Mk 1 - Mk 2 - Mk 3 - Mk 4

Like the Lotus Seven that was spanned at the same time the Elva Courier went through several configurations and model changes

The Mk 1  came about in 1958 - The cars were made for export to the US - they used the 1500 B Series BMC Block and a variety of states of tune - MGA being the preferred  - but beggers can't be choosers.

The suspension being Elva designed utilizing a variety of British components  - Triumph, Morris, Hillman

Some of the first cars carried trafficators

The car carried a ladder frame underslung at the rear (Rear Drive over the frame  and the most distinctive characteristic a split windscreen - like the Jag XK120  -  not a real issue they were removed for racing

The Dash contained an open glovebox

These were the first 50 or 60 cars

The Mk 2 carries a few improvements - first the chassis was reinforced with several additional tubes -
The dash layout was revised to move the instruments to the center and provide an enclosed glovebox
The windscreen was curved
The front indication and running lights moved beneath the bumper

Cars were now offered for domestic consumption as well as export

The Mk 2

Represents the epitome of the Elva Courier car design  as:

It was still built by the race car company - exceptional build quality
Used proprietary suspension and fully adjustable suspension
Uses the MGA 1600 engine
Engine was located amidships
Proprietary copper radiator
Car was well set up at the factory

Mk 3

The Mk 3 represents the Trojan takeover
front disc brakes standard
The frame is still ladder but built of square section tubing  - the engine was moved forward
but of a MGA 1622 size
The Triumph Herald front suspension was used complete with A arms
The car gained a hood scoop - actually pretty cool (done to accommodate the forward movement of the engine)

The parts were more off the shelf than the bespoke components or adapted components made for the Mk2

Mk 4
This is an interesting combination - some good and some bad -
The car was redesigned - Triumph Spitfire doors and MGB windscreen   wider mouth
An independent rear suspension designed by Elva -  and used and shared with TVR's
The Engine is the MGB or the Ford 1600 with a few specials leaving with Lotus twin cams

There are several on the web to see

All this being said

There was a lot of transitional cars  - Mk 3's with independent suspension  and Lotus motors
Mk 2's assembled at Trojan et al

Two hard top versions  - an anglia backed and a fastback

You see a lot of variations for racing  - most engines were put back in place  - engines usually run 1622 or 1800 B-series depending in weight carried   ---  front suspension went to Vitesse or to GT6 and then back again for vintage.

Strangely the vintage classes require drum brakes - this is interesting as the car was offered with Disk fronts from 1959 or so  - I suspect a vintage Porsche 356 conspiracy  -  Vee don't have disks  zo  you should not have disks eizer .  However I sold at least 5 sets of original drum brakes to bring SCCA racers down to Vintage specifications

Rear axles may have been swapped out for MGA - or reinforced with race axles and double bearing hubs like MG midgets.

The car is Lotus 7 simple with a body and ideal for vintage racing

But as road car it is not so bad either

What's it like to drive an Elva Courier

Well it is pretty fundamental experience.   It is difficult to get in, yes.  The first thing you notice is the size of the steering wheel - 50's big  and your leg has to bend slightly inboard to clear the wheel.  The pedal box is tight - Heel and Toe happens naturally - you don't have room for anything else.  The dead pedal is perfectly formed just to the right of the clutch.  The gear lever is in the plane of the steering wheel  about 3 inches to the right.    I grouse unceasingly about uncomfortable cars - but I conform to this car to drive it - go figure.  I have to hunker down to get behind the windscreen or I have look over it.   The doors are cut down so that I can easily place my hand on the pavement.  When you drive down the highway the underside of a semi trailer is definitely two feet above you.    You could make that fast and furious lane change under the semi - A mistake however would be your last.

The car is not oh my god fast but is deceptively quick - lane changes happen instantaneously the low weight and low center of gravity put you where few cars fear to tread.  The car is more than adequate to keep up with modern traffic but you are frighteningly small to everything - you are below the average mirror adjustment on any SUV.   A SUV owner on a cell phone is a life and death hazard.

Ok - off the interstate and on to 2 lane - the car comes alive - it accelerates, turns like a go cart.  When you do break it loose (the tires are 4.5" wide)  it breaks the rear tires and swings out sweetly - lifting the throttle and the car comes back to neutral behavior.  The weight balance is 50/50 front to back  and  on the track it encourages a full tail slide drift.  You never feel that the car will bite
I have spun it several times to avoid a James Dean moment  - but it takes an effort

For the midwesterners - The Courier comes alive at Road America after turn 6 into Hurry Downs, Braking hard in to 7 and full throttle through the Carousel into a full drift at the kink and carrying a tremendous momentum  down into Canada corner .

I have kept many a better car at bay in this area (not that I was racing) -  But through the horsepower consuming climb out of Canada - I might as well drum the steering wheel  until I drop back down to  turn 5.  You could see why these cars were raced

In a TSD rally - the car is a surgical knife - 45 MPH through any public road and the effort is in driving 45 MPH - No need for complex calculations to keep you on speed track  - the car will simply stay balanced and poised at any speed you request  - However staying to the course requires different skills - not yet mastered.

Light weight and balanced power make for a good car - the closest modern car to the feel is the Lotus Elise
Our Honda S2000 is a great sports car  - but the litheness and instantaneous of the Courier is missing.


More to come

2nd and 3rd - Just Missed the Trifecta

 At the Portland ABFM the Elva took home Peoples choice trophies

 Hey we won

 2nd in one Class
 3rd in  Another

While My Triumph friends all hauled in the gold

I had the other two trophies singly in two classes

Well how did that happen    -  Well classification is the short answer

These events are run by Marque clubs  in turn  - Land Rover, Triumph, MG, Austin Healey, Jaguar, Mini

Lotus get's their own section but don't usually run a field event - they are more likely to rent the track
Morgan guys are usually manning the beer tent

British Cars 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's  -  are grouped together    

We have  Rolls Royce, Jensen, Bentley, Hillman, A30, A40, Turner, Ginetta,  TVR  British Ford


It is easy to judge in the other classes  -  the other cars look alike and stay alike -  the comparatives are easy - is this MGB better than the one next to it or the one five down the line
 BJ8's or TR6's  -

 I can imagine the panty bunching when a 100/4 is added to the 100/6 pile - the Horror

 That will just not do  -  Corrections will be made

So the marque clubs are pretty focused on who won their respective class  and the "Nun of the Above" are left to chance.

I propose  a random "Nun of the above"  owner be chosen to sort stuff out - we are used to irregularity - we have to know other cars - as some of the parts on our cars originated on them.

And we can avoid - Double Dipping Trophies

-  No No the TVR 3000S is a 70's car  not a 50's car
-  Oh my god somebody put the Invicta in as a 50's car - the Cad
- The Daimler Dart entry should not go into negative numbers

Just my suggestion - I hope someone is paying attention

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 

file://localhost/Users/scottphiliben/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Masters/2011/06/12/20110612-184739/P1000444.JPG

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