2011 Lotus Evora 2+2 - Mag Blue/ Black -2k Miles, Premium, Warranty Till 3/15!! on 2040-cars

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Lotus wants to find its first car, built by Colin Chapman

Lotus is looking for the first car its founder ever built. The Lotus Mark I, a trials special Colin Chapman built in a small garage in London in 1948, has been lost to history and the company has been trying to find it for ages. As Lotus is 70 this year, the first Lotus would be quite the icing on its birthday cake. Colin Chapman constructed the first Lotus in a garage that belonged to his girlfriend's parents, at the age of 20. The car was reportedly an instant competition success, but Chapman's competitive spirit meant he soon started on the car's successor, the Mark II, and sold the Mark I in November 1950 for GBP135 after advertising it in Motor Sport magazine. Both the Mark I and II were based on Austin 7 hardware, but the latter used different Ford engines while the Mark I retained an Austin 7 engine. Experiments with lightening the vehicle and developing a better suspension design were Lotus hallmarks from the very beginning, as the car needed to beat Britain's rough rally terrain and have enough grunt to climb hills. Lotus Engineering was set up in 1952, later spawning Team Lotus that started out in Formula 1 by the end of the 1950s — and the rest is history. But Lotus owes everything to the humble Mark I. "The Mark I is the holy grail of Lotus' history," Clive Chapman, Colin's son explains. "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. To locate this landmark Lotus, as we celebrate the 70 th anniversary, would be a monumental achievement. "We want fans to take this opportunity to look in every garage, shed, barn and lock up they're allowed to," added Chapman. "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." This means the first Lotus could even reside in the United States, if it is still in one piece. Related Video: Featured Gallery 1948 Lotus Mark I News Source: Lotus CarsImage Credit: Colin Chapman Foundation Lotus Automotive History Convertible Classics

Miami real estate investor selling world's largest collection of Bond cars

In 2011 Miami real estate investor Michael Dezer bought dozens of cars used in the James Bond films from the Bond Museum in Keswick, England. Since then, he's added to the trove which now stands at 59 cars, as well as motorcycles, boats, jetskis, tanks and thousands of photos, posters and memorabilia. It is the largest collection of 007 cars in the world, and Dezer has put it up for sale for 20 million pounds ($33.25M US) - the caveat is that you have to buy the entire collection. But what a collection it is. Among the six Aston Martins are the DB5 from Goldeneye, the Vanquish from Die Another Day and both V8s from The Living Daylights. There is also the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me - not the Esprit submarine that Elon Musk bought last year at auction, but the pre-dive roadgoing car. The new owner of the collection will keep things up to date with the Audi A5 and the Land Rover Defender 110 from the opening scene of Skyfall, and properly varied with the dragon tank from Dr. No, the Fairey Huntress yacht in From Russia with Love, and the chopped-in-half Renault 11 from A View to a Kill. An agency in the UK is handling the sale. We will now leave you to handle the money transfer from your people in Liechtenstein. News Source: London Express via Driven Auto News Celebrities TV/Movies Aston Martin Lotus lotus esprit

Lotus Eletre configurator welcomes virtual tire kickers

The Lotus Eletre configurator is ready to be toyed with. There aren't that many customization options to play with, but the total experience is quite fun. The exterior palette consists of seven colors. The odd bit is that, try what browser we may, we couldn't get the names of those seven colors to appear anywhere. The menu looks like black, green, red, yellow, and three shades of silver, but clicking the latter three reveals what looks like a metallic silver, a flat gray, and a rose-tinted-something. Same with the interior, which comes in green, black, white, or beige. All but black result in a two-tone cabin. Things are much easier when it comes to wheels. The floral petal rims either come in all black or black with polished accents, the center caps are either Lotus yellow or black, and the calipers are either yellow, red, green, black, or charcoal.  For those of you unsure about the Eletre's looks, the well stocked Animations, Beautyshots, and Environments sections could get you on board with the styling — it did for us; a red Eletre under a cosmopolitan setting spoke to us in a way the yellow debut model did not. A couple of notes, though. Choose your colors in one of the Environments; the ambient lighting in the Beautyshots changes the vehicle lighting like in real life, turning the bright yellow calipers into a dusty gray in one instance, for example. The animations that show off features like the aero shutters in the grille and the active rear spoiler need a couple of clicks to perform. And again, just like in real life, the Eletre only does what you tell it; if you leave the hatch up in the Boot animation then click the Spoiler or Front Left Door, the boot stays up. Click to a city environment with the driver's door and hatch open and you'll be crystal clear as to what the Eletre looks at the end of a shopping run, a feature we've never seen in a configurator before. You have your mission and your cautions, now go play. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2017 Lotus Evora 400 Review | Autoblog