I went to a automotive meet in West Hollywood final weekend that had all the things from a Pagani Zonda and Bugatti Veyron to an Audi RS2 and an actual Jaguar D-Kind, with stuff like two G-wagen cabrios and a Porsche 993 GT2 race automotive current as properly. However one of many rarest issues that confirmed up was this 2011 Lotus Elise, a automotive you won’t know even existed.
OK, I’m certain you realize the Lotus Elise as a complete existed, however do you know that for the 2011 mannequin 12 months Lotus truly offered a handful of Collection 3 Elise facelifts within the U.S.? The remainder of the world obtained the Collection 3 fashions for a decade following 2011, however Lotus’ PR division confirmed to me that solely 128 of those facelifted Elises had been formally dropped at the U.S. earlier than the mannequin was taken off the market, simply six years after the Elise first launched in 2005. I believe that is the one Collection 3 Elise I’ve ever seen in America.
Out of these 128 Collection 3 Elises, 77 of them had been the naturally aspirated Elise R, whereas the opposite 51 automobiles had been supercharged SC fashions just like the one I noticed. (There have been three completely different particular version SCs that depend in direction of that complete: Two Kind 25s, two RGB Editions and 12 Remaining Editions.) The principle improve for the Collection 3 Elise was the brand new entrance finish with triangular headlights and a extra streamlined bumper design, which I believe appears actually good, plus a unique rear diffuser and engine cowl.
So, why was this ultimate mannequin 12 months Elise so stunted? Pesky American rules. Lotus had obtained a waiver to have the ability to promote automobiles within the U.S. with out sensible airbags, however that waiver expired in August 2011. Toyota additionally stopped making the 2ZZ-GE engine that powered the U.S.-spec Elise, and the smaller 1.6-liter engine that European fashions obtained can be robust and costly to certify. If that wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, the Elise additionally didn’t meet new stability management rules, and different posts on-line say it didn’t cross 5-mph bumper necessities, both.
In a metropolis stuffed with a few of the rarest, most spectacular automobiles ever made, this little Toyota-powered British sports activities automotive flies underneath the radar for all however the nerdiest amongst us. It’s 4 occasions rarer than the Veyron, ten occasions rarer than the Ferrari F40, almost as uncommon because the McLaren F1. Subsequent time you see an Elise, take a re-assessment to see if it’s one in every of these Collection 3 automobiles.