Lotus Etna

Information

Planned as Britain's first mid-engined supercar, the Lotus Etna was unveiled at the 1984 British International Motor Show and was penned by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. Based on the then-current Esprit sports car, the Etna was supposed to come with a 4L V8 making 335 HP, capable of a 0-100 km/h in under 5 seconds while also equipped with the latest tech at the time like anti-lock brakes, traction control, noise-cancelling and active suspension taken from the brand's F1 campaign.

But none of this happened. The Etna stayed as an one-off show car with no mechanical underpinnings and eventually made its way into Olav Glasius' collection in 2004 and he started the process to make it run. Luckily, the underfloor hid a transmission and a prototype V8 engine so Olav together with Ken Myers, an expert in Lotus restorations, started sourcing the rest of the components needed to make the concept drivable.

Its dynamic debut came in 2006 at the Lotus festival at Donington Park and later joined the celebrations of the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed. 4 years later it would fail to be sold there by Bonhams and 10 years after that it would make its way to its current owner in Southern California.