Start with what the Lotus Eleven is: a car with Coventry-Climax FWA (1098 cc) SOHC I4, built from 1956 to 1958, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Frank Costin.
Where it came from
The Lotus Eleven is a sports racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation. In total, about 270 Elevens of all versions were built.
Under the skin
The engine is Coventry-Climax FWA (1098 cc) SOHC I4; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to from 412 kg. Drive goes through a BMC A30, 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2159 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Lotus line-up the Lotus Eleven has a clear place: it replaced the Lotus Mark IX. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan Skyline, the Fiat 500, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. 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 Eleven 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.