The Lotus 12 is one of the Lotus entries the open record knows by name, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable. Its designer of record is Colin Chapman.
The background
The Lotus 12 was a British racing car used in Formula Two and Formula One. It debuted at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix and was Colin Chapman's first single-seat racer.
The engineering
it is rated at 175 bhp. Kerb weight is 320 kg. Power-to-weight lands near 547 horsepower per tonne, which is hypercar territory, where the limiting factor is the tyre, not the engine. The wheelbase is 87.9 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Lotus's history is not in doubt: the Lotus 16 followed it. Its Lotus stablemates include the Lotus 100T and the Lotus 101.