Lotus・ Mr. Soichiro Honda who imported the elite
Colin Chapman, one of the engineers who made a great contribution to the evolution of automobiles. Starting from a small barn in Hornsey, northern London, a small factory was built in Cheshunt. As Lotus Cars, we created a highly unique car.
Around the same time, in Japan in East Asia, great engineers were trying to put their ideas into shape. It is Mr. Soichiro Honda, who founded the current Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1946.
At that time, Tokyo was in the middle of rebuilding the city. With a big American carMazdaK360 andDaihatsu MidgetIt was full of small three-wheeled trucks.
In the manufacture of motorcyclesHondaIn 1962, when the car was growing rapidly, Soichiro imported a small sports car, which was one of the triggers for drawing his own vision. Lotus Elite Type 14 with chassis number EB1837 painted in poppy red.
Soichiro is MGA andJaguarHe owned several European cars such as the Mk2. Among them, Honda’s young engineers seemed to be strongly impressed by the monocoque structure molded with glass fiber and FRP. It can be said that it was an epoch-making design as a model for public roads.
It is time for Honda to take a step from motorcycles to automobile manufacturing for Japan’s economic growth.AustinKnockdown production of A30NissanSome manufacturers used existing models as a foothold, but Honda chose to develop from scratch.
S600The influence of the elite visible in the car
It seems to have been inspired by the Lotus Elite of Lightweight Sports. “The elite was the world’s first egg-like car.” Mr. Hirotoshi Honda. The eldest son of Soichiro, the person who started the current M-TEC company, Mugen in the works department.
“There was no frame or independent chassis, it was like a UFO at the time. My dad was always interested in new things.” Hirotoshi, who says so, also disassembles the elite in his garage. He tried to understand the structure of the FRP shell.
It also affected Honda’s first sports car, the S600. “My dad hated counterfeit products, but I think the S600’s dashboard and speedometer and tachometer designs are very similar to the elite.” Hirotoshi looks back.
Despite being the eldest son of the founder, the only company product given by his father at that time was the scooter Super Cub. At first, he took the key from the drawer at midnight to his father’s MGA, secretly pushed it to the road, and was riding to run away at the same time as the engine started.
After a while, Soichiro’s interest in MGA diminished, and Hirotoshi was allowed to ride freely. However, he was destroyed in an accident by a friend who lent him for a date. “My dad banned me from going out, though I couldn’t touch the payment for repairs.”
Like the MGA, Hirotoshi can now drive the Lotus Elite. “My dad hated Colin Chapman and hadn’t had a chance to ask if he could rent an elite.”
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