Sunday drive: Welly NEX Lotus Elan S3 Coupe

Every year me and my fellow Lamley writers talk about how good the hobby is getting; how there are more and more cars and brands out there that are arriving on the pegs and how cool it is that cars like the Alfa GTV coupe now come in Hot Wheels packaging. We sometimes discuss whether we have hit saturation point for certain trends (seriously, I’m calling all diecast brands: give it a rest with Gulf and Advan liveries) but we all know that there are many stones left unturned, many real world cars that haven’t yet been replicated no matter how significant they are. Case in point is this: Welly’s Lotus Elan S3.

Why it’s taken so long for someone to bring an Elan to 1:64/3-inch territory I don’t know. It’s arguably one of the most important sports cars of the last 100 years, setting the blueprint for all who followed and even influencing the creation of the Mazda MX-5.

The Lotus Elan was unveiled at London’s Earls Court Motor Show in 1962 as a replacement for the ageing and unreliable Elite model. The initial production run of just 22 cars began in January 1963 with power coming from a 1500cc version of the Ford derived Lotus Twin-Cam engine. May 1963 saw the engine enlarged to 1600cc with the arrival of the Elan 1600. The range evolved with constant tweaks and by June 1966 the Series 3 arrived and introduced the fixed hard top Coupe for the first time.

The Elan was the perfect embodiment of Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s philosophy of keeping weight to an absolute minimum. The power of the Twin-Cam engine ranged from 90bhp to nearly 130bhp depending on specification but this was coupled to extremely low weight of around 680kg, giving rapid acceleration, direct steering and superb handling. Contemporary motoring press were full of praise and to this day the Elan is widely regarded as one of the finest handling sports cars ever made. In 2015 Peter Egan of Road and Track wrote:

“The light and tactile steering, combined with supple suspension and a weird, physics-defying sense of zero weight transfer in corners, provides a sensation akin to flying just over the ground. I’m convinced there’s a powerful pleasure center in the brain that remains untapped until you drive an Elan. It’s almost a drug”

Peter Egan, Road and Track, 10th July 2015

In 2023 Gordon Murray, legendary designer of the McLaren F1 and one of the defining automotive brains of the past 50 years was asked if given the last tank of petrol on Earth what car would he put it in. His answer was instant:

“Series 3 Lotus Elan… it’s still, in my opinion, probably the best-handling sports car that’s ever been made… If anybody wants to know what good steering is, just jump in the 60s Elan.”

Gordon Murray, Top Gear: The Ultimate Boss Chat, YouTube.

And as mentioned earlier the Elan was used as the benchmark for Mazda when designing the first generation MX-5, with the Japanese brand acquiring two Elans to study during the development phase.

A fitting car for a diecast replica then. Multitudes of larger and smaller scale Elans exist yet this is the first in this size to my knowledge.

It’s a very good looking miniature. The Elan wasn’t just a brilliant sports car because of it’s handling; in my opinion the looks weren’t half bad too. The Welly car looks superb in blue, a shade not a million miles from the Medici Blue (thanks to Miles Long in the comments for clarifying this) from the Lotus colour chart.

Quality and detail are great; the paint finish is high quality and the decals are very good indeed. The “Elan Coupe” scripture across the wings, the “LOTUS” badging across the rear, and the Lotus badge on the nose are all clear and easily legible.

There’s a mildly detailed interior, painted rear lights, individually moulded bumpers and radiator grille and details like the door handles, fuel filler cap and boot hinges have been cast in to the body.

It’s brilliant, but brings with a healthy dollop of disappointment. And that disappointment relates to how easy these things are to obtain. Welly cars can be very hard to track down depending on where in the world you are, and information is incredibly scarce. Here in the UK I have never seen them and on my travels in Europe have only located Welly cars in store in Slovakia and Latvia, and as part of periodical magazines sold at newsstands in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Croatia. If you’re lucky and pick Welly cars up by these methods, you can expect to pay €3.99 – €6.99. But if you’re unlucky and have to search Ebay you can be staring at a €20 cost with shipping. I paid around €17 for mine but then I am a bit odd. If you’re the kind of collector like me that likes unique models then that cost may be easier to swallow. After all what other brand would make a 1:60 Skoda 105, FSO Caro, Mercedes 300S convertible or indeed this Elan?

But for folk who don’t chase the rare castings or are indeed constrained by budget, the price tag is going to be an instant no. And it’s such a shame. I wish Welly would take a bit more notice and realise their castings would make for fine competitors to the established brands if they were distributed properly. But regardless, I’ll still be chasing them through Ebay listings and my trips abroad, they’ll still keep bringing out unique castings, and I’ll still be bringing them to Lamley.

(Find the Welly Lotus Elan on Ebay)

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