Series One Lotus Elise Is the Purest British Sports Car

Lotus sports cars represent a minimalist approach to automotive performance. Increased speed is all about reduced weight.

Enthusiasts sometimes joke that early Lotus frames were designed by removing tubes from the chassis one by one until the car collapsed under its own weight—then one tube was added back.

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A Featherweight Roadster

The Lotus Elise was introduced in the US for the 2005 model year. The car was slightly larger and fitted with a Toyota four-cylinder engine and transmission. However, UK-market Series One is a stripped-down, lightweight pocket rocket.

How light? Around 1,600 pounds. That’s 300 pounds lighter than the US-market car, and around 600 pounds lighter than the Mazda Miata, which is generally considered the modern standard for Spartan sports cars.

Lotus cars don’t provide overwhelming power. Depending on the year and package, the Series One Lotus Elise might have only 120 horsepower. This one was tuned by LAD Motorsport to get 160 horsepower from the Rover 1.8-liter four-cylinder. Sportiness is taken up a notch with these additions:

• Close-ratio five-speed manual transmission
• A shortened shifter
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High-performance brakes
• Koni shocks

A Race Car for the Street

The US-spec Lotus Elise is hardly luxurious. These earliest cars are incredibly raw. The thin, barely-padded seats are a single piece and don’t recline. There is hardly any sound deadening and no carpet. The eBay listing only shows fitted floor mats. This might well have been one of the last factory-produced cars with manual crank windows, too. It’s all for the cause of saving weight and avoiding mass that might slow down the car.

The results are remarkable. The Elise is very nearly a race car for the street.

A Few Bumps and Scrapes From a Life Well Lived

This Lotus Elise imported from the UK has a Massachusetts title, a crucial item registering it in the US.

The car shows wear on the fiberglass body, with cracks and scrapes here and there. A good fiberglass shop can repair the flaws. Take care to not damage the one-piece clamshell that encompasses the front hood, fenders, and bumper. This single piece is expensive to replace.

The body is finished in classic British Racing Green, the ideal color for any English sports car. The gold factory alloy wheels look sharp against the green. It’s an unusual style, but guaranteed to grab attention. The top can be removed, so wind-in-the-hair driving is also a lock.