Lotus Mark IV was a trials car by

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...

built on an

Austin 7 The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. ...

chassis. Chapman's success at building trials cars brought another previous customer, Mike Lawson, to order a second trials car in 1952 to replace his Lotus Mark II, in which he won the Wrotham Cup. Once again Chapman chose an Austin Seven as the starting point, reinforcing the frame and installing a four-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

sidevalve A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as ...

engine. Chapman used all the tricks he had learned in his previous cars, constructing a lightweight aluminium body with a rounded nosecone. He fitted a 3-speed transmission taken from a

Ford 8 Ford 7Y is a car built by Ford UK from 1938 until 1939. During that time 65,098 cars were produced. The car was officially marketed as a Ford Eight, and was a rebodied and slightly larger version of the Model Y. The car was powered by a 8hp ...

and the divided front axle as on his previous cars. Lawson won his class in the first attempt in this car, following up with others, solidifying Chapman's reputation as a designer and engineer. The success of this car, and other requests for more cars, led Chapman and Michael Allen to establish Lotus Engineering in a disused stable in

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

.Setright, L.J.K, "Lotus: The golden mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1222. Ford Sidevalve Motor
Configuration: S4 SV
Displacement: 1172 cc
Bore/Stroke: 63.5mm x 92.456mm (2.5x3.64")

References

* Taylor, William, ''The Lotus Book:The Complete History of Lotus Cars'' Coterie Press Limited, 1998. * Tipler, John, '' Lotus and Caterham Seven: Racers for the Road '' The Crowood Press, 1995. * Coulter, Jeremy, ''The Lotus & Caterham Seven: A Collector's Guide '' Motor Racing Publications, 1986. * Setright, L.J.K, "Lotus: The golden mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p. 1221-34.

External links

Motorbase
Accessed 17 February 2006. Mark 04 {{Classicpow-auto-stub