A 67-year-old, heavily tuned Lotus Eleven Sports is up for grabs right now with the highest bid at $30,000 and a few days before the auction ends.
Lotus had assembled just 270 such cars over the course of three years in the mid-1950s. Each weighed as little as 411 kilos (906 pounds) and utilized a 1.1-liter Coventry-Climax engine originally built by Ford to send 76 PS (75 hp / 56 kW) to the wheels. The Eleven Sports (see video) scored the seventh place at the 1956 Le Mans endurance race and hit a land speed record the same year piloted by the legendary Stirling Moss.
As appealing as all of the above sounds to the car collectors, this particular example had seen better times. It does have a Coventry-Climax engine under the hood, but a non-stock 1.2-liter modification of it. The suspension at both ends has nothing to do with the original, and even the paint coat is completely different.
Of the bodywork, the hood cover and the windshield are the only surviving OEM details, the listing admits. Ongoing restoration saw most of the original parts either swapped out or moved to different places. The dark green exterior goes fairly well with red leather in the two-seat cabin, but it’s not period-correct.
Authentic examples of the car have been selling for up to $120,000 recently, and it remains to be seen how much this one will go for in comparison.