Lotus Lust! A Tale of Two Plus 2s

In May 1968, my former wife and I traveled by train, ferry and again by train from Pirmasens, Germany, to Norwich, England. Our purpose was to pick up our new 1968 Lotus Europa at the factory in Wymondham, near Norwich. We had a few adventures along the way, thanks to a train crash in Germany before we got on, that turned an 18-hour trip into a 36-hour one. We were quite happy to finally find a bed and breakfast in Norwich. The owners were wonderful and even called the Lotus factory to announce our arrival. The next day, a car was sent to take us to the factory to see our Europa in the last stages of its build. That car was a red Lotus Elan +2. I had never heard of, or seen, a +2, and I wondered if it was too late to exchange our Europa for one of those sleek beauties – it was. For nearly 50 years, the thought of that car remained lurking in my brain. As I aged, I wondered if I could get in and out of one. In April 2017, I found out, thanks to the excellent forums on the Lotus Ltd. Club website. I posted that I wanted to do an article on a +2 and found two nice ones in Colorado – one original and the other upgraded to a Zetec engine and Spyder chassis.

The Type 50, or Lotus +2 as it was called in factory brochures, had a run from 1967 to late 1974. Nearly 5,200 were produced during that time. It was the first pure Lotus to have more than two seats, and it was the first Lotus without a kit version being offered. It was predated by the Lotus Cortina, but that was a Ford saloon modified by Lotus. The +2 was to be a “family” car, with seats for two children in the back, or in our case, one 5’6” woman sitting cross-wise. The +2 had a chassis that was 1-foot longer, track 7-inches wider, and overall length 23-inches more than the Elan. It had the same engine, comparable suspension and a similar, albeit longer, steel backbone chassis as the Elan. It was also 315 pounds heavier, but the effect on performance wasn’t nearly as bad as it might have been because the car was much more aerodynamic (Cd=0.30) than its smaller sister. Carburetion was initially by twin Webers and then by twin Dellortos at the end of production, although the U.S. federalized versions used Strombergs.