Forty Years Hidden: 1974 Lotus Elite
Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, was an interesting fellow. Obsessed with racing, Chapman’s creations won races in everything from amateur hill climbs to Formula One. His design principle was simple: the lighter the better. Sometimes too light at the expense of safety, but drivers still clamored to drive his cars. With racing success as a selling point, Chapman’s forays into producing road cars met with mild success. Take, for example, this 1974 Lotus Elite for sale on Craigslist in Hicksville, New York. An early example of Lotus’s reach for a loftier market, this Elite has been hidden away for forty years and needs work. However, it is complete and offered at a reasonable $6,000. Is this the seldom-seen sportscar that you would like for your next project? Thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
To finance his addiction to speed, Chapman’s company produced street-legal sports cars based on his racing designs. With a desire to join the likes of Porsche and Ferrari in the upper end of the sportscar market, Lotus took their second generation Elite upmarket. Larger inside and out than the preceding generation, the Elite boasted angular styling and a 2+2 interior configuration. The styling was that of a shooting brake. This body style is popular in England among the upper crust of their society, but it never really caught on here.
More than a few stateside folks either liked the styling of a Lotus Elite or the famous Lotus handling. Production ran from 1974 through 1982, with 2,532 of them built in two different series. The car you see here is one of the early 1974 models. These cars were a marriage of two major structures. Underneath, Lotus’s proven backbone chassis boasted independent suspension at all four corners. Laid upon that chassis was a fiberglass body. Many Lotus owners end up dealing with rust in the backbone, but the fiberglass bodies are relatively trouble-free. The body of this car looks to be in quite good condition. The only exception to that is the material added around the seams of the sunroof. Perhaps a reader could tell us if these cars were available with factory sunroofs or if this was one of the popular but troublesome aftermarket units seen so often in the seventies and eighties.
Under the hood of this front-engine car is the first iteration of Lotus’s 1,973 cc Type 907 inline four-cylinder engine. This engine later became better known as the powerplant for the mid-engine Lotus Esprit. The seller tells us that this car has sat for forty years. Given that the wiring is a mess, the dash is partly disassembled, and the radiator is missing, it may have had multiple problems when it entered hibernation.
Dealing with nagging little issues is one of the costs of doing business as a Lotus owner. Colin Chapman himself was very profit-driven when it came to road cars and his cars sometimes didn’t exhibit world-class build quality. You bought a Mercedes if you wanted top-notch materials and precision engineering. Customers purchased Lotus automobiles for their otherworldly handling qualities. At an asking price of $6,000 on a Lotus that has been advertised for three weeks, someone looking for an inexpensive way to experience that handling may be able to score a bargain here.
Have you ever driven or owned a Lotus? Does the handling live up to its reputation, or is this just another expensive foreign sports car company? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
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Comments
Why, oh why do Elites never show up in good condition? Are they destined to forever sacrifice parts to more worthy cars? Are they simply fodder for dissection experiments, like what we used to do in high school biology? Or perhaps it’s because they fell apart from the git-go?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-reviews/vintage-road-track-review-1975-lotus-elite/
Re: the sunroof. In the 1980s version of the Eclat and Elite, the “Riviera” edition was introduced, with a sunroof. I’m betting that was the first factory sunroof. But Webasto was sunroofing all sorts of cars back then….
Hi Michelle,
1949 Renault 4CV Grand Luxe sedan was available with factory sliding steel sunroof.
In 1956 the new Peugeot 403 sedan was introduced with optional sliding steel sunroof – standard on US spec cars.
Peugeot adverts with Phil Hill sitting on top his sunroof equipped 403 were common in Road & Track and other motor magazines.
Agree. One rarely finds an Elite of this vintage in great condition. The same could be said of the Ferrari 308GT4. But I found out in the 1970s that Lotus is a love or hate affair. The price seems about what they sold for new, as I looked at them on the lot. Bought a Cosworth Vega though, another love/hate affair. But so was were many of my other vehicles: Subaru BRAT, Vegas, Corvairs, Opels, FIATs….
Bought a new Elan in England in 67, took it to Stuttgart and REALLY got to use it. My favorite til I got a new 240Z in 71. Nothing before or since has put a bigger smile on my face than these 2. Lotus handling is better than 90% of todays drivers would ever use. RIP Colin Chapman.
Great two cars to have owned brand new, Lucky Jim.
You can hit the trifecta with a Subaru BRZ. It’s cut from the same cloth.
Has anyone else noticed that vehicles named “Elite” can usually be described as an oxymoron. Any exceptions?
Uh yes. The original Elite. One of the most beautiful designs ever, IMO.
This one should have stayed hidden fugly shape torn up non running
But it is resale red and you know got to be a good investment at 6k-NOT
Calm down.
Is it running? that is a big factor when shipping it clear across country, especially with fragile things like this! some trucker would throw a hook on a part that is usually strong enough and rip things out!
I had a early Europa, and a 77 Elite, both could handle really well. Not much info. on this one, and some poor and very few pics, no front or rear pics. Yes you need a taste for these cars, it looks like a nice re-sale red, but i think it might be overpriced for the problems, and that might be why they still have it.
Looks like Mr. Bean got a hold of the dash and frankly, this thing is butt ugly. I would not have it for free.
