Classic Cars Lotus Elite

Years in production: 1958-1962

Structure: Front engine/rear-drive. Fibreglass monocoque body/chassis

Engine type: 4-cylinder, single-overhead-camshaft

Bore and stroke: 76.2 x 66.6 mm

Capacity: 1,216 cc

Power: 83 bhp @ 6,250 rpm

Fuel supply: Two horizontal SU carburettors

Suspension: Independent front, independent rear

Weight: 1,455 lb

Top speed: 118 mph

First shown in 1957, but not obtainable until a year later, the new two-seater Elite coupé was irresistibly beautiful. Although Lotus was still a tiny company, Chapman had laid out a automobile which pushed know-how to the limit. In particular, they decided to make the Elite without a separate chassis, using a fully-stressed fibreglass monocoque body which would only include steel sections for a few local reinforcements.

Not only was this fabulous machine to be powered by a race-proved overhead-camshaft engine from Coventry-Climax, and had four-wheel independent suspension, but it was achingly beautiful, and was amazingly light in weight. No-one, it seems, was ever likely to confuse the Elite with any other automobile, for its tiny, smooth and always curving lines had no rivals. Looking back in to history, its only actual drawback was that the door windows could not be wound down, but had to be removed to provide better ventilation.

In engineering terms, though, adding lightnes often adds cost , and there was no doubt that the Elite was always going to be a expensive automobile to make and sell. The fibreglass monocoque body shells proved to be difficult to make in numbers, major bought-in items like the Coventry-Climax engine were expensive, and owners soon found that a great deal of maintenance and loving care was needed to keep the new sports automobile walking.

Refinement was not then a word which Lotus understood and the Elite was a crudely equipped and completed machine at first; the inside surroundings was noisy, for there was small try to insulate the drive line and suspension fixings from the monocoque, which acted like a fully matured sound box. 

As the years passed, the Elite's specification changed, with the power of the engine gradually being pushed up to 100 bhp (which brought the top speed to over 120 mph, brilliant for a one.2-litre automobile), a ZF gear-box adapted and (for Series II cars) a different type of rear suspension geometry specified.

Special Elites, when prepared at the factory, were outstandingly successful class cars in GT racing, even appearing with honour in major events such as the Le Mans 24 Hour and Nurburgring Six Hour events. Years later Colin Chapman admitted that the Elite had never made profits for Lotus, which may describe why they was happy to phase it out in 1962, ahead of the arrival of the backbone chassised Elan. Nothing can ever detract from the gracious style and inventive engineering which went in to the automobile. A total of 988 Elites were made.