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.