Lotus 26

The Lotus 26 (also known as Elan) was a British sports car.

Designed by Colin Chapman, the 26 was a roadster (later a coupé was added), intended to replace the more expensive Elite. It used a 1.5 liter DOHC hemi-head engine, designed by Harry Mundy and Richard Ansdale (and tested on the Lotus 23), based on the Ford 116E engine from the Cortina.

The chassis was a steel box backbone or "pickle fork" (later used in the unsuccessful Lotus 30 sports-racer as well as the Elite and Europa), featuring four-wheel independent suspension (double wishbones front, strut and wishbone rear), with GRP two-seater body weighing only 1300 pd (590 kg), though it was handicapped by pneumatically-operated flip-up headlights (even the brilliant Chapman evidently not having realized aerodynamics were not different at night).

The Elan lasted until 1971, by which time it was in its fifth and fastest series, with a new 126 hp (94 kW) twincam.