The Lotus Elan was Colin Chapman’s second roadgoing design, replacing the expensive-to-build Elite with a new open roadster design fitted with an x shaped backbone chassis. Power was derived from a Lotus designed engine, based on the block from an English Ford Kent pre-crossflow 4 cylinder engine borrowed from the Ford Cortina, with a unique twincam head, cams, and front cover. The new engine was a crossflow version fitted with two Weber 40DCOE carburettors. Following Chapman’s infamous guideline of “Add Lightness” the car has a diminutive weight of approximately 1400 pounds, which, with 105 horsepower on tap with the original engine configuration, made the car remarkably quick, even in comparison to modern cars. In addition, the fully independent suspension and perfect weight distribution gave the Lotus Elan the very well earned reputation of being one of the best driving sports cars ever made. Unlike my righthand drive Lotus Elan Series 2, this example is largely original, still on its original chassis with an unmodified drivetrain, aside from having later CV axles fitted in place of the original rotoflex units. Being a later series 2 car than my other example, it also has the later tail lights and other small detail changes that set it apart from the very early production examples. The original drivetrain setup with a more gentle clutch and being lefthand drive makes this car a bit easier to drive than my righthand drive version, though it is equally diminutive and close-fitting. I believe I’m the third owner of this car with the previous owner, who is local to me, buying the car in the early 1970s. He drove it sparingly though most of his ownership, which has helped keep the car as a well preserved example. Though without the upgraded “big Valve” head and cams that are fitted to my righthand drive car, this car still performs remarkably well as a sports car with surprisingly good acceleration and the renowned handling that Lotus is well known for. Having the original chassis means this car is also a bit lighter than my other one and thus the slight difference in power isn’t as noticeable when driving them, even back to back.