Lotus Elan & Plus 2 Paint Colors Guide

These colors were available on early S1 Elans from October 1962 but were never assigned a Lotus color code. They were borrowed from other British manufacturers.

Chip	Color	Dates	Origin	Nexa Code
	Medici Blue	Oct 1962 onwards	Standard Triumph (ref 378TR)	3192
	Carmen Red	Oct 1962 onwards	Jaguar	3097
	Fiesta Yellow	Oct 1962 onwards	Austin	YL11
	Sunburst Yellow	Oct 1962 onwards	Ford; also used on the Elite	—
	Monaco Red	1965–1966	Ford; used on late S2/early S3 Elans and the Alan Mann racers	—

All officially coded Lotus paint colors used across the Elan and Plus 2 range.

Chip	Code	Color	Dates	Models	Notes
	L01	British Racing Green	Oct 1962 – Oct 1970	Elan S1–S4	Originally a Jaguar color; Jaguar used three BRG variants in the 1960s
	L02	French Blue	Mid 1967 – Oct 1970	Elan S3–S4
	L03	Wedgewood Blue	Mid 1967 – Oct 1968	Elan S3
	L04	Cirrus White	Oct 1962 – Oct 1973	Elan S1–Sprint, Plus 2	Unique to Lotus; also an Elite color. Used in Gold Leaf scheme
	L05	Carnival Red	Mid 1967 – Jul 1973	Elan S3–Sprint, Plus 2	Gold Leaf scheme color. Most popular Sprint color (23%)
	L06	Burnt Sand	Mid 1967 – Oct 1970	Elan S3–S4
	L07	Lotus Yellow	Mid 1967 – 1979	Elan S3–Sprint, Plus 2	One of the longest-lived colors. Second most popular Sprint (18%)
	L08	Matt Black	Jan 1967 onwards	All (non-body)	Engine bay, boot, sill, air boxes. Bourne-bodied S1s were grey
	L09	Royal Blue	Oct 1968 – Oct 1970	Elan S4
	L10	Bahama Yellow	Oct 1968 – Oct 1970	Elan S4
	L11	Regency Red	Oct 1970 onwards	Elan Sprint, Plus 2	Listed as “Maroon” in factory brochure
	L12	Lagoon Blue (Metallic)	Oct 1970 – 1974	Elan Sprint, Plus 2	Listed as “Metallic Blue” in factory brochure
	L13	Pistachio Lime Green	Oct 1970 – Jul 1973	Elan Sprint, Plus 2	Listed as “Lime Green” in factory brochure
	L14	Colorado Orange	Oct 1970 – Oct 1972	Elan Sprint	Listed as “Light Orange” in factory brochure
	L15	Black Gloss	Sep 1972 onwards	Elan (special order), Plus 2 JPS	Not an official Sprint color; used for wheels
	L16	Tawny Brown (Metallic)	Oct 1972 – Jan 1974	Elan Sprint, Plus 2	Originally a Ford color
	L17	Mid Green (Metallic)	Jul 1973 – Oct 1973	Plus 2	Originally a Renault color
	L18	Glacier Blue (Metallic)	Jul 1973 – Oct 1973	Plus 2
	L19	Sable	Oct 1972 – 1976	Plus 2	Sometimes called “Siberian”
	L20	Indigo Blue	Oct 1972 – Jul 1973	Plus 2
	L21	Purple (Metallic)	Oct 1973 – 1976	Plus 2	Sometimes called “Roman Purple”
	L22	Bitter Green	Oct 1973 onwards	Plus 2
	L23	Sepia Brown	Oct 1973 – Mar 1974	Plus 2
	L24	Firecracker (Red)	Oct 1973 – Jan 1974	Plus 2
	L25	Monaco White	Oct 1973 – 1982	Plus 2	One of the longest-lived colors
	L26	Olympic Blue	Oct 1973 onwards	Plus 2
	—	Laurel Green	1974	Plus 2	Late Plus 2 color, rare, no Lotus code. Possibly metallic

Non-body finishes used on specific components.

The Lotus “L” prefix codes indicate nitro-cellulose paint. Two suppliers originally provided paint to the Lotus factory:

• Pinchin, Johnson: Later taken over by Courtaulds and merged into International Paint.
• ICI: ICI Paints was taken over by Nexa Autocolor, which is now a brand of PPG.

Modern Paint Matching Services

Full cross-reference of Lotus codes to supplier paint codes, useful when ordering paint for restoration.