Start with what the Lotus Elan is: a 2-door coupé / 2-door Roadster (automobile) / roadster with 1,498 cc later 1,558 cc Lotus TwinCam I4, built from 1962 to 1973, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Ron Hickman.
Where it came from
Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel drive vehicle co-developed with Isuzu and entirely decoupled from the 1962-75 cars from an engineering perspective.
Under the skin
The engine is 1,498 cc later 1,558 cc Lotus TwinCam I4. On the scales it comes to Approximately 1500 lb. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual (all synchromesh). The wheelbase is 2134 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Lotus line-up the Lotus Elan has a clear place: it replaced the Type 14 Lotus Elite; it handed the line to the Lotus Elise (for Lotus Elan M100); the factory was Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Jaguar E-Type. Nearby in the Lotus catalogue sit the Lotus 100T and the Lotus 101.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lotus Elan has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.