The Magnificent Seven – A Lotus Elan collection worth £700,000 with celebrity owner provenance

One man’s dream Lotus Collection comes to sale with Silverstone auctions February 25th 2023 Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire

A fantastic Lotus collection put together by one man, Deryck Norville, a former Cosworth engineer will excite every enthusiast for this marque. Cosworth creates world beating engines and cars fitted with its powertrains have had 176 F1 victories making it one of the top three race engine producers alongside Mercedes and Ferrari.

All these Piddington Collection cars have a wonderful history.

1968 Lotus Elan S4 Coupé ‘Duckworth’
1966 Elan S2 Drophead Coupé ‘Emma Peel – The Avengers’
1969 Lotus Elan – ‘Jochen Rindt’
1968 Lotus Elan SE ‘Rob Walker’
1971 Lotus Elan Sprint Drophead Coupé ‘Ron Hickman’
1975 Lotus Elan Sprint
1966 Lotus Elan S2 – Ex-Peter Sellers

Listen to us discuss this collection (and others!) in UKMotorTalk Podcast #170

1966 Lotus Elan S3 which once belonged to Peter Sellers

On offer from the Piddington Collection. This rare 1966 Lotus Elan S3-SE was delivered to Peter Sellers’ Haymarket home on June 22 1966 and, when in London, was driven by him, with wife Britt Ekland in the passenger seat, until 1969. The image of Sellers and Britt Ekland buzzing around Mayfair in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ in this little white Elan is too good not to be shared with friends at the pub on a sunny Sunday morning.

The car was delivered to Peter Sellers at 37 Panton St, Haymarket on 22nd July 1966. He was a legendary actor and comedian as well as being a talented singer, director and photographer, who sadly passed away in 1980. In terms of acting and comedy, he is regarded as being in the top 50 in the world at both – ever. His body of work is too vast to list here but Dr Strangelove, the Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau and the Goon show have all had an influence on British society.