Vehicle Description
This car is 1 of 19 production cars built and is the product of two
firms that devoted their capabilities to produce a new car blending
the air-cooled mid-engine and gearbox of Porsche with the
lightweight chassis and slippery body of Elva Cars. Fitting between
the last RSK and the upcoming 904, Porsche needed a car to fill the
gap until there new 4-Cam model was production ready, The Elva
Porsche was born! The RS derived 4-Cam engine was fitted with a
horizontal cooling fan 'borrowed' from Porsche's F1 car. Elva's
Chassis was heavily modified to fit the Furman's 4-Cam by
lengthening and riding the rear of the chassis. The Elva Mark 7
with the Porsche Spyder 1700 cc flat-four engine used dual 48 IDA
Webers, twin plugs per cylinder and a dual ignition system. The
Mark 7 had a tubular space frame construction with lightweight
fiberglass bodywork. Elva's own 13' magnesium alloy wheels were
fitted on all four corners, as were Girling disc brakes. The 185 hp
4-Cam coupled with a very low weight (Just under 1,000 pounds)made
the vehicle a potent and effective race car.
This Elva chassis #P77/44L was ordered without an engine and
transmission and left-hand steering by Swiss Hillclimb specialist
Sepp Greger. Sepp had a close relationship with Porsche and ordered
the drivetrain directly from the factory. Sepp campaigned this Elva
in Hill Climbs throughout Europe in 1964 before selling it to famed
Porsche Dealer Vosak Polack. For the 1965 SCCA season, Vosak
Commissioned Carol Shelby's hired gun Jerry Tittus to drive the
car. Vosak had mechanic Salvator Soto Track Side to prep the car
for Tittus and Dieter Insenhoffer(Andial Fame) handling the 4-Cams
rebuilds. The 1965 season came to an end and the car went to the
east coast to its next caretaker, Ed Templeton of Virginia Beach,
VA. This Elva later spent many years in the famed Matsura
collection in Japan.
There were 19 examples of the specialty Elva-Porsche Mark VIIS
produced. One with left-hand drive!
