1964 Lotus Elan 1600 - Archived Instrumented Test - Car and Driver (blog)
Nowadays, we decided, a true enthusiast, a real purist, ought to have a Lotus 23 to drive on the streets, since that fantastic car is about as extreme—and pure—an example of sporting automobile as there is around. That was before we'd driven the Elan. Now, blanching at the prospect of trying to protect a 23 in modern traffic on one hand, and having sampled the joys of the Elan on the other, we'd like to make a substitution. The Elan very simply represents the sports car developed in tune with the state of the art. And it fits like a Sprite, goes like a Corvette, and handles like a Formula Junior. What you will get from a Lotus Elan that you aren't apt to be able to experience in a Junior, is the absolute joy of charging —under all sorts of conditions and in all kinds of circumstances. A combination of the very tiny exterior dimensions of the car, the great acceleration and stopping power, and the complete, reliable safety of it, makes hurrying into a pretty good sport in itself. Underway, it seems less a car than a system, with its elements complementing each other well enough to pretty well wipe out previous notions of how a car should go. Safety comes in other forms than massive padding—a well-balanced, positive, and. Source: www.caranddriver.com
