Three races remained, but the Hockenheim victory proved enough for Rindt to be named World Champion.
Following Rindt’s death, the Elan was bought and kept in Switzerland for several decades. The Series 4 Drophead Coupé is a left-hand drive example and has 80,652km (50,115 miles) on the clock.
It returned to Britain in the 2000s, where it was restored by Lotus specialists Ken and Neil Myers.
With the original chassis, body and engine refreshed, the car repainted in its original French Blue (and doors firmly secured), the Elan is now expected to fetch between £80,000 and £120,000 at Silverstone Auctions’ Race retro sale on February 25.
A certificate of provenance from Lotus, confirming that the car fist belonged to Rindt, along with photographs of the handover, are thought to make the car worth around £20,000 than another Elan S4 in similar condition, according to Rob Hubbard, sales director of Silverstone Auctions.
The car is part of the ‘Piddington Collection’ that is being sold in individual lots. It also includes an Elan Sprint Drophead Coupé owned by the Elan’s original designer, Ron Hickman and an Elan Series 3 prepared for privateer team owner Rob Walker to mark Stirling Moss’s 1961 Monaco Grand Prix victory in Walker’s Lotus 18.
Another Elan S4, given to Cosworth DFV co-creator Keith Duckworth to commemorate the engine’s first grand prix win at Zandvoort in 1967, and part of the same collection, will go under the hammer as well.
