I purchased Mk IV #100/86 from Tom Grudovitch last year. Tom had been racing it very successfully with an FWB engine for several years, then acquired a Lola Mk I project with which he is almost finished and pulled the B out of the MK IV to put into the Lola. I bought the car from him with an FWE with all fresh internals, etc. which was in need of assembly and fitting, etc. This process is almost complete and I may be running the car for the first time in the next couple of weeks. I am pretty excited to say the least.
As to the Ed Costley cars I have some information to throw into the mix.
In March 2008 Elva was the Marque of the Year at the SVRA races and a number of Elvas were present--I was racing my Courier #100/15.
I met a fellow named Denton Smith from the Atlanta GA area who had a Mk IV loaded onto the back of an open trailer. Denton didn't know too much about the car, had recently spoken with Ed Costley, and I think he was trying to get some line on the car's bona fides and whether or not it would be worth selling or restoring.
The car was pretty much a mess--there was no engine or transmission and the rear axle was a big solid thing with cast AL inboard brakes. There was a good amount of rust in the tubing and it looked like someone had done a fair amount of cobbling to the car over its lifetime.
I can't remember all the details, whether or not Denton said that Costley had actually seen the car, but said that Costley believed the car was definitely real and was probably one of his cars that had run at Sebring with an Alfa engine. He had a bunch of pictures of one of those cars taken back in the day and some of the repairs to the nose matched some of the damage shown in the pictures.
There were several other Elva afficianados present and their opinions varied on whether the car was really a MK IV versus simply a body draped over some made-up chassis, but most thought the car was real.
I last spoke with Denton a few months ago and I get the feeling he is not interested in restoring it--he is a car collector versus a racer and his interests are pretty diverse. I don't think he would mind my giving out his email address:
Bonnevilleflats@aol.com and if someone seeking further details and info on the car (NOT bottom-feeding) were to contact him I think Denton would be responsive.
Best--Michael Oritt, MD[/QUOTE]