Ever thought that driving a forty year old car could put a smile of satisfaction on your face?
The smile is not from the quirky looks, or from from the sound system, as this brilliant little car
does not even have one.
The classic lotus élan was made famous partly by Emma Peel from the old TV show the Avengers (1960s), Emma chose to zipp around in an élan. It was the kind of car that had instant sex appeal, and somehow made people on the sidewalk say, “I’ve just got to have one” as they watched the lotus disappear down the road.
Lotus élans are small, cute, and made many a young girl swoon, as well as a few young blokes wishing they could afford one.
Forty years on, these fantastic Colin Chapman designed Lotus/British sports cars have become highly desirable driver/collector cars. While they did earn a reputation as unreliable and expensive to repair and maintain, they were really no worse than any other high performance sports car of the time.
But they are an exhilarating, fun sports car that can still put many so called performance cars to shame, drive an Élan on a twisty winding alpine road, and few cars will be able to keep with it.
Special parts are no longer a problem for the lotus élan as there are many specialists manufacturing high quality after market parts, which help owners & enthusiasts alike to maintain the marque, parts that provide longevity and cutting edge technology to keep the classic lotus élan sports car even more desirable than when they were new out of the factory.
As most people know, Lotus was once a major force in the world formula one scene, having won several grand prix and F1 constructor’s championships. The late Colin Chapman, owner of the Lotus Car Co, produced some brilliant racing car chassis designs, many of these principles were bestowed in his road going Lotus Sports cars, and the elan was no exception, the basic design was perfect right from the
beginning, in it’s day (early 60s) the élan could zip from zero to 60mph (100kmh) in about 8 secs, even today quick élans are under 7secs, not bad for a car powered by a small engine of only 1600cc capacity.
The élan was well known for it’s zippy performance, brilliant chassis dynamics, handling, and excellent brakes, it was just a delightful…. “put a grin on your face kind of car to drive” and still is.
Few cars of old can evoke a smile of approval quite like a lotus élan, they were almost the perfect driving recipe. Today’s cars are becoming so over controlled with electronic overrides that the fun has been removed from everyday driving.
If you want to change all of that, and add some driving zest to your weekend motoring, go buy a classic lotus élan, it will quickly become your weekend mistress.