I never expected to read about Gilbert McIntosh after all these years. I got to know him well after joining the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield in 1952 aged 18. He was a Senior Stressman in the design Department and I remember him being very supportive over my first car, a 1927 Austin Seven. "The best car on which to learn all about driving. The only thing it can't teach you is understeer" he used to proclaim! He was instrumental in fostering my interest in Lotus which ultimately led to my buying an Elite in 1960. I recognise where the two pictures of him standing next to his Eleven on some grass were taken - in the NE corner of Hatfield aerodrome, an area used by the DH Sports Club. The row of shops in Manor Road are clearly visible in the background. He eventually left DH - I forget which year - to take up a post as Chief Designer at JCB of all places! His quest for no surplus weight and efficient structural design must have been severely challenged there. While no lightweight excavators subsequently emerged it was probably true to say that they were previously being over-designed with strength well beyond any loads they were ever likely to encounter, a luxury not enjoyed by aircraft designers! Reduced weight leads to reduced material and manufacturing costs as well as operating ones so I have no doubt Mac's arrival there led to many improvements even though few if any would have been obvious to the observer.

what a lovely video...i've always loved the Lotus Seven and Eleven. I went to school in Cheshunt (where Lotus were based for a while) and saw the Green Line Buses going into London. Many years later I worked in what had been the Mosquito 'dope' shop at Hatfield, my father used to drive me past the 'Blue Streak' missile at Dynamics as a tot. I knew about the sidevalve ford engine and always wanted to combine a Citroen Two cylinder with the Eleven.

That was the best-researched and well written piece I’ve ever seen on KZfaq. Bravo!

What a fascinating piece - and, yes, I had never heard of de Havilland engineer Mac Mcintosh before! Working on aircraft, it seems probable he may have been a driving force behind the well-known Chapman dictum of ‘just simplify and add lightness’. That Chapman, Mcintosh, the Costin brothers and Graham Hill all came together in those very early days and, working on shoestring budgets in best ‘garagiste’ fashion, made Lotus into a success from virtually nothing is a fascinating story, which I wish I knew more about…

An extremely well-researched and -written video, far better than most. I'll be back for more.

I was born in 1948 in Beckenham, and could look out of my bedroom window straight at the Cristal Palace tower, and on overcast weekends could hear the sounds of racing cars being bounced off the clouds! By the age of 5 used to beg my father to take me up to the Palace to watch the cars racing, whivh I loved except for the salloon cars which made horendous scretching tyre sounds and I used to run away from our post at Anerley Ramp! But most I used to really love the sports car races, in particular the competion between Alan Stacey (Lotus 11) and, correct me if I'm wrong, Ian Rabey in an Elva, (or perhaps a Lola?). Their tussels were great fun to watch, race long and gave me a life long love of motor sport which, on several ocassions almost led me to taking part, but money was always the prohibitting factor Sorry for the ramble, but seeing, the Goodwood races this year on YT took me back to watching what I always thought was the prettiest sportscars in the Lotus 11! Regards ~ Richard

Nicely presented and narrated with well chosen photos and video. I was amazed to see the 'Mac' hardtop was made from a Berkeley unit...I have both a Lotus (Elise 111S) and a Berkeley, T60 with modified hardtop in my garage at the moment!

I had a Dinky model which was one of my favourite toys and I used to see them race at Croft in the 1960s. Thanks for this marvelous video.

I am told that Mac and Chapman together laid out the series one Lotus Seven. Most excellent! Please make many more videos.

Wow... great film, thanks for making it (Ex 2-Eleven owner)

Fantastic vid. Thank you for the effort.

Just perfect. Thank you.

Fascinating.

Excellent video thank you. My Grandad raced the eleven in the late 50s in the UK. Do you have any photos from the UK race events from this era by any chance?

Fantastic Video!

Lola also had a similar car in limited production as did a few others .

My Father Frank Baptista Sr drove a Lotus 11 to one of his 3 championships and drove the same Lotus 11 that Sterling Moss did.

If you ever get back to this car I would like to know if the steering lock is the same left to right. My Seven S1 was very different. Also I could never get the drive shaft to not hit during hard cornering in one direction. Shimming could make it happen on either hard left or right turns. I recall reading that this was an issue with the early XII. I finally decided to favor left turns.

😁👍

Chapman could've sold hundreds of these in the US if he'd made an LHD version....