1966 Lotus Elan S3 - Ex-Peter Sellers

Colin Chapman proudly announced in the launch literature that "We wanted to build you a fun car", a brief he achieved with vigour thanks to the fact that his unequalled talent for vehicle set-up was never more prevalent than in the Elan's performance. Exciting paintwork colours were introduced such as Carnival Red, Pistachio Lime Green and the delectable Lotus Yellow and the Elan became the 'Darling' of the High Street in the mid-sixties. The Series 3 (S3) appeared in 1966 and featured a number of cosmetic and detail improvements over the earlier car and the Special Equipment (SE) model featured centre-lock wheels and electric windows.

SAR 57D is a 1966 Elan S3-SE and was first registered in July of that year. It had been enjoyed by four owners and had an indicated mileage of 65,611 when it was offered by Silverstone Auctions in late 2015. The little white Elan was in reasonable condition, however, we suspected that the main interest in the car would have been its first owner, a certain Peter Sellers, and according to the V5, the car was delivered to him at 37 Panton St, Haymarket on 22nd June 1966.

There may be a few people who have never heard of Peter Sellers - but it will only be a few. 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.

Girls played a major part in his life; he was married four times including Britt Ekland (64-68) and Lynne Frederick (77-80) and during the sixties and seventies was frequently seen in the company of the world's most beautiful women. Perhaps less known was his passion for cars, having owned dozens, and never missing a photo opportunity with his new companion, whether on four wheels or two legs which makes it strange that we can only locate one picture of him in this car, popping up from underneath the closed Tonneau cover and about to come out with some piece of wisdom in the voice of "Bluebottle" (ask your Dad).

The lucky buyer in 2015 was indeed our vendor who purchased SAR 57D to join the Piddington Collection and it was immediately sent to Neil and Ken Myers for a full restoration to their “beyond Concours d’Elegance” standards. As is the case with all the other cars (apart from Ron Hickman’s), when the restoration was finished it was checked over and started but never driven and, also in common with the others, it retains its original chassis, body and engine.

With zero miles since its superb restoration and over 60,000 miles from new, there is nothing to preclude using this 'almost new' S2 on a regular basis. Alternatively its next owner may choose to pop it into a private collection enjoying the Peter Sellers' provenance. However, we can't help but feel that a combination of the two might be best. 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.

It's accompanied by an original Elan tool kit, hundreds of pictures of the car in the build stage, a file of MOTs, invoices, tax and SORN correspondence, the original 'green' logbook with Peter Sellers signature (22/07/1966), lots of period magazines, newspaper features, etc. of Sellars and Britt Ekland, original photographs, car magazines, letters, multi-CD Greatest Comedy Cuts, The Pink Panther DVD collection, Book - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers by Roger Lewis and more.