Frank G. Nichols founded Elva in 1955 at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, with early operations in nearby Hastings; the name comes from the French elle va, “she goes”. His first cars were light, front-engined sports-racers, the Mk I to Mk III, usually with Coventry Climax engines, followed by the Mk IV and V with independent rear suspension and spaceframe chassis.
The Courier, introduced in 1958, was Elva’s main road car, a small two-seater sold in several versions with various engines. After financial problems Elva moved to Rye in 1961, and in 1962 Trojan bought the rights to the Courier and moved its production to Croydon. Elva’s rear-engined Mk VI to VIII sports-racers of the 1960s were successful in racing, including BMW-engined versions and the Elva-Porsche, which won the Road America 500 in 1963, and Elva also built Formula Junior single-seaters.
With Trojan, Elