Lotus Europa Irwin

[Kendo]

I'm on a new computer and was searching for this site and Googled "Lotus Europa Irwin", which did find it, but google AI helpfully summarized/hallucinated as follows:

"The Lotus Europa Irwin was the first new Lotus model to be made after the company moved from Cheshunt to Hethel in 1966. It was designed with a backbone chassis based on the Elan, and was only sold in mainland Europe. The Europa was a pioneering mid-engine sports car with a twin-cam engine, and was the ancestor of the Elise."

So now you know, there was a Lotus model not named with an "E" at the beginning

[BDA]

I'd never heard of an Lotus Irwin! You learn something new everyday!

I'd be interested to learn how the 'E' names happened. I believe the first was the Elite and after that, they kind of stayed with 'E' names. Prior to that, they were all numbered.

[Gary_t]

I thought it was the Eleven that marked the start of "E" names. I guess that also matches with your 'prior to that, all were numbered'.

[BDA]

Eleven is no only a number but it starts with 'E'! I can't argue with your logic!   

[Bainford]

AI scares me.

Regarding the 'E' names, I've always been curious, too. What's the significance?

[4129R]

Eleven is no only a number but it starts with 'E'! I can't argue with your logic!   

But that model was always called an "Eleven", not a "XI" or a "11". So it was an E name, not a number.

[TurboFource]

I found nothing searching for Lotus Irwin …. No cars anyway

[Kendo]

To be clear, there is no Lotus Irwin. That was a pure AI hallucination on Google’s part. While looking for this site on my new computer, I first searched “lotus Europa”, and got lots of irrelevant hits. So, remembering Joe Irwin hosts things here, I added “Irwin” to the search terms, which did find the site. So yay for that. But, Google being them, they HAVE to add AI to everything. And AI is happy to invent stuff based loosely on whatever is actually out there. So they made up a new Lotus model, which I thought was pretty funny. Plus, it honors the host of the best Europa site on the web.

[TurboFource]

That is funny! Was there a pic of the "Irwin"?

[BDA]

Eleven is no only a number but it starts with 'E'! I can't argue with your logic!   

But that model was always called an "Eleven", not a "XI" or a "11". So it was an E name, not a number.

That's a good point!