Gordon Murray
finally buys the Lotus that first inspired his engineering career
One of the things I find fascinating about car design is that sometimes a particular design is just perfect first time from the point of view of style, balance and even sense of purpose or road presence. In a lot of cases attempts by the manufacturer to improve on the design with a variant or facelift fail completely. What is even more interesting to me is that the perfect ‘first time right’ designs that have become iconic classics were born out of a design process so unstructured that a modern design team would not recognise or understand any part of it.
One manufacturer that springs to mind is Lotus – one of my all-time favourites is the Elan. It looks good and balanced from every angle. Lotus followed the Elan with the Plus 2, which in many ways is a better car – but the styling and particularly the balance just didn’t translate very well. Another example is the original Mini, just perfect in every way and all attempts to modernise the shape didn’t work at all.
The best example of this phenomenon is one of the more recent additions to my classic collection, a Lotus Seven Series 2. Most of the design is purely functional; the cockpit is just wide enough for two occupants plus the transmission tunnel, while frame taper to the nose is a function of the minimum packaging space for the powertrain and the front wheel and tyre clearance on full lock. Arguably, the only real styling elements are the nose moulding, flared wings and windscreen shape, but somehow it works perfectly and the Seven shape has been with us now for 61 years.
The little Lotus is so perfectly proportioned even Chapman couldn’t improve it. Inevitably, over the years the car changed a little with wider wheels and tyres, and the softer S4 redesign. Buyers accepted these small changes, but when Caterham recently produced a traditional-looking version that was very much a return to its roots it was hugely popular, proving the original design was near perfect.
Over the years dozens of Seven copies have popped up, but none really worked. When I was designing the Light Car Company Rocket in 1991, I briefly flirted with the idea of designing a modern Seven, but very quickly dropped that direction and drew the Rocket with a retro single-seat body.
It took me a long time to find my unmolested 1962 model. So many of the early Sevens have had engine and gearbox transplants, roll bars added and wider wheels and tyres fitted, all of which dilute the attraction. Chassis number SB1171 is an absolute original car with its 1340cc Cosworth engine, narrow steel wheels, chrome hub caps and original steering wheel. I have had to thin the seat back, push the pedals forward and fit a smaller wheel to squeeze my 6ft 4in frame into the car, but that hasn’t spoilt its originality and I marvel at the lines and shape of it. It’s an absolutely iconic sports car with a massive place in automotive history. Gordon Murray is one of the most innovative automotive designers of his generation. He designed Gp-winning F1 cars for Brabham and Mclaren and the Mclaren F1 road car.