The Lotus XI was originally released in 1958 as No.151, this is the later release 151a. In 1961 Corgi re-released all the racing cars from the previous few years with an 'a' or 's' suffix on the model number. This was to denote the addition of suspension and or interior detail and a driver figure. They were never able to fit suspension into this tiny model however, there just wasn't the space. You can tell the 151a from the 151 by the ends of the windscreen, the newer 151a has round pegs on the ends, the original 151 has rectangular pegs.

The 1961 release was either bright blue or lemon yellow, some of the blue cars have a racing stripe on the bonnet, but this does not affect value. It is the yellow cars which are scarcer and worth more. The car was deleted from the range in 1965.

SPRING SUSPENSION

RACING DRIVER