The Allen Brothers

Extract from the December 7, 1988 issue of Autocar & Motor magazine





"We had seen a fellow in a fabric-bodied Austin Seven Chummy driving past occasionally," recalls Michael, "but one day he stopped. This was Colin, and he looked at our Austin Seven. "It's too heavy, you must alter it. You're going to race it, aren't you?" We had not intention of racing it, but before we knew it we had been talked into a plan of building three cars, one each, for the 750 Formula. His would be the fastest because he had a special tweak he wanted to do to the engine.



"Looking back on it, Colin obviously couldn't believe his eyes. Here were two chaps with all these facilities who were keen to have a go. I suppose we were receptive to his suggestions, and he was a very persuasive and pleasant character. Before he left he wrote his name, address and phone number on the wall. Unless the garage has been painted, the writing must still be there."



The Allens' facilities must have looked magnificent to Chapman. At that time he was working in a lock-up, without power, behind the house belonging to his girl friend's parents. He had met Hazel Williams at a Hornsey Town Hall dance when he was 16, and until he joined up with the Allen brothers her family's help had been vital to him in building his two trials specials. By the time he met Michael and Nigel, he had sold the Lotus MkI (advertised at 135 pounds) and MkII (325 pounds) to finance his MkII project.

Early in 1951, the Lotus trio began work on modifying three chassis. They had gone as far as buying three engines and gearboxes when they realized that time was running out before the start of the 750 Formula season. They decided to concentrate on one car - the one subsequently registered LMU 3 - and share it at the early races until the other two cars were ready. It may have taken more time than expected, but LMU 3 was put together very cheaply. Michael and Nigel still have the ledger itemizing all expenses, under "N & N" for the two of them and "C" for Colin. At the bottom the total cost is given as 66p 3s 7d ($100) with a set of Lockheed drums brakes (from a Morris Minor) the most expensive item at 15 pounds.



"It took us the whole season to get just one car finished," says Nigel. "Our two cars were never going well, and suddenly he would think of all sorts of improvements. It took all our efforts. We did so much that we never really knew whether or not we were improving the car, but every time it came to the line people would flock to see what the latest changes were. Colin could never settle with it - there always had to be something better so that we would win by an even bigger margin. He even fiddled around with nitro-benzine in the fuel!"

"He always sounded as if he knew what he was doing, and we never knew any better. To us it was all a bit of an adventure. It became a full-time task for us during the week after a race just to rebuild the car, because it was worn out after we had all driven it at a meeting. Colin helped in the evenings when he got home from his job at British Aluminum, but it was only because Michael and I had time during the day that we kept the whole thing going."

Chapman really ran the show, but there was proper division of responsibilities. Michael handled all engine work, Nigel looked after welding and the chassis, and Colin was in charge of the bodywork as well as general design and development. According to the Allens, "design and development" involved Chapman sitting on what they dubbed the "Mediation Box" scrawling things in a spiral bound pad labeled "Big Notes". They still have "Big Notes", and leafing through its grubby pages shows lots of tiny engineering drawings and huge lists of "things to do".

"At one meeting I ran a big end in practice," says Michael. "Here it is in the race record book - Eight Clubs, Silverstone, 2 June, I remember Colin saying that we had to start the next race, because it was a big one for the 750 Formula. 'Got to start, got to start. Come on, get the engine out,' he shouted. In about an hour, we took the head and block off, removed the con rod and piston, put it all back together and got into the race. Looking back on it, actually, all we needed to have done was take the plug out! Colin had a half mile lead in the race when he broke the crankshaft."

"Then at one hillclimb, Shelsley Walsh I think, Colin clouted a bank and ruined a wheel. Of course, we didn't have a spare one with us, but we had to drive home again. Colin disappeared, and came back later with a wheel. He had found an inoffensive little schoolmaster sitting in his Austin Seven fabric saloon watching the action. Colin conned this man into giving him his spare 19 inch wheel, which was rather ridiculous as LMU 3 ran on 15 inch wheels. We wobbled home like that."


Fun thought it all was, exhaustion often set in. On one occasion Nigel fell asleep at the wheel of LMU 3 while being towed home after yet another breakage. Although totally committed to her boyfriend's hobby, Hazel also demanded a break before the season finished. Colin did a hillclimb at Prescott, and then the two them drove LMU 3 northwards for a week in Scotland, traveling very light. The car even broke up there, for Nigel and Michael remember Chapman returning to Vallance Road with the car on the back of a lorry - he never explained what had happened.



At the end of 1951, Lotus' reputation was bringing in the first customers. Larger premises had to be found to cope with manufacturing on any scale, so Colin persuaded his father, Stanley, to let them convert a stable behind his pub, the Railway Hotel in Tottenhame Lane, Hornsey. The floor was concreted, 12 volt light bulbs powered by an old US army generator were slung from the roof and Chapman sidelined some doors and frames for British Aluminum.

The Lotus Engineering Co Ltd was formed on 1 January 1952. Deciding that dentistry was not for him, Michael ran the company day to day while Chapman continued his job at British Aluminum, but Nigel pulled out of a full time commitment to concentrate on his studies.