Lotus Seven Mk. IV 1971 - World Of Classic Cars -

Lotus Seven Mk. IV 1971

The Lotus Seven was launched in 1957 after the Lotus Eleven was in limited production. The Seven name was left over from a model that was abandoned by Lotus and would have been a Riley-engined, single-seater that Lotus intended to enter into Formula Two in 1952. However, the car was completed around Chapman's chassis as a sports car by its backers and christened the Clairmonte Special. The Lotus Seven S2 followed in 1960 and was supplemented by the Lotus Super Seven S2 from 1961. The Super Seven initially used the larger Cosworth modified 1,340cc Ford Classic engine and later examples were fitted with 1,498cc or 1,599cc engines. The Seven S3 was released in 1968 and in 1970, Lotus radically changed the shape of the car to create the slightly more conventional sized Series 4 (S4), with a squarer fibreglass shell replacing most of the aluminium bodywork. It also offered some 'luxuries' as standard, such as an internal heater matrix.