Lotus Elan +2 1967 - World Of Classic Cars -

Lotus Elan +2 1967

The original Elan was introduced in 1962 as a roadster, although an optional hardtop was offered in 1963 and a coupé version in 1965. The two-seat Lotus Elan replaced the elegant, but unreliable and expensive to produce, Lotus Elite. It was the first Lotus road car to use the, now famous, steel backbone sub-frame with a fibreglass body. The Elan embodied the Colin Chapman minimum weight design philosophy. It was technologically advanced with a Lotus-Ford twin-cam, 1558cc engine, four-wheel disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension. The Elan +2 was introduced in 1967 with a longer wheelbase and two more rear seats. It was a fast and agile sporting coupé with very elegant lines. It combined the performance and reliability of the Elan Coupé with genuine 2+2 passenger comfort. With less than 1200 of these cars on the roads today, their relative rarity, beautiful lines, impressive performance and practicality are the main factors for the rising interest in these cars among collectors.