Lotus was founded in 1951 by Colin Chapman and over many decades has produced a long succession of road-going sports cars, many beginning with the letter ‘E’.  The company has also had great success in many fields of motorsport, particularly in winning the F1 World Championship six times, twice with Jim Clark who also won the Indy 500 in 1965 in a Lotus.  After Colin Chapman’s death in 1982, the firm has changed hands several times with the current owners being the Chinese company Geely.  (Photo above shows Graham Hill’s 1958 Lotus 12 and Jim Clark’s Championship-winning Lotus 25 from 1963.)