Despite their reputation for poor reliability and flaky build quality, the Lotus Elite/Eclat/Excel might well be the ideal classic sports cars. Why? Well, glassfibre bodies that don’t rust, race-honed engines, room for four (just) and chassis tuned by focused brains for starters. Okay, they can be troublesome, but they can also be one of the most entertaining cars you’ll ever own.
The Elite (by which we mean the one launched in 1974) was the model that replaced the Elan +2, offering proper four-seat accommodation – well, sort of – and the practicality of a shooting brake. It was the first Lotus to use the aluminium block DOHC 16-valve 907 engine, producing 155bhp. It also offered four-wheel independent suspension and oh-so-period Oliver Winterbottom styling.
The Eclat was based on the Elite…
