The Elite and
Eclat
The
first Elite's went into production in 1957, and was the first fully enclosed
Lotus. The chassis was very advanced for its day, eight box sections formed the
fibre-glass monocoque chassis. With idependant rear suspension by Chapman struts
and independent coil springs and wishbones on the front, the handling was
superb.
Powered by an all aluminium Coventry Climax 1216cc engine and
a deag coefficient of 0.29, it was able to win its class a the Le Man 24 hour
Race.
This version of the Elite was to go out of production in 1962.
The name was to live on however, in 1974 and in light of new forthcoming safety legislation, Lotus unveiled the all new Elite. This was a true 4-seater, glass-fibre bodied with a steel backbone chassis, the ride was fantastic from the 4 wheel independent suspension system. The car was now powered by Lotus's own '907' engine, the first twin cam with 4 valves per cylinder sold on the open market.
The Eclat was the fastback version of the Elite, coming into production a year later. The roof line was sloped and the glassback of the Elite gave way to a more practical boot.
Production of both versions ceased in 1982.