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Lotus Elite S2 Type 14

Lotus Elite S2 Type 14

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Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14
Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14
Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14Lotus Elite S2 Type 14
Lot number 162
Hammer value N/S (est. £56,000 - £60,000)
Description Lotus Elite S2 Type 14
Registration 392 VNU
Year 1961
Colour Yellow
Engine size 1,292 cc
Chassis No. EB1391785
Engine No. 8535

When it first appeared at the London Motor Show 35 years ago, the Lotus Elite (Type 14) caused a sensation.

Not only was it acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic as the world’s most beautiful GT, it also positively bristled with technical innovations. Breathtakingly futuristic by the standards of the mid-50s, it featured the world’s first fibreglass monocoque, a masterpiece of aerodynamic efficiency (largely the work of Frank Costin) that reduced drag to an astonishing 0.29cd (a modern Porsche 997 can only manage 0.31cd by comparison) and kept the kerb weight down to just 684kg (compared to the Porsche’s 1,480kg).

Powered by an all-alloy 1,216cc Coventry Climax FWE inline four-cylinder engine producing between 75 and 105bhp depending on the state of tune, it could touch 118mph and was blessed with the sublime handling that all Lotus cars are famed for. The Series 2 cars had Bristol-built bodies, triangulated trailing radius arms for improved toe-in control and inboard rear brake discs.

Although it was trumpeted as Colin Chapman’s first production road car, it immediately attracted the attention of the competition fraternity. An Elite won its first race at Silverstone in 1958, humbling much larger machinery, another won its class at the Nurburgring 1,000km race and another finished an amazing eighth at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 1959.

First registered in October 1961, this Canary Yellow Elite S2 has had just three owners from new the first of whom, Barry Stock, kept it right up until 2007 when it was acquired by the second owner who sold it to the vendor earlier this year. It is fitted with the Coventry Climax engine mated to an MG gearbox and is showing only 8,350 miles on the clock (although sadly the car comes with very little history so this cannot be warranted).

In storage since 2011, the car has just been recommissioned for sale including new front wishbones, rebuilt rear suspension, new engine mountings, new painted wire wheels and new tyres. Said to drive very well with a particularly sweet engine, it is due to have a fresh MOT in time for the sale.

Elite values have rocketed in recent years and it is believed that only about 600 of the original 1,030 cars made between 1958 and 1963 still survive. Only reluctantly for sale due to illness, this beautiful three-owner example will be welcome at all manner of historic events and could well prove a shrewd investment at the guide price suggested today.

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