Lotus
Colin Chapman studied Engineering, started Trialling with a car he built and followed this with building a race car for 750 Club events. Lotus cars was started in 1951. The spartan Lotus 7 introduced in 1957 that used the Ford 1172 engine was a true sensation, and was built in various series of developments until the rights were transferred to Caterham in 1973. By 1959 the ground breaking Elite was available, built or available in kit form to avoid the crippling British purchase tax. The Elan came next in 1962 with a highly modified Ford 1500 engine. For 1968 came the Europa with its mid engined Renault 16 engine, which was a real hit in Europe, although not available in the UK until 2 years later, during which the Elan had become a Plus 2, and later Plus 2S. Of course Chapman had plenty going on with his racing cars, whether Formula Junior or Formula one, or the race Ford Lotus Cortina. He instigated a special 2 litre efficient twin cam engine that was also used by the Jensen Healey. The Elan +2 was replaced in 1974 with the Elite S1 using the 2 litre 4 valve engine, as was supplied for the Jensen-Healey.
