This well-restored car is believed to have been built by Colin Chapman's business partner Nigel Allen during the early summer of 1954. The 16-gauge aluminium bodywork was fashioned by Williams & Pritchard, and the engine fitted was a 1,250cc MG XPAG four-cylinder unit with cylinder head porting de-siamesed by Nigel Allen. Experimental twin Solex carburettors were adopted. After a season-or-so's racing, the car was advertised for sale in Motor Racing magazine and ultimately passed through Performance Cars to Stan Verrall of Cove, Hampshire. It was not raced, and in 1968 passed to Tim Dutton Wooley as "a used Lotus 11" for conversion into the prototype Dutton Mantis kit. Dutton extended the forward chassis, excising the original front axle mounting. A Sunbeam Alpine engine and gearbox were fitted, plus front axle beam and Austin-Healey Sprite rear axle.
The car was acquired by the previous owner in July 1990, its original-style aluminium body was made by GT Panelcraft in 1992 and in March 1997 it appeared complete at the Alexandra Palace show. In 1998 it featured in the Lotus 50th Anniversary display at Brands Hatch and in 2001 was fitted by specialist Mike Brotherhood with a Buckler 4.3:1 torque tube rear axle. As offered here the MG engine is in similar specification to the original, including similar Solex carburettors. Its late owner purchased this car at Bonhams Goodwood Revival Sale in September 2002, at which time it possessed a valid MoT certificate. There is correspondence on file between the previous owner and the Lotus VIII Registrar of the Historic Lotus Register concerning this car's provenance and prospective purchasers are advised to acquaint themselves with its contents. The car's original registration number '624BMG', although not currently allocated, may be recoverable.