The sunroof is aftermarket. I missed out on buying one of these cars in slightly worse condition a few months ago. It too was sitting in a garage for forty years and had an actual 3,000 miles on it.
I own an S2 Europa and a rare Anniversary Edition Esprit, an Elcat is on the list of future cars to own. I think they’re super cool.
I had a 76 elite and it had been in a barn for 10 years. I had it back on the road and it burnt due to gas fumes dropping onto the starter.
Having a car sit for 40 years is not a positive especially this one. With the open dash and uncertain conditions I would advise to pass. It’s a parts car at best.
“it’s a parts car at best”.
A parts car for a sh*t box.
Do yourself a favor and buy the ’31 Packard and have some fun.
James May turned one into a caravan on Top Gear.
Ugly with a capital U.
Sunroof is a cheap aftermarket item. Too bad Lotus styling dropped the ball so badly, as these were great-handling and reasonably nice to drive in their day. They were also way overpriced and nearly sale-proof here.
According to Classic.com, sale prices averaged about $16k. This car needs at least $40k. Maybe if you live to be 250 years old, you’ll get out from under it,
I had a ’77 Eclat from ’80 through ’86. I worked my way through college at the local Honda/Saab/Ferrari/Lotus dealership and bought their last Lotus after they gave up the franchise (and I had graduated). The Eclat was much more striking than the awkward Elite and fit my 6′-3″ without a problem, unlike the Esprits. I put 16,000 miles on that car and it was a treat to drive! still would like to own another some day…
To far away to tackle for a quick flip, and I don’t know if older lotus parts are priced like gold or not. If this thing was closer I would take it on get it running and driving then put it on bring a trailer as a project and see if I make a profit or not
Two things you never want to see together in a listing; Lotus and needs work!
I owned a Eclat, it handled better than my Esprit loved the car but was kit car like build quality.Yes the engine had all forged excellent parts in bottom end.Oh yea that handling only needed a premonition. they were expensive when new but fell out of favor quickly. At 6k not too much but will need a dedicated soul . Buyer good luck only wish were me
As for the handling LOTUS cars have a reputation that is very well deserved. That is why the Isuzu Impulse was given the LOTUS treatment that took it up into Porsche territory. And the C-4 corvette was also given suspension upgrades prior to introduction and that was a huge improvement for them as well. Now I own at this time both a Europa S2 and a Turbo Esprit and I have worked on many. The Europa is really too light, drives like a scalded cat but it is not that fast off the line. It is a single shell of fiberglass and a thin shell at that. The Esprit and this car were designed with (4)-layers of fiberglass. If you look you can see a belt line and there is an upper and lower sections to each half of the car. What few know is that in-between those layers is a structural foam. That is both very light and makes a huge difference is how strong that structure is. That trick makes the two sides of the piece act as if it is a solid piece and is very strong for the weight.
Electrical gremlins were the worst part of these cars and again straight line performance was good for the day but not anymore. That this car was designed to hold the later V-8 well that would have been a very interesting car indeed. Often times the problem with Lotus wiring is that they were one of the last English makes to use natural rubber for the insulation on the wires and that ages over time and shorts out. It is possible to get a new wiring harness that is Teflon coated that solves so many of their problems.
Mechanically these are pretty straight forward. Many of the bits are from MG, Triumph, Austin and other common British makes and the parts are not that bad. And in general they hold up well. As a small maker they raided the parts bins of all the other makes the could for the bits they needed. That is a bigger blessing later on than most realize.
Now this car is a real 4 adult seater and a very comfortable one at that. To get a car to handle well you either have a rigid suspension and flexible chassis, (think 1930’s to 1950’s) or a rigid frame and a flexible suspension. This is one of the latter types and the ride is right up with current technology. Being so light the brakes and tires are also up to current times. Lotus interior materials are not that great and could have used much improvement. But then they did not expect that people would still be using them 40 to 50 years later.
I like the front end and the back end looks as it does for aerodynamic reasons. I think that the back portion of the design is less than successful. But it does open up and there is a real trunk area. I have known two owners of these and they both did weekly grocery shopping with them all the time.
Last this is one of the very few LOTUS cars that a taller driver will enjoy driving. The Europa is just too small as is the Esprit to a lesser degree. But in the smiles per miles category if you get one. Make certain it is in top condition you will have one of the better smiles per miles car on the road today.
I typically would NEVER say this about any car BUT ………LS and a T56 Swap for a real adventure. Shame these are always so ratty.
Looks like a chopped Gremlin…
To Me, this is a car I’d buy and keep for the rest of my life and is so exotic looking, I’d be proud to go any with it anywhere, I was ready to pull the trigger when the thought filtered in: I have 100+ cars, better spend my time and money on them!
Hope your time spent on them keep you from posting here.
I see Gremlin…
Looks like a stretched gremlin
I gather these so often appear with one or both headlights up because they were vacuum-operated… to hold the headlights down, so up was the default position. Which makes sense for safety, but looks funny when the vacuum accumulator or a hose from that leaks.
A friend/neighbor had one of these in central Illinois. He was driving it one day and it spontaneously combusted. Just went up in flames. Always thought that was a cool (no reverse pun intended) car until then.