Colin Chapman formed Lotus Engineering in 1954 behind his fathers pub in north London and started building cars. After 3 years of constructing cars for the race-track he launched the very fast, very light Lotus Seven followed by the Lotus Elan. During the seventies Lotus introduced the Elite and had a very successful period in Formula one racing. Chapman helped design the stainless steel, gull-winged DeLorean. From this period on, Lotus was dogged by financial instability and at times close to collapse. Chapman died in 1982, a blow which Lotus never fully recovered.
