Lotus Mk 1

PostPost by: trw99 » Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:04 am

Seen elsewhere:

Colin Chapman built the Lotus Mark I in 1948. Two years later, it seemingly fell off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Do you know where it is?

In the spring of 1948, Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, built the company's first car, the Mark I. It was a modified Austin Seven with a reinforced chassis, lightweight panels, and easily replaceable parts?the kind of stuff Lotus is famous for today. He raced the Mark I for a little while before selling it in 1950 for ?135 (around $177), after which point it was never seen again. Now, Lotus is asking your help to find it.

Lotus announced the search today as a part of its 70th anniversary celebrations. Though extensively documented, Lotus has no leads on the Mark I's whereabouts, even after years of research.

"The Mark I is the holy grail of Lotus? history," said Clive Chapman, son of Colin, in a statement. "It?s the first time that my father was able to put his theories for improved performance into practice when designing and building a car.

"We want fans to take this opportunity to look in every garage, shed, barn and lock-up they?re allowed to."

The car was originally finished in bare metal, before being painted white, then repainted red. It was sold through an ad in Motor Sport Magazine to a new owner somewhere in the North of England. "It?s even possible that the Mark I was shipped from the UK, and we?d love to know if it survives in another country," Chapman said.

Though it's possible the Mark I could be sitting in an untouched garage hidden away from the world for nearly 70 years, it's just as likely to have rusted away, been parted out, or sold for scrap. But being the Lotus fans we are, we're holding out hope it'll turn up somewhere.

If you have any information that can lead to the Mark I's location, contact Lotus as soon as possible.

ITV News here: https://youtu.be/MkUQeHo6C-E

Right chaps, its probably still in Yorkshire, in a laithe, covered in sh1t and home to six families of mice. Or its in Japan! Get searching!

Tim
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PostPost by: rgh0 » Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:51 am

The mysterious and undocumented sale to the north of the Mk1 is probably another Chapman inspired myth :shock: . He probably scrapped it and used the bits as the basis for the Mk2. :lol:

cheers
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PostPost by: wotsisname » Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:06 pm

rgh0 wrote:used the bits as the basis for the Mk2. :lol:

so , the first federal variant then ?
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PostPost by: The Veg » Mon Oct 01, 2018 2:25 pm

rgh0 wrote:He probably scrapped it and used the bits as the basis for the Mk2. :lol:


That was always my assumption, since so many tinkerers have limited budget with which to create the next thing. I had a professor in university who liked to tinker at building solar-electric cars and often re-used many of the same bits in creating the next version.

That said, if it does still exist, the ?Japan? theory sounds about right since so many ?lost masterpieces? seem to disappear into super-secret private collections there.
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PostPost by: RogerFrench » Mon Oct 01, 2018 2:29 pm

For some time I had a magazine with the advertisement for sale. It wasn't called a Lotus until later. The Mk2 was the first called Lotus, and the 2 cars definitely coexisted.
I was very young at the time, but very interested, as I still am, in Austin Sevens. I caught it from my father, who raced against the Lotus Mk3 in 1951.
I expect the so-called Mk1 became yet another A7 special and was eventually "used up". Some bits might have survived, but you'd never be able to prove it.

Oh, and to someone from London, especially in those far-off days, anything north of Watford was "up north".
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