Most automakers focus on the passenger car market, with a dozen iterations of the same kind of car just punched into slightly different shapes. Then there’s the other end of the scale, with supercar and super luxury manufacturers making big, loud, ostentatious vehicles with insane price-tags.

Somewhere in no-man’s land is Lotus. While Austin-Healey closed shop decades ago and MG moved towards making crappy passenger cars from China that nobody wanted, Lotus has remained dedicated to their original vision: sports cars that are light, agile, and uncompromising.

One of the greatest models to come from the marque was the original Elan, a two-door with a small engine and a chassis designed for the enthusiast. Yet unlike many sports cars of its time, the Elan was perfectly usable as a commuter vehicle. The 1.6 litre Ford-derived four cylinder produced a very respectable 78kw of power, with up-to 93kw available towards final production. Weighing in at a slight 700kg, this gave the Elan a power-to-weight ratio that made for an especially enjoyable driving experience.

Luxury may not be something that most people associate with the Lotus brand, but the Elan was dripping in features that were normally only seen on more upmarket models. For the era, a heater, carpets, pop-up headlights, and electric windows were considered quite posh. The car also enjoyed a number of technical advancements, such as disc brakes front and rear, rack and pinion steering, fully independent steering, and a steel backbone chassis with fibreglass body.

Unfortunately, despite its driving dynamics, relative luxury, and technical developments, the car was terribly unreliable. The Elan suffered from a myriad of issues related to poor engineering and manufacturing, and these complaints soon outshone the model’s on-road abilities. The Elan contributed to the company’s decades-old image of unreliability, even after switching its model line-up to Toyota drivetrains.

Universal praise for the Elan's positive attributes has done little for its resale value to this point. For years, the car has hovered around the AUD$30,000 mark, with some cheaper vehicles popping up on the market occasionally. Despite its unreliability, we expect the Lotus Elan will see a slow and steady growth into the future. Its excellent driving dynamics, luxurious appointments, and forward-thinking technical advancements will surely be recognised in the future by collectors and enthusiasts alike. Even with so many positives, the Elan will be a long-term investment.

We leave the final word with Gordon Murray, who was reported as saying that his only disappointment with the McLaren F1 was that he couldn’t give it the perfect steering of the Lotus Elan. High praise, indeed.