The Centaur Car Company Inc
The year is 1984, a longtime lover of things Lotus, David Ellery had been involved with the Australian Clubman series of racing at the wheel of his Lotus 7. Realizing the popularity of the marque, Ellery decides to design, manufacture, and sell his own version of the car. A graduate of the University of Sydney, with a degree in Engineering, Ellery sets about the task. Meanwhile, there is a similarly impassioned Englishman living in the United States by the name of David Frost. Frost is also a lover of Lotus and the possessor of a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ipswich College with a masters in Engineering from UCLA. Sounds like these two guys should get together. The partnership they formed was the Centaur Car Company based in Walnut California.
This duo took the original design and made a few minor changes. The single most notable exception is the monocoque frame. In the originals, the frame was a space frame design with aluminum panels riveted into position. Unfortunately, this frame design proved to be weak and unforgiving while the monocoque frame of the Centaur 7 is just the opposite. Bolted to the frame are fibreglass fenders, a glass hood, and traditional Lotus nose.
The car was sold in kit form and designed to use a Mazda Rotary Engine...this resulted in a vehicle weighing in at approx 1500 pounds, with upwards of 125 Horsepower.
The company closed and was disolved in 1986. David Ellery passed away in Florida in 1999.
