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1963 Elva Porsche
The company Elva was founded in 1947 by Frank Nicols in England. The factory was designed to produce highly effective racing cars at a reasonable price. The name is part of the idea, in French elle va
means 'she goes', in this case referring to the acceleration of a well powered racing sports-car. As is common to a lot of small car manufacturers, also Elva had to cope with financial difficulties. Thus, the company
changed ownership several times, and even had to declare its insolvency once. Nevertheless, the company still exists today, though not as a car manufacturer, but selling model cars and T-shirts.
The biggest sales success of the company is probably the Courier, built from 1959 onwards, a Roadster with engines of famous English manufacturers which was offered also as a kit for reasons of tax savings. In
addition, there was a Spyder version for racing. The successor of these versions was granted the engine of the Porsche 550 A Spyder in 1963. This car already achieved some racing successes. The engine had an - for
Porsche - unusual 1.7 liters, a roler-bearing crankshaft and a level blower. The whole car was, weighing 500 kg, even lighter than the Porsche. This helped in achieving some racing successes, e.g. in the Road America
(US) where all its competitors of up to two liters of cubic capacity were defeated. Instead of the Porsche-engine, there was a 2-liter BMW engine, yet, with a higher total weight.
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