  We present the first results from a study designed to test whether, given
high-quality spectrophotometry spanning the mid-UV--optical wavelength regime,
it is possible to distinguish the metal content (Z) and star-formation history
(sfh) of individual elliptical galaxies with sufficient accuracy to establish
whether their formation history is linked to their detailed morphology and
position on the Fundamental Plane. From a detailed analysis of UV-optical
spectrophotometry of the `cuspy' elliptical galaxy NGC 3605 and the giant
elliptical NGC 5018 we find that: 1) optical spectra with l > 3500 A may not
contain sufficient data to robustly uncover all the stellar populations present
in individual galaxies, even in such relatively passive objects as ellipticals,
2) the addition of the UV data approaching l = 2500 A holds the key to
establishing well-constrained sfhs, from which we can infer a formation and
evolution history which is consistent with their photometric properties, 3)
despite the superficial similarity of their spectra, the two galaxies have very
different `recent' sfhs -- the smaller, cuspy elliptical NGC 3605 contains a
high-Z population of age ~= 1 Gyr, and has a position on the fundamental plane
typical of the product of a low-z gas-rich merger (most likely at z ~ 0.08),
while the giant elliptical NGC 5018, with a sub-solar secondary population,
appears to have gained its more recent stars via mass transfer / accretion of
gas from its spiral companion, 4) despite these differences in detailed
history, more than 85% of the stellar mass of both galaxies is associated with
an old (9-12 Gyr) stellar population of near-solar Z. This pilot study provides
strong motivation for the construction and analysis of high-quality UV-optical
spectra for a substantial sample of ellipticals spanning the Fundamental Plane.
