house and the remnants of the Bugatti factory

Molshiem is interesting and a few Bugatti murals.

Dorlisheim the small  community to my back in this picture

It contains the Bugatti graves and the workers that populated the factory

I recommend the Lindelaub Winery for the whole story

100-173-L Elva Courier

Elva numbering convention is interesting

First it indicates that the model was COURIER

100 Series was for the export Courier

But it was also for the Front Engine Formula Junior
and for the Mk 1 Sports racer

200 Series was for the UK Courier
300 Series for the Spyder (lightweight Factory car)




173 was the numeric car number

The -L was for Left hand drive - I don't know but an export car to New Zealand it might of been -R

Thinking that the cars would make it through a few seasons of racing.  This left a bit of a cavalier attitude to an absolute accounting of cars produced.

The Mk I (V Screen) was to car 50 or so and the Mk II was to approx s/n 173 on the export models

This car appears to be made at Trojan with a Hastings chassis and suspension.  The body rolls under the chassis and does not attach to an angle as it does on the earlier car.   I have a Trojan brochure that shows this manufacturing happening with Hastings parts.   You can see the dual master cylinders in the pictures and this is attached to a custom pedal box like the race cars.    The car being first titled in 1961 suggests manufacture by Trojan  as well.

RENO MG 2011

The Elva went to the MG 2011 gathering in Reno Nevada in June  MG Reno Event

We are members of NAMGAR (North American MGA Registry)   NAMGAR . and technically allowed admittance

The Elva is classified as a "Variant" in their terms.    Some of the MGA guys don't seem to cotton much to this, but official members we are.    My wife likes MGA Coupes - who knows what might happen

Look for us under the "DEVIANT" Banner