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Perfection is easy - Lotus Elite in the (historic) test

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Created in 1963

Reading time 19min

Written by:

Clauspeter Becker

Photos:

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Lotus Elite (1961) - eleganter Kunststoff-Sportwagen

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Lotus Elite (1962) - Serie 2 - elegant präsentiert

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Lotus Elite (1958) - eines der schönsten Coupés, die je gebaut wurden

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Lotus Elite (1958) - hier noch mit eckigen Rückleuchten zu sehen

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Lotus Elite (1961) - Kunststoff-Coupé mit Climax-Motor - man beachte die runden Heckleuchten

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Lotus Elite (1958) - von schlichter Eleganz

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Lotus Elite (1961) - vor dem Fabrikgebäude von Lotus im Jahr 1964

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Lotus Elite (1961) - auf der London Motor Show

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Lotus Elite (1961) - am Goodwood Test Day 1961

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Lotus Elite (1961) - Blick in den Kofferraum

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Ein Lotus Elite, bewegt von Charles Vögele in Insbruck

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Lotus Elite (1962) - Einsatz des S2 im Rennsport - im Hintergrund ein TVR Grantura

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Lotus Elite (1961) - anlässlich der 24 Stunden von Le Mans 1961

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Lotus Elite (1961) - Charles Vögele kann beim Flugplatzrennen von Wien Sepp Greger im Porsche 356 Carrera überholen und den Kategoriensieg erringen

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Lotus Elite (1961) - Gaisbergrennen 1962 - Vögeles Lotus hat einen kleineren Lufteinlass erhalten

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Summary

The Lotus Elite was actually unspectacular in many respects. The design came from a simple bank employee, the car had little power and the four-cylinder engine was based on a water pump. But it was Colin Chapman's magical tricks that made the Elite not just good, but incredibly fast. This article reproduces the wording of a test report from 1963 and shows the car in many historic pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

Money doesn't matter, success is everything!
With the Elite, every part has its own story
You won't attract girls with an Elite, but ...
Technical and test data

Estimated reading time: 19min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Do you know why most people are not really happy? They have nothing but numbers in their heads: brands and pennies, horsepower and kilos, VW shares and the bride's fortune, life insurance and car trunk liters. It's all stupid stuff, nothing comes of it. You just die unsatisfied. If only because it would never have occurred to you to buy a Lotus Elite or any other such thing. There's no need to argue about taste, a Star boat is also "far" too expensive in case of doubt. It's almost a miracle that such things still exist, and those who build them deserve special thanks. What courage it takes to make completely unreasonable things in order to offer them to those who are sensible enough to buy them.

Welcome to Zwischengas!

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