Hazel & Colin’s legacy
This week in December especially, we have in mind Hazel and Colin Chapman, one and 40 years on since they passed.
Every day at Classic Team Lotus we spend time working on the cars that represent their extraordinary legacy. Recently we have been focused on creating a Lotus Mk I show car, as commissioned by Lotus China for a touring show of cars that will communicate the Lotus story to this vital element of the development of Lotus into a global brand.
The Mk I has been a fascinating project. Referencing the precious few period images has been an ongoing process as the car has been constructed, which has led to frequent revelations and better interpretation and understanding.
Most valuable are the three images from Hazel’s photo album, taken outside the lock up garages behind her parents’ house. By a process of elimination we have deduced they were taken by Colin, Hazel and Hazel’s mother, Annie. Also featured are Hazel’s father, Vic, and neighbour Ron Nuckold, who helped Colin & Hazel with what must have seemed like their flight of fancy. Incredibly valuably to the project, they capture the car midway through construction, thereby revealing numerous details not visible in later images.
One year on from Hazel’s death her surviving children – Jane Payton and Clive Chapman – visited the lock up garages in North London where the Mk I was built, together with the show car. It was a really special occasion for all concerned. To be in the exact same location – largely unchanged – and able to recreate these famous images, nearly 75 years on was amazing, especially considering how much London has been developed over this time.
It was a lovely way to commemorate the beginnings of Hazel and Colin’s great adventure together, realizing their first automotive creation. Relatively humble, of course, but still featuring an innovative design approach and clever details which have echoed throughout Lotus history and continue to do so, even within the fabulously high tech Emira, Evija and Eletre.
The Mk I will now head for China, to help tell the story of Lotus to its new audience. What better way to celebrate and perpetuate Hazel & Colin’s brilliant achievements.
Hazel & Colin; Rest In Peace.
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