Car Features
Honda’s Lotus Elite
A 1961 Lotus Elite Series 2 with unprecedented provenance was auctioned by RM Sotheby’s in June 2025.
Only a few more than 1000 examples of Colin Chapman’s ground-breaking, firbeglass-monocoque Type 14 Lotus Elite were ever built. Of that meagre total, only three were exported by the factory to Japan.
This Elite – chassis number EB1321837 – made that journey in 1961; invoiced to the Fuyo Trading Co Ltd on 23rd August, according to factory records. Its first owner in Japan was none other than Soichiro Honda, founder of the eponymous Honda Motor Company.
“The Elite was like an egg – a world first,” explained Hirotoshi Honda, son of Soichiro and founder of the firm’s tuning arm Mugen, when talking to Classic & Sports Car Magazine in 2021.
“No frame, no separate chassis: it was kind of like a UFO at that time and my father was always interested in something new.”
Such was the impact of the Elite on Soichiro that his son believed it to have inspired the dashboard on one of Honda’s first mass-produced cars: the little S600.
In 1962, Honda had finished construction of the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, where the racy Elite was put through its paces by legendary Japanese driver Tetsu Ikuzawa.
Hirotoshi Honda then claimed the dubious honour of being the first person to crash at the circuit, rolling the Elite at Spoon Curve before the track had officially opened.
“At the time there were only two Lotus Elites in Japan, so nobody could fix it,” recalled Hirotoshi Honda.
“I eventually found a small garage in central Tokyo, but it took a long time.”
The Elite was refinished in jet black and joined the family’s stable of cars. However, after several near misses on Tokyo’s dimly-lit streets, Hirotoshi convinced his father to have the car repainted white. Soichiro later donated the car to the Honda Technical College, where it remained for many years.
In 1980 the then-disassembled Lotus was acquired by an international buyer, who, in 2018, commissioned Bushell’s Restorations in Kent, UK, to carry out a complete nut-and-bolt rebuild.
The Elite restoration took three years, with all previous crash repairs correctly remedied, along with fitment of a ZF four-speed gearbox. A replacement 1216cc Coventry Climax engine was built to Super 95 specification by Rawlson Racing.
The car was finished in Grand Prix White, in a nod to its Honda history, but a sanded patch of the inner boot was left exposed, to show its previous colour changes. Also preserved were scratches on the driver’s window frame, caused by the crash at Suzuka.
Any Type 14 Lotus Elite is a truly special car, with beautiful styling, competition pedigree and genuine rarity counting in its favour.
This example is even more remarkable, boasting early ownership by a visionary automotive giant, who helped shape the modern world: Soichiro Honda.
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