1997 Lotus Elise S1

“ Rebuilt in 2021 by a Director of SELOC (Lotus Owners Club). Body off, new brakes, suspension, cooling system etc. ”
It has covered less than 2,500 miles since.

Background
If the Lotus Elan M100’s mission statement was to save the company, the Elise was the model that actually did.

First unveiled in 1996, the original weighed as little as 723kgs, which is crazily light for a production car and this absence of mass was achieved through two main engineering strands, the first of which was to use aluminium to build its core.

Extruded aluminium sections are glued and rivetted together and then reinforced by the addition of flat aluminium panels. Aluminium is strong and light anyway, but it makes for a very light but stiff structure when it is used in this way, allowing the suspension to do its thing without being undermined by a flexing chassis that alters the geometry.

The second strand was to give it bugger all equipment, which is in keeping with Colin Chapman’s philosophy of “simplify, and then add lightness.”

So, there’s no brake servo, nor ABS. The roof is more notional than actual, and the seats are wafer-thin – and when Lotus made the change to electric windows it did so not for luxury but because they were lighter.

Designed by Julian Thomson and Richard Rackham, the original cars like this one might have been powered by a Rover K-Series engine but even 118bhp gives a power-to-weight ratio sufficient to see 62mph coming up in around six seconds.

And while the Elise’s top speed was a relatively poor-on-paper 126mph, the way it got there was what hooks owners, even today; knee-high to a grasshopper, the Elise connected the driver to the road in a way that no-one bar Caterham owners had experienced for a very long time.

And boy, do they handle. A low centre-of-gravity, supple but firmly damped suspension, and an absence of mass conspires with super-direct steering to give a level of handling and roadholding that streets ahead of most road cars.

Its tyres are narrower than you might expect but they grip hard – and when they do let go, they do so in a progressive way that is easy to catch. Drivers need only a modicum of talent to drive an Elise quickly; it’s the ones with no commonsense that come unstuck…

Overview
The recipient of a body-off restoration in 2021 by a director of SELOC, the Lotus owners club, ‘P990 PWC’ drives beautifully thanks to new brakes, suspension and much more, many of which came from renowned independent specialists like Elise Parts and Elise-Shop.

Not that he ever got to drive it. Posted abroad with his job before it was finished, the seller brought it directly from the owner.

Finished in Norfolk Mustard Yellow, it obviously presents very well – but then it has only covered around 2,500 miles since being completed. It also comes with a hardtop as well as a new softtop and is showing just 79,000 miles on the odometer.

Why is he selling it?

Simply because he finds himself in the position of having three classic cars but only two garage spaces – and given the others are 40-years-old and therefore exempt from having an MoT and road tax, the more-modern Elise is the one upon whom the executioner’s axe must fall.

Estimate: £15,000 - £20,000

View Current Bid Price HERE