In all 1000 Lotus Elites were built until 1963, and it has been claimed that Lotus lost £100 on every car, although this figure might simply be 'creative accounting' to cover other financial matters. Lotus set out to replace the Elite with a car that was easier and cheaper to build in order that it might make a profit. The monocoque construction of the Elite gave way to a backbone chassis made of pressed steel by external contractors. The fibreglass body, designed by Ron Hickman, was also made by contractors but it was not able to match demand and Lotus took body production in-house. A cheaper Ford-based engine was installed in the Elan, although this was actually made from a Ford block, fitted with Lotus-designed twin cam cylinder heads cast by one company and milled by JAP who also built up the engines. Early customers received a kit to assemble at home thus saving almost 50 per cent of the price of a fully assembled car owing to tax savings. Launched in 1962 as a convertible, the Elan was pitched between Sprite/Spifire and MGB/TR4, although it cost more than any of them. The Series II was launched in November 1964 and the Type 36 Fixed Head Coupe in September 1965. The Series 3 ('Type 45') and was a convertible version of the Type 36 available from June 1966. In September 1967 the Elan Plus 2 (Type 50) was launched. The Elan S4 was in production from 1968 to 1971.