1956 Lotus XI

History

The history of this Lotus XI has been the subject of extensive research by a prior owner, Don Burrows. In a nutshell it begins with the ex-Tommy Sopwith Equipe Endeavor car, chassis #164. That car’s period racing history appears to have ended with Graham Hill in a crash at Snetterton in 1956. The car’s chassis was then replaced with chassis #239. But what happened with the original Sopwith chassis #164? The car offered here could be that chassis.

Below is a summary of the early racing history of the Sopwith chassis #164. After that is the research conducted by Don Burrows. The research is supported by voluminous correspondence with the Historic Lotus Register, prior owners, Lotus XI restorers, period racing records and reports, forensic examination of the chassis, and more. Burrows concluded, based upon this research, that the car is likely chassis #164, the original Sopwith Lotus XI chassis. 

The Period Racing Record:

Tommy Sopwith was the son of Sir Thomas Sopwith, who designed the famous Sopwith Camel biplane fighter aircraft for England in World War 1. Tommy, an experienced racer himself, purchased chassis 164 initially for street use. He then had the car converted for racing use, and the car went on to have an extensive, and successful history in not only his hands, but also those of Graham Hill, Archie Scott Brown, and Harry Schell. Their team was known as “Equipe Endeavour.” The registration number “TMY 400” was secured upon original delivery to Sopwith in 1956. 

The car’s period racing history is reported below.

May, 1956 Archie Scott Brown,  Brands Hatch, 4th

May, 1956 Graham Hill, Crystal, Palace, 3rd

June, 1956 J.F. Crawley, Silverstone, 4th

June, 1956 J.F. Crawley, Snetterton, 3rd

June, 1956 Archie Scott Brown, Aintree, 3rd

July, 1956 Harry Schell, Rouen, 3rd

July, 1956 Reg Parnell, British G.P., 3rd

July, 1956 Archie Scott Brown, Snetterton, 2nd

Aug., 1956 Tommy Sopwith, Great Aulcom, 1st (hill climb)

Sept., 1956 Tommy Sopwith, Prescott Hill Climb, DNF

Sept., 1956 Tommy Sopwith, Brands Hatch, 1st in sprint

Sept., 1956 Mac Fraser, Oulton Park, DNF

Oct., 1956 Graham Hill, Snetterton, Shunt. (damaged steering)

The Don Burrows Research:

According to the Historic Lotus Registry’s former president, Graham Capel, in a letter dated November 5, 1991, to the Lotus’ then owner, George Nuse of Norcross, Georgia (USA), this car was restored by Crostwaithe and Gardiner (“C&G”) from an original but dilapidated Lotus XI chassis delivered to them by Peter Bloor. Apparently Bloor had collected the chassis and additional body panels from various sources. Bloor commissioned C&G to restore the chassis and parts into a running car for him. A number of the chassis tubes were replaced, including repairs to the front of the chassis which had prior accident damage. C&G completely rebuilt the chassis and then they used it as the model to build an additional three or four replica Lotus XI’s. 

Capel went on to say that unlike the three replicas, Bloor’s car was the car with the original Lotus XI chassis sections, although he could not say exactly which Lotus XI that chassis had been. Capel was, however, able to link the Bloor chassis to its prior owner, Tony Florio of Surbiton, who had the chassis in the 1970’s. Capel further opined that Bloor’s now fully restored Lotus XI was not the ex-Tommy Sopwith car. However in that letter he did not further explain the reasons for that opinion. He did say that the connection of the Bloor with the Sopwith car may have come from the blue side pontoon that Bloor delivered along with the chassis and other parts to C&G to use in restoring the Lotus. However, Capel said that several Lotus XI’s were painted blue, so that this fact alone could not prove that this car was the Sopwith car. A copy of Mr. Capel’s letter is included in the photos section below. 

During the C&G restoration a new aluminum alloy body by Williams & Pritchard, the original builders of the Lotus XI bodies, was fitted to the fully restored chassis. The restoration was completed in 1988. 

In 1990 the Lotus was sold by Bloor through U.K. car dealer Chris Alford to George Nuse of Norcross, Georgia, USA. There the car remained in Nuse’s collection of historic racing cars for over a decade. It may have been raced, but only one time a vintage race at Road Atlanta honoring the Lotus marque. 

The Lotus was then purchased by Don Burrows of Santa Barbara, California in May, 2004. Burrows performed a mechanical refurbishment of the car as it had mostly been sitting on display for the past 10+ years. 

During this time Burrows began to research the history of the car. He contacted George Nuse to learn what he could about the car’s history, and who the prior owners were so that he could try and contact them. Nuse related that he purchased the car from Peter Bloor through the car dealer Chris Alford in the U.K. The name of Tony Florio was also associated with the car at some point as well. In addition Nuse said that the car could be the ex-Tommy Sopwith Lotus XI but that he did not have actual proof of that one way or the other. See May 6, 2004 correspondence from Nuse to Burrows below.   

