Description:

• Beautifully presented Lotus 18, fresh from complete engine rebuild and little used since restoration

• Offered from 8 year ownership, with the previous owner having kept the car for 9 years beforehand

• Eligible for a large variety of events including FIA Lurani series, FJHRA/HSCC ‘Silverline’ Championship, Goodwood and more

I Always regard the Lotus 18 as my first Grand Prix design…forget the earlier front-engined cars, the Lotus 16s, they were really Formula 2 designed stretched for Formula 1. As far as I am concerned when they kept breaking we eventually threw the whole bunch of ingredients up in the air and started again - and the result was the 18, and it started winning…’ - Colin Chapman

Introduced for the 1960 season, the Type 18 was Lotus’ first mid-engined Grand Prix car design. 1960 was the last year of the 2 ½-litre  Fomula 1. Today, the Lotus Type 18 is best remembered as a Formula 1 car for its association with the late Sir Stirling Moss, who took the first-ever F1 victory for a Lotus car. At a rain-affected Monaco Grand Prix on 29 May 1960 he drove relentlessly through the city streets to take the chequered flag by almost a minute from Bruce McLaren. The same car/driver combination triumphed again at Monte Carlo the following year, the first of the 1 ½-litre  Formula 1, and the highly versatile Type 18 would prove adaptable to both Fomula 2 and Formula Junior applications. As its name so aptly suggested, Formula Junior was the main ‘feeder’ racing class for formula 1 and other more senior forms of motorsport in the erly 1960s. The spaceframe type 18 was Lotus’ first foray into this hotly contested series. Almost invariably fitted with a Cosworth-modified Ford 105E engine, it proved to be the class of the field. Team Lotus works drivers Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor dominating the 1960 Season. 

One of 125 Lotus 18s produced and one of just 72 registered with the Historic Formula Junior Association. Chassis number 18-J-816 was exported to North America in October 1960 destined for Lotus agent Jay Chamberlain. Reputedly it was one of six sold to Formula 1 driver Ricardo Rodriguez for his racing school. Unfortunately, two years later, Rodriguez was killed in practice for the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix. Chassis 816 had not even been removed from the crate it was delivered in on Rodriguez’ death and the car was subsequently bought from his estate by a Mike Clark from Los Angeles. The car participated in approx 60 races over the next 8 years. Howard Gething of Glendale, CA bought the car in October 1970, before selling it to Clarence Straitiff in October 71.

Little is known of the car’s life until the 1990s, when it was owned by a Steve Moles, Lapinski Motors or Portland and then in 1999 Marc Evans. Evans sold the car to Ed Oblad of the Lotus Museum in 2000, but had his team at New England Classics restore the car prior to delivery to original condition. This took the greater part of a year and following its restoration, Chassis 816 was placed on display at the Lotus Museum in Utah for three years before it was sold to Kevin Whittle, the editor of the Historic Lotus Register magazine in 2004. 

This would be the first time the car would return to the UK since its despatch in 1960. When purchased, the car was cosmetically excellent, but Whittle quickly set about a complete mechanical overhaul in preparation to compete in the British Historic Formula Junior series. He would own the car for 9 years, before selling the car to Germany via auction.

Three years later, the current owner acquired the car and it returned to the UK once more. Over his now 8-year ownership, the car has been maintained to a high standard and has been once again subject to restoration, as follows:

• New Wishbones

• New Springs

• New Master Cylinders

• New Brake Pipes

• New Windscreen

• All new gauges

• New wiring, lights, switches coil

• New suspension bushes & Rose Joints

• New Dzeus Fasteners

• New Fuel Lines, Pump and regulator

• 2 new rear wheels

• All new nuts and bolts, fire extinguisher plumbed in (service now required)

• New seat belts (now out of date)

• New Floor pan

• New Catch Tank

• Complete new gearbox overhaul and differential internals (hewland) 

• Fuel Tank Foam Filled

Chassis 816 is also offered with an engine freshly overhauled, with the only miles being those used by Klasiko to drive the car for photographs. The details are as follows:

• Steel crankshaft

• Steel flywheel

• Steel Front pulley

• 4 MAE Pistons

• Steel ‘H’ Conrods

• MAE Crankshaft

• Line Bored & Capped Block

• A6 Cam

• Fassler Followers

• Vernier Drive Set

• 4 Inlet Valves

• 4 Exhaust Valves

• Set Springs

Now freshly restored and eligible for the FIA Lurani series in class C2 (rear engine, drum brake), FJHRA/HSCC ‘Silverline’ Championship, various invitational events and of course, not forgetting Goodwood, Included with the vehicle is a comprehensive history file, complete with a printed document detailing the car’s history, Import documentation, numerous invoices and receipts, the previous FIA HTP papers and importantly current FIA HTP papers valid to 31 December 2028.

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