Highlights
- One owner from new
- Impressive history file
- Every invoice through the car’s lifetime
The Appeal
On its launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1995, the Lotus Elise was described as ‘the world’s most advanced sports car’. Designed and developed in-house at Lotus, the car was a genuine innovation that redefined lightweight automotive engineering, with its epoxy-bonded extruded aluminium chassis. Powered by Rover’s K-series engine, the car’s light weight helped it achieve a 0-60mph time of just 5.5 seconds.
Motoring journalists and buyers loved the car; this was a new generation of light and agile performance car that thrilled purist drivers.
The arrival of the 111S in 1999 was a significant upgrade, with its VVC (Variable Valve Control) version of the K-series engine, six-spoke alloy wheels, a new front grille and headlamp covers.
T 264 RPH was purchased new in 1999 by the vendor. He’s looked after the car extremely well, it’s been garaged throughout its life and used regularly. Receipts in the history file cover every expenditure on the car throughout its life, and the new owner can be confident that he or she is buying an original and cherished performance car.
The History and Paperwork
- Original purchase invoice
- Full service history
- Every invoice throughout the car’s life
- All recall work certified
- EEC Certificate of Conformity
- MoT valid until June 2023
- Current V5
- Original owner’s manual
The vendor has kept every invoice since buying the car new from Lotus dealer Bell & Colvill in July 1999, right back to the purchase invoice. Unusually, the car has been serviced and maintained by the same engineer throughout its life, from when he was a Bell & Colvill employee and through two different specialist businesses of his own. The vendor reports that the engineer is prepared to corroborate the car’s maintenance history.
The ‘Series 1’ Elise has been subject to a couple of recall notices in its lifetime, and the file includes paperwork to confirm that the required work has been carried out.
The car has a recent MoT certificate and has had a recent ‘B’ service. It also comes with the original Lotus folder, complete with owner’s manual and associated paperwork.
The vendor has loved owning the car and has used it regularly, often to drive to work, but a forthcoming ’downsize’ house move means he will no longer have the space to keep it and he has reluctantly decided to part with it. He has offered that, if it suits the new owner better, he can drive to car to Bath for collection rather than from its current Surrey home.
The Interior
- Clean and tidy interior
- Leather seats
- Radio/CD player
In keeping with founder Coin Chapman’s philosophy, Lotus’s designers wanted to keep weight to an absolute minimum, and consequently the Elise’s interior is spartan, to say the least. There are no electric windows or heated seats and few creature comforts, as befits a purist’s car. The interior of this example shows a few signs of its age but otherwise reflects the care and attention with which it has been looked after.
The blue leather seats have some patina but no marks or tears, and the original carpets are a bit worn, as one might expect of a 23-year-old car. There’s some obvious wear on the leather pad that covers the sill of the driver’s door, and less on that on the passenger side.
The vendor has retained the carbon-fibre blanking panel which can be used to cover the radio aperture (for those drivers who prefer the engine as the soundtrack to their driving experience).
The Exterior
- Original OEM hardtop, stored in original sleeve
- Metallic silver paintwork
- Six-spoke Lotus alloy wheels
- Original blue soft-top
The car’s exterior reflects the fact that it has been garaged throughout its life. The vendor has pointed out the few blemishes in the metallic silver paintwork: there’s a scratch on the nearside of the rear clamshell where some idiot ‘keyed’ the car, a mark on the front air dam and another on the offside sill.
The alloy wheels all look excellent and there is plenty of tread left on the tyres.
The blue soft-top has a minor issue which the vendor will resolve before sale: the stitching that holds the wire cable in place has started to come adrift and will be repaired. Otherwise, the soft-top is in very good condition. The vendor notes that for some reason he has two sleeves for the soft-top; these were supplied when the car was new and one has been unused.
The hard-top has been kept in its original lined sleeve in the vendor’s garage, and put on for winter months, so has been fitted/removed only twice annually. It’s in excellent condition.
The Mechanics
- 1.8-litre VVC Rover K-series engine
- 5-speed manual ‘box
- Runs and drives beautifully
- Bilstein shock-absorber upgrade
- Stainless steel manifold
As evidenced by that history file packed with invoices, this is a car that has been kept in mechanically excellent order throughout its twenty-three years. The car has an immobiliser fob on the keyring and, once this has been deactivated, starts on first turn of the key. The engine has a healthy note and the car slots readily into and out of gear. The vendor assures us that it drives beautifully, with no issues.
As well as regular servicing and maintenance, the vendor has added a number of upgrades: the original Koni shock absorbers have been replaced with a Bilstein S2 suspension kit, which the vendor reports gives a much-improved ride and driving experience. The car has been fitted with a Janspeed stainless-steel manifold kit, in addition to the original stainless-steel exhaust option.
In response to one of the safety recalls, the vendor has also added the Lotus misfire detection system upgrade.
The car has had a recent ‘B’ service and MoT, and the cam and auxiliary belts were replaced in 2021.
Summary
The ‘Series 1’ Lotus Elise is the car’s purest incarnation and remains the most sought-after. Good examples are increasingly hard to find and values reflect this. T 264 RPH is a rare one-owner example that has been carefully looked after and has that impressive history file. You can buy this one with confidence and enjoy the thrills of driving one of the best-ever sports cars.
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