The Lotus Elan +2, or Type 50 in Lotus speak, was a pivotal car for the company. Aimed at the discerning motorist who wanted a proper Lotus but packaged in a more practical, more family-orientated format, it undoubtedly ticked all of these boxes. Designed and engineered to tap into this different demographic, it was a deliberate step upmarket, one intended to claw back sales being lost to the burgeoning Grand Touring sector.
However, don’t fall for the illusion that the wider, longer and, admittedly, heavier +2 was simply a ‘bigger’ version of its rather lovely stablemate, the lithe, lightweight and petite Elan. True, it was rooted in the same design architecture, shared the same powertrain, and was as driver-focused. Perhaps even more so. But with the +2, Lotus had cleverly…