The Lotus Elan Inspired the Design of the World’s Best-Selling Sports Convertible

Lotus Engineering Ltd. was founded in North London by Colin Chapman in 1952, four years after the engineer built his first trials car in his garage, a not unheard-of story about small British car and motorcycle start-ups. The history of Lotus is a complicated one, with well over 100 model designations of race cars and street vehicles, including Formula and Indy cars, sports-racing models like the Lotus Eleven, and the first “streetable go-kart,” the Lotus Seven.

During the early 1960s, British manufacturers Triumph, MG, Austin-Healey, Sunbeam, Morgan, and others commanded much of the international market for more-or-less affordable sports convertibles. Lotus jumped in the fray in 1962 with its first Elan. At about $4,300, it was hardly inexpensive compared to the competition, especially if priced per-pound by its minimal 1,500-pound weight.

Apart from being functional art, what makes the Elan interesting is its novel construction, being the first Lotus road car to use a steel backbone chassis with a fiberglass body. This was in an effort to reduce weight, which was Chapman’s overarching design mantra, “Simplify, then add lightness.” The backbone chassis would see application in the extraordinary Giugiaro-designed Esprit of 1977, and for decades thereafter. Even the Toyota 2000 GT used a chassis strikingly similar to the Elan’s, perhaps not a coincidence.

Under the Elan’s fiberglass skin is a pretty sophisticated little machine for the period. The 1.6-liter, Lotus-Ford twin-cam inline-four engine used a Ford block and Coventry-Climax head, and was good for up to about 105 hp. Other advanced goodies for 1962 included four-wheel disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension that, together with rack-and-pinion steering, made the Elan quite a handler. Gordon Murray, whose McLaren F1 is at present this century’s most valuable automobile, reputedly said to Road & Track magazine in 2012 that his only disappointment with the McLaren F1 was that he could not give it the perfect steering of the Lotus Elan.  

There are plenty of reasons to admire the Elan, not least of all its beauty. Its designer was the same man who also penned the Europa—a claustrophobic favorite (but a remarkable car). His name was Ron Hickman, and he went on to make a fortune with the Black & Decker Workmate. Such is the inventor’s fertile mind. The Elan’s design, of course, inspired the Mazda MX-5 (Miata in the U.S.), and without it we’d be a million-plus sports cars fewer.

There were four series of Elans, and it’s a complicated taxonomy to say the least. The Series 3 Fixed Head Coupe (FHC) is not as elemental as the topless versions, and commands a lower value. Nobody, including the factory, is really quite sure how many Lotus Elans were built from 1962 to 1975, due largely to these cars’ non-sequential and inconsistent serial numbering.

A production of 12,224 examples across all series is the generally accepted figure, and the 2018 Lotus Elan Registry lists about 770 remaining two-seaters in 30 countries. Hence, Elans aren’t thick on the ground, so some sleuthing is in order for would-be owners. Prospective buyers are advised to have some wrenches at hand, and be able to use them. Which is the pleasure to be taken in owning such a quirky, hand-built car such as an early Lotus.

It all comes down to the series and the car, but generally, $35,000 should buy an Elan in good condition, with $50,000 capturing an excellent example, and around $80,000 getting you a concours gem. Cars with competition history (the Elan was never built to race) or with other outstanding attributes can bring considerably more. FHC (hardtop to us) examples command about half the value of roadsters, which affords an opportunity to experience the Elan for a song.

Click here for more photos of this 1971 Lotus Elan S4.