A custom sports car combining the styling of a Porsche 356 Outlaw replica with the chassis of a Lotus Elise and a turbocharged 550-horsepower Honda engine has appeared for sale in the United Kingdom. This one-off build highlights innovative engineering from the mid-1990s Lotus development. Bidding is currently underway on eBay in the UK.
The vehicle starts with a Series 1 Lotus Elise Sport 160 platform, renowned for its lightweight design. Engineers Richard Rackham and Matt Becker, working with designer Julian Thomson in the mid-1990s, created the Elise's bonded extruded aluminum tub, which weighs around 150 pounds. This structure contributed to the car's curb weight of about 1,598 pounds and provided strong rigidity and resistance to corrosion. The Elise model, produced from 1996 to 2021, sold more than 35,000 units over three generations and set standards for lightweight performance in sports cars.
In this custom project, the Elise chassis has been refreshed while keeping original elements like the wiring harness and fuel system for easier maintenance. Updates include refurbished suspension wishbones, upgraded toe links, new brake rotors, braided brake lines, performance brake pads, race-spec dampers and springs, and a strengthened anti-roll bar.
Power is supplied by a rebuilt Honda K24 2.4-liter inline-four engine featuring i-VTEC, double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, electronic fuel injection, and distributorless ignition. Turbocharged and paired with a Wavetrac limited-slip differential, it produces 550 horsepower.
The exterior adopts a Porsche 356 Outlaw-style replica body with billet alloy hinges and handles, plastic wheel-arch liners, and leather clubman seats on custom rails. The build remains incomplete, needing window glass, a rear screen, and an engine cover before road use. This unique fusion of classic aesthetics and modern mechanics is available through an eBay auction in the UK.