Burrows found Tony Florio in England. Florio indicated that he owned two Lotus XI chassis and parts in the 1970’s. He said he could not recall specifically how, or from whom, he had acquired the two different chassis, but did recall that one of the chassis was damaged in the front. He restored one chassis as a road going club model and sold it. He later sold the second, damaged, chassis with some bits, but could not recall to whom. Interestingly, Peter Bloor acquired a Lotus XI Le Mans chassis with front end damage along with other Lotus XI parts during this same time period. He would later bring this chassis and parts to C&G to restore. 

Burrows then corresponded with Victor Thomas, founder of the Historic Lotus Register. That correspondence indicates that the original chassis for car #164 was subsequently replaced by chassis #239. Chassis #239 still existed as of the date of their correspondence, May 23, 2004. However, what happened to, and the whereabouts of, the original Sopwith chassis #164 was an open question. See the Victor Thomas correspondence of May 23, 2004 below. 

After concluding his research, Burrows wrote a summary of what he found and his conclusions. A copy of that summary is included below. 

The summary basically concludes that there are multiple reasons why this particular chassis could well be the original Sopwith chassis #164. This chassis, like the 1956 Sopwith chassis, was an early one based upon certain design characteristics of the front suspension that were changed at Lotus after the first 70 chassis had been built. 

The original chassis that Tony Florio acquired and later sold to Peter Bloor had front damage. A summary of period race records for #164 shows that the original #164 chassis sustained front end damage in the car’s last race with Graham Hill at Snetterton in 1964. According to correspondence from Victor Thomas, it seems that #164 was damaged significantly enough that the chassis was replaced by chassis #239. That would have left chassis #164 still existing in its damaged form, and available for later purchase by Florio. Florio did report that he did acquire an early chassis with front end damage in the 1970’s. 

Bloor reportedly obtained his original Lotus XI chassis from Florio. This was the same front damaged chassis that Bloor delivered to C&G to be repaired and restored into a Lotus XI, chassis number then unknown. Several copy Lotus XI’s were made by C&G using this original chassis as a model. 

When the C&G restoration was completed, the Lotus was sold by Bloor through Chris Alford to George Nuse in the U.S. Nuse then sold it to Burrows. The car had the name “Graham Hill” on it at that time. 

In 2007, Monte Shelton Jaguar in Portland, Oregon sold the Lotus to noted Lotus racer and collector, Nick Grewal. Grewal reportedly raced the Lotus in Europe and in the U.S. He invested heavily in the car generating another full binder of receipts which reportedly totals over $130,000. After a decade of ownership and development, the Lotus was sold from the Grewal collection to the car’s current owner. 

Under current ownership the Lotus has raced in California including the Rolex Monterey Reunion and the Sonoma Festival of Speed. The car has also been shown at the Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance, and the Carmel Concours and the Avenue. The car won the Christie L. Miller British Cup at the Carmel Concours.

The Lotus was most recently on the track at the CSRG Finale at Thunderhill in November, 2024. The car drove beautifully and was instantly up to speed. The car remains in excellent condition. 

Description

The Lotus is equipped with split axle front suspension. The rear suspension is DeDion with twin trailing arms. Brakes are 9.5” outboard front and 9” inboard rear. Steering is Morris Minor rack & pinion. The wire wheels are 15X4.”

Recent work on the Lotus includes a fresh Ivey Engines rebuild of its 1.5 liter Coventry Climax FWB engine. The engine now has two races on it. The eleven has new front brake calipers from Crosthwaite and Gardiner. The Sprite rib case gearbox with Quaife dog box internals has just been gone through, including a new input shaft and new Tilton clutch assembly.

The eleven is also fitted with the new, stronger, Titan Engineering billet front spindles. New heavy duty rear half shaft assemblies have also just been installed. 

The Lotus will come with two large binders full of research, race records, correspondence, receipts, photos, concours descriptions, log books, etc. 

Is this the Sopwith, Archie Scott Brown, Graham Hill, Harry Schell, Reg Parnell, Mac Fraser Lotus XI, chassis #164? Of course we cannot say for sure at this point. Then again, we cannot say for sure that it is not. It certainly could be, and that is what Don Burrows concluded. 

Regardless, it seems by all accounts that we have seen thus far that this car was restored from a front end damaged original Lotus XI chassis by Lotus restoration experts Crosthwaite and Gardiner. It also received a new alloy body constructed by the original Lotus XI body builders, Williams & Pritchard. That’s not all bad, right? If you can confirm the car’s original history, that will be spectacular for you. If not, at a minimum you have a fabulous Lotus XI that you can run in fine historic races worldwide. 

All vehicle descriptions are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Corrections, and supplemental information, are always welcome. Buyers are responsible for confirming vehicle histories, condition, and authenticity to their own satisfaction prior to purchase. Motorsports Market is not the owner of the vehicle and assumes no liability for errors and omissions.

(c) 1996-2024, Motorsports Market. All Rights Reserved.

Photos

Videos

This lunchtime demonstration lap, one of only five, was done in November 2024, at 5,500 RPM, not the engine’s 7,000 RPM redline. It was done with old tires and was the first time we have ever driven the car. The lap time was 2.22, fast enough to have finished 4th in class and 5th overall had the car been in the race. There is a lot more speed in this car, making it a potential class and overall winner, as well as beautiful.

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