The “Birdcage Cleaner”

The Lotus 19 took sports car racing to a whole new level upon its debut in 1960, rendering rivals such as the Cooper Monaco and Maserati Birdcage obsolete overnight and leading photojournalist Pete Biro to label it the “Birdcage Cleaner.” A real “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” it was essentially a Lotus 18 Formula One car with the chassis widened to accommodate an extra seat, clothed in curvaceous all-enveloping bodywork. Michael Oliver profiles this rare beast, of which only a few genuine examples survive today.

The Lotus 19 “Monte Carlo,” given its tongue-in-cheek moniker by company founder Colin Chapman to mimic Cooper’s successful Monaco, was the first rear-engined Lotus sports car. Like the Monaco and the Lister-Jaguar before it, the 19 wasn’t really designed with endurance racing in mind, but for rather shorter, nonchampionship, international and national races instead.