by Ken Olendzki
For years I have only had one set of keys for my M100 Elan. Lotus no longer supplies them, the Elan Central Forums threw their hands up on how to source them, and I stopped looking a while ago. I recently decided to try again, and I sent an E-mail to several dealers and Lotus parts suppliers. JAE and Dave Bean responded, but could not help me, and all but one dealer ignored my inquires. However, Chris Ratliff at Lotus of Denver did some research on his own and sent me the E-mail copied below:
From Chris Ratcliff:
Hi Ken! Unfortunately Lotus does not make these key blanks any-more but I’ve found some generic key blanks that will work for your vehicle. They are made by ILCO and should be available at any local locksmith. The ILCO number for the ignition key is DW04RAP and the ILCO number for the door key is B45, S1098H (Sometimes shown as S1098H, B45). You can see if your local locksmith has these numbers in stock, or I can run down to our local locksmith and ship them to you if you would like to go that route as well. Let me know what you would like to do!
Thank you. Chris Ratliff, Parts Manager, Lotus of Denver
I ordered five of each of the two keys needed from MRLOCK.com, delivered to me in Breck for under $16 in total, got them cut for free at the Breck Builder Center because they did not have a SKU for cutting keys for someone who brings in their owns blanks, and now I have extra sets of keys for my Elan for the first time. Thank you Chris!
PS - The ILCO ignition keys are from a Daewoo according to MRLOCK.com.
From Scott Bennett:
I've been able to pick them up at Dire's downtown. That Daewoo was rebadged as a Pontiac LeMans in the US, so my key has some sweet Pontiac branding.
