  An excellent candidate for a young elliptical, or `protoelliptical' galaxy is
NGC 1700. Here we present new B, V and I band imaging using the Keck telescope
and reanalyse existing V and I band images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
After subtracting a model of the galaxy from the Keck images NGC 1700 reveals
two symmetric tidal tail-like structures. If this interpretation is correct, it
suggests a past merger event involving two spiral galaxies. These tails are
largely responsible for the `boxiness' of the galaxy isophotes observed at a
radius of about 13 kpc. We also show that the B-I colour distribution of the
globular cluster system is bimodal. The mean colour of the blue population is
consistent with those of old Galactic globular clusters. Relative to this old,
metal poor population, we find that the red population is younger and more
metal rich. This young population has a similar age and metallicity as that
inferred for the central stars, suggesting that they are both associated with
an episode of star formation triggered by the merger that may have formed the
galaxy. Although possessing large errors, we find that the majority of the age
estimates of NGC 1700 are reasonably consistent and we adopt a `best estimate'
for the age of 3.0 +/-1.0 Gyr. This relatively young age places NGC 1700 within
the age range where there is a notable lack of obvious candidates for
protoellipticals. The total globular cluster specific frequency is rather low
for a typical elliptical, even after taking into account fading of the galaxy
over the next 10 Gyr. We speculate that NGC 1700 will eventually form a
relatively `globular cluster poor' elliptical galaxy.
