1965 Lotus Elan S2 Roadster

The 1960s were the brilliant Indian summer of British sports-car manufacturing, when its factories offered a fascinating choice of high-performance open two-seaters and coupes, all different in character from each other, each destined to become a valuable classic.

Outstanding among them was Colin Chapman’s Lotus Elan, a sophisticated little jewel introduced in 1962. At the heart of the car was a welded steel backbone chassis supporting supple, fully independent suspension incorporating the ingenious Chapman strut layout at the rear. Cradled between two front arms of the chassis, its powerplant was basically a Ford block with Lotus’s own aluminum twin-overhead camshaft cylinder head. It may well be the only four-cylinder engine fitted with three camshafts, the original lateral one that was part of the Ford design being retained for the distributor.

Swept volume was initially 1498cc, and later 1558cc. At the curbside the Elan weighed a mere...