The graphic below shows the key locations of Lotus founder
Colin Chapman's life in late 1940s post
WW2 North London and the sites
around Alexandra Palace, where the very first of his car designs
were born - click on the map photos on the
left or the corresponding building photos on the right to
explore...
click
here for a route around all the locations above on google
maps
Any visitors should, of course, be respectful of
the private homes and businesses now at these
addresses
The Chapman family home at 42/44 Beech Drive is shown here, with
Colin on the left with luggage in the car, and his father, Stan
Chapman, below
Roll over the photos for colour
versions and click to enlarge
Click the photo
strip below for a gallery of the house in 2023
Colin started buying and selling small cars in the 1940s with
his friend from the London Universty, Colin Dare, but the market
collapsed with the post war petrol rationing of 1947
- he managed to sell all his cars but one remained, a 1930
Austin Seven, and this was to form subject of a project which he
would work on in the garage to the rear of his girlfriend
Hazel's house
The steep driveway to the side of Hazel Chapman nee
Williams's house at 244 Alexandra Park Road led up to an area of
garages behind the property and it was here in 1948 that Colin
Chapman built a open two seater 750cc trials special, with the
Austin Seven's bodywork replaced with one constructed from
aluminium and marine plywood
Click the photo strip below for a gallery of the house
and garages in 2023
Chapman fitted the car with an uprated Ford 1172cc engine and
new bodywork in 1950 and the name "Lotus" was used
for the first time, when this car was dubbed the Lotus
Mk I, as the blue plaque in the gallery above shows
Hazel sits in the Lotus Mk1 in front of the garage above left -
the still above right from the video below of the house,
driveway and garages, from 2023, clearly shows the exact
location - In 2023 Clive and Jane, Colin
and Hazel's son and daughter, took the marvelous Lotus Mk1
recreation car, which was produced by Clive's Classic Team
Lotus, to the location of this garage - Roll over the
righthand image to superimpose and click on the left image for
a side by side photo
Work on the Lotus Mk3 was started at Alexandra Park Road but
this was moved to the larger garage workshop of the
the parents of brothers Nigel and Michael Allen, who also
had an Austin Seven Special, nearby at 104 Vallance
Road
The photo on the right shows an Austin 7 parked
outside the Allen brothers' house at 104 Vallance Road, with
what looks like the removable starting handle engaged below the
radiator
Roll over the photos on the left and below for colour versions from 2023 and click to enlarge
The Allen brothers were also both students and they worked
with Colin Chapman in developing and preparing cars for racing
events
The video below shows the house and garages in 2023
Click the image on the right for an enlightening article from
Autocar & Motor in the Allen
Brothers early involvement with Colin Chapman
The Railway Hotel at 7 Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, which was owned
by Colin's father, Stan Chapman, had a stable building to the
right and the operations were moved to here in the early
1950s
The Railway Hotel changed names quite a few times over the
years but appears on the left before modern changes were made
Click the photo strip below for a gallery of the factory site in 2023
After WW2 steel was still in short supply and Progress welded
the chassises using scrap metal for brackets and the
original Lotus Mk6 jig was reputedly constructed from and old
cast iron bedstead
The image on the right shows a completed 1954 Lotus Mk8 being wheeled down Ribblesdale Road towards the Lotus factory
Roll over the photo below for a 2023
colour version and click to enlarge
Once completed, each chassis was carried by hand by two
employees from the Progress workshop in Ribblesdale Road to the
Lotus works in Tottenham Lane, which was a mere 130 yards away,
as the map on the right shows
John Teychenne chose to end the chassis work for Lotus in
favour of his fruit machine business but only after over 1000
completed chassises had been supplied
Lotus eventually moved away from the space frame approach
to a backbone chassis design but Unirad and Arch
Motors filled in the supply until then
The photos on the left and below show 19 Ribblesdale Road in
2023
