A Lotus? On a Winter Wagons display?
Colin Chapman’s light sports cars would not ordinarily spring to mind when thinking of estates, wagons and shooting brakes. Unless you are Roger Makhlouf.
In his garage is a car unlike any other in the world: an Elan 2+2 Shooting Brake. An ‘Elanbulance’ was once (well, twice) made in the 1970s but never made production and was never built on a +2S.
Roger dreamed up the idea and set marque specialist Paul Matty and coachbuilder Shapecraft to it, never being far from the project himself. Shapecraft may be familiar, having tweaked the Elan S1 into a fastback for racers in the 1960s.
The unique final creation will be alongside another of Roger’s Lotus, one of which follows the blueprint of a shooting brake. The Type 75 Elite arrowed Lotus into the 1970s, leaving behind it soft flowing lines for the en vogue wedge shape.
It was ground-breaking in the way it was produced, using Vacuum-Assisted Resin Injection to create the top and bottom halves separately and bond them together. Lotus never called it a shooting brake, but with its long and slowly sloping roofline, capacious interior and four seats there’s little to deny it.
The Lotus +2S Shooting Brake and Elite Riviera will be among the Winter Wagons of the Scramble on Sunday 8 January. Click here to book tickets.
