October, over 1000 miles now.

The +2 is almost being used as an 'everyday' car - over 1000 miles in 9 weeks. By no means perfect, clutch, gearbox and brakes all need care, but it's much more usable than the Elan. Although Pauline is quite enjoying driving the Elan - his and hers Lotuses! Pictures of both cars at Brooklands and the +2 at the Rawles open day.

About 30mpg average so far.

So far, so good.

Another week and 120 more miles; a visit to a vineyard at Albury, a meeting at the Departure Lounge cafe in Alton and a journey over to Guildford and back.

The car seems to be running OK, still an occasional misfire when accelerating and the clutch isn't easy.  And the old leathercloth seats are very sticky in hot weather. Seat covers needed.

September already - 600 miles so far in 3 weeks.

We've used the car to visit friends in Wiltshire as well as some local pottering and a trip, in convoy with the Elan, to the Lotus Festival at Brands Hatch, doodling along at 60-65 in deference to the very low gearing of the Elan.

It's pretty good to drive. The overdrive 5th makes a huge difference at cruising speeds and the car is much quieter and refined than the Elan. GT vs sports car, perhaps.

One minor thing - there is a slight misfire under light acceleration at around 2000rpm. Checking the plugs, the electrodes were ok but the bodies of two plugs were quite badly corroded. So I've replaced them with new items - NGK BP7ES. The clutch is heavy and rather difficult; front suspension still seems a bit soft.

Oil usage is a bit on the high side - I've added a litre so far.

I haven't filled the petrol tank much above half way since noticing the fuel cap problem but will gradually increase the fill level to see if the filler cap seal has improved.

We visited some friends in Hampshire - Mark has a nice car......

A lovely car and it certainly is fast - but has less interior and boot space than the +2. After a passenger ride we went out in the +2..... the 43 years did show!

A few details to sort out, nothing major

Yes, setting the tyre pressures correctly made a significant improvement to ride and handling. Pretty good in fact.

The first jobs were to fit a new boot seal to minimise fumes ingress (so far so good) and fit a lower temperature wet thermostat - 75C instead of 84C - to provide a wider gap between the thermostat opening and the fan cutting in, which happens around 86C. I fitted a new pressure cap too and that seems fine.

Cleaned fuse connections and that got the fog lamps working.

Took the car over to Lakeside so that Max could check it over. No major issues, a few things to keep an eye on (eg, one rear wheel bearing has a bit of play, the fuel filler cap isn't sealing properly, engine mounts need to be replaced soon).  The clutch cover plate is missing too.

A few other things on my list for a winter service; replace coolant, brake and clutch fluid, replace the plastic fuel pipes with braided items, my paranoia there......

We disconnected and reconnected the wiper motor, and that magically achieved wiper parking!

N/S headlight main beam isn't working - the bulb is fine, must be a dodgy bullet connector.

But basically the 43 year-old car is sound and very usable, which is great news.

The clutch is very heavy for Pauline to use. Not sure if that can be improved. Possibly by replacement (engine out......so £££s) but no guarantee even then.

Several instrument lights not working but not a big deal - and as Max says, disturbing the wiring behind the dash to try to replace them is risky....

And (heavy rain today) some water is getting in to the driver's side footwell. Not much but another one for the list.

New car!

As documented in my blogs about the restoration of and then living with my Elan Coupe, both Pauline and I have many fond memories of the +2 we owned in the late 70s and early 80s.

The Elan isn't a touring car and despite the pots of money spent on it hasn't really proved to be reliable.

As a reaction to post-Brexit-vote depression, I started to look at +2s and found what seemed to be a decent example advertised for sale in Kent; a white +2S 130/5, September 1973.

So I drove down for a test drive. Very nice, the usual 'queerbox' sloppy change issues (you can't rush it) but the engine seemed fine, interior good, paintwork OK. Front suspension a bit sloppy and the servo needs work - the brakes stay on a couple of seconds after the pedal is released.

Decided to take the plunge and put down a deposit; agreed to collect the car when we were, coincidentally, on holiday in Kent a couple of weeks later. Seems like a decent investment given the near-zero interest rates now........

Collected the car on a hot and sunny day, left the window open a bit and opened the air vents and drove 65 miles to where we were staying - bad mistake, carbon monoxide drawn in resulting in headache and general malaise.  So, kill or cure, toured around Kent the following day windows closed and vent fully open, no problems. Then drove home - M25 very slow on a hot afternoon - no problems apart from sweat! The fan must have been on for most of an hour and kept the rad temperature down below 100 at all times. So 190 miles in total from collection to home.

The 5 speed box makes a huge difference - 25mph/1000  - and the car is relatively quiet, comfortable and on initial calcs doing about 32mpg. A bit of oil used, about .25l  of what I think is 10/40 so a bit thin, in 190 miles, rad needed a small amount of water but nothing major.

Initial assessment seems about right; some work needed but it's very usable. Boot seal needed to stop fumes ingress, possibly an exhaust extension too. Maybe a cooler thermostat so there is a wider difference between stat opening and fan cutting in (currently 84 stat /86 fan C indicated). Signs of a bit of water passing the pressure cap so perhaps a new one too.

Once back home and everything had cooled down , I checked the tyre pressures when cold - manual says 20psi front, 24 rear. They were 36FR, 19FL, 28RR, 32RL. Impressive....not....  May explain some of the handling imbalance. Now set to 22F/26R and that will hopefully be an improvement.

Fun times!