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Old 5 Aug 2018, 14:18 (Ref:3841637)   #1
Jay Laifman
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Tracking down Leighton Irwin's Elva Mk6

Hello folks. My sons and I have just purchased an Elva Mk6 that I believe used to be Leighton Irwin's. I'm wondering if anyone on this site can provide any details about his car including his purchase of it, who he sold it to, and what color it is (seems white with red stripe in b&w pictures).

Here is what I have:
On this site, there is a 2006 exchange between Leighton and John Lindsay. In this exchange, Lindsay says he owns three Mk6's: Leighton's, Don Wolfe's, and "a California one." Leighton confirms that Lindsay has his, and they both indicate that Leighton's is Lindsay's brother's car.

Elsewhere on this site, Leighton says that "the one that got away" was his Mk6, and he sold it in 1969. The sale was for $3,000 and included extra engines, wheels and car carrier.

On the elva.com site, Lindsay indicates in 2010 he is rebuilding Don Wolfe's and his brother's car and he has a third car "hanging from the ceiling. Presumably that's the California car. As I said, I just purchased the one he called his brother's car.

Lindsay did mention to someone that he got this car from someone in the Midwest.

Of course, sadly, Leighton and Lindsay have both passed away. So I'm hoping for any help to confirm this was Leighton's car and what happened to it between Leighton's ownership and Lindsay buying it in the Midwest.

Our plan is to reassemble the car and race it in historic races, mostly out here in California.

Here are some pictures of Leighton racing it:
Attached Thumbnails
4.jpg   Elva (1).jpg   With Porsche.jpg  

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Old 5 Aug 2018, 14:56 (Ref:3841638)   #2
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I just found that the car may have been owned by Peter Blakely of Quebec between Leighton and Lindsay. Anyone know Peter?
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Old 5 Aug 2018, 18:58 (Ref:3841639)   #3
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I’ve copied this thread from HRT as it may be more appropriate here....
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Old 7 Aug 2018, 22:26 (Ref:3842208)   #4
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Thanks!

On the plus side, I did find Peter Blakely. On the negative side for that path, we do not have his car!

I now have a growing, but incomplete history of our car. There is an ad from 1969 Autoweek, listing the car. It was shown then as having a Ford-Cosworth engine. The seller was Jack Howard of Dillon, Montana. That's a pretty small town. I'm not even sure what race tracks were around there in the 60s. I contacted folks in Dillon, and found that Jack owned the Ford dealership there, and they are looking for more materials on him, and hopefully info on the car.

I also found reference to a "Jack Howard Motors" on Van Nuys Blvd., in LA. Perhaps it's the same person.

There is also a Jon Clifton of Indiana who might have owned the car at one point.

Finally the original owner is shown as "Hountingly" but it is noted as a possible typo. I'm wondering if a poor handwritten scribble of "Howard" became "Hountingly."

If any of those names mean anything to anyone, let me know.
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Old 10 Oct 2018, 22:18 (Ref:3856019)   #5
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Update, in case anyone here is watching this. We did get great success in tracking our history - but because of two crazy lucky flukes. The funny thing is that we have proved that our car is pictured above! But it's NOT the white one. If you look at the first picture, at the bottom right corner, there is a little part of a fender showing. That is OUR car! Driven and owned by Al Justason. I've even spoken to the 85 year old guy who bought it from Al, and then the brothers who bought it from him.

I can't seem to get before Al though (1962-66). And I don't have much info on Al other than the racing records. If anyone has any information about the guy, what he did, what he was like, anything, I'd be interested.

Oh, and Howard was not connected to our car. Someone suggested to me that "Hountingly" could have been "Hong-Ting Lee."

Last edited by Jay Laifman; 10 Oct 2018 at 22:28.
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Old 12 Oct 2018, 15:58 (Ref:3856287)   #6
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Al Justason was still around in 2007 and was in contact with Allen Brown.
Check this thread (posts 244 & 245) and then contact Allen!!
https://tentenths.com/forum/showthre...=80407&page=17
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Old 12 Oct 2018, 16:06 (Ref:3856290)   #7
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Actually, it's funny. I did contact Allen when we thought it was the white Elva. He forwarded our email to Al, and it bounced. Sadly it appears that email is no longer around.

The funny thing is that when we realized we didn't have the white car, but actually the red one (later yellow), I contacted Allen again - forgetting I tried before. Ha! I'm not going to do it a third time!
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Old 13 Oct 2018, 08:35 (Ref:3856407)   #8
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Originally Posted by Jay Laifman View Post
Actually, it's funny. I did contact Allen when we thought it was the white Elva. He forwarded our email to Al, and it bounced. Sadly it appears that email is no longer around.

The funny thing is that when we realized we didn't have the white car, but actually the red one (later yellow), I contacted Allen again - forgetting I tried before. Ha! I'm not going to do it a third time!
When I saw that Allen's contact was in 2007 I did wonder whether it would still work, hopefully Al is still around and has just changed email provider or no longer uses email.
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