An early Lotus

Sir,

My son and I are restoring a Series 1 Lotus XI and seek your help in pinning down the car for The Historic Lotus Register.

It was first registered in Bournemouth in August/September 1956 with the number TLJ 544. We are trying to trace the first owner or others who may have owned it up to the time it was purchased by Nigel Moores in June 1958. He crashed the car at Snetterton in August of that year and it was rebuilt as the original Longbacon No1 and raced very successfully until it was sold to David Buxton in 1961. It subsequently became a “Lotus 7 type” road car in which state it continued until 1977.

It seems that the original chassis plate was lost in the Snetterton accident and original records of this and other details cannot be found. It is thought that Ken Flint (of ERA Remus fame) introduced Mr Moores to the owner prior to purchase and it may be that if the owner can be traced he will have some record of the chassis and engine number together with its earlier history.

Can anyone help? Our telephone number is 0602 652946. It was white, a sports model with a Ford 1172 engine, and had a full width screen.

Christopher Riley, Southwell, Notts.

Correspondence or information will be forwarded. — MLC.).