Beschreibung:

Lotus Engineering Ltd. was formed by engineer Colin Chapman, a graduate of University College, London, in 1952. The first factory was in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey, North London. Team Lotus, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited which focused on road cars and customer competition car production respectively. The company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham. This site is the former RAF Hethel base and the test track uses sections of the old runway. The Eclat was launched in October 1975, designated a 2+2 by Lotus Cars and very similar to the Elite apart from fastback rear body styling. This 1977 example was purchased by the vendor for his son in 1994 when the car was driven into and parked in a storage barn with the idea that that they were, at some time, going to restore the car. The son now lives in Australia. There is a large file of invoices relating to the car up to 1994 and when parked everything in the car was working. The engine is turning freely and the vendor is trying to have the engine running by the time the car comes to Auction. A true and genuine car from an iconic marque, this car represents quite an easy restoration project as bodywork rust is not an issue.