1996 LOTUS ELISE

The perfect S1 is a tricky thing to find. Most have been tracked, abused or neglected. This is none of those things. What it is, is an incredibly original, very early (green glue, MMC brakes) S1 with just over 12k on the clock, matching numbers, 2 owners from new, the perfect modifications and its one of the earliest examples to boot.

Some background: I was looking for an S1 for a while, having seen some highly original cars, most were garage queens with trouble brewing mainly because of lack of use. I then found this example. Originally sold to its first owner from St Helliers Garage (in Jersey) it spent most of its life on the island, hence the low millage. The first owner had the car up until 2022 when it was purchased by Bell & Colvill, from there is was sold to its second owner who very sadly passed away. I then purchased it from the garage who bought it from his estate.

It has everything I wanted in an Elise, superb paint having had a front clam respray by Bell & Colvill to an exceptional standard, very early features like MMC brakes being a 'green glue' model.

Modifications: The first owner was an engineer and meticulously but sensitively modified it. It has a VVC head, Piper Cams, Emerald ECU. All installed very early in the cars life, attempting to do what Lotus would go on and do with the 111S. All receipts and invoices in file. The car is tuned superbly and is so tractable, it was rated at 158bhp. In my mind this gives it enough power to excite, but not enough to overly stress the K series, giving reliable running whilst achieving excellent performance. It has its original CAT so good emissions too. Running a VVC head but with Piper cams gives superb characteristics, what you loose in slightly lumpy idle, you make up in silky smooth power delivery, far less 'peaky' and stronger than running a full VVC system. The car is fitted with the Probax seat upgrade which are far superior in my opinion, having just driven it to France I confirm no back pain!

Since owning the car, my focus has been on keeping the originality but making further improvements to handling and reliability. The car now sits on Bilstein dampers, rather than its original 'red/orange' Konis (although these will come with the car). The Konis are fine, but a little uncivilised, when driving with two large occupants, you can easily find the limits of the suspension travel on a typical country road, and thats not ideal. The Bilsteins offer far more civility, whilst maintaining standard ride height and stiffness.

Another modification has been to the radiator, the car had the original item, which has a pretty big flaw in it, two plastic end tanks which over the years tend to give way in spectacular fashion. As I was doing a trip to Brittany in the car, I wanted it to be reliable as possible so I had the radiator replaced with the Elise Parts Pro Alloy radiator, the best available for an Elise, looks exactly the same as the original item but much better constructed. I also had the gear linkage upgraded with the Elise Parts kit, which includes upgraded rose joints and bushes. Much improved as a result.

To maintain the superb paint, I had the car fully detailed, protected and PPF on the front clam and sills. This was done by a renowned company in Lotus circles.

History: Superb, a very large file including all receipts, invoices and letters detailing the any modifications and servicing all the way back to 1996. This includes original bill of sale and order form. All Lotus dealer and specialist, most recently Bell & Coleville and S.Parker Engineering (former of Guglielmi motorsport). This includes original sales receipt and build certificate.

In summary: If you want an original looking Elise S1, with sympathetic modifications- built for performance and reliability, this is the Elise. I might be biased here but I truly think this is the best Elise available at the moment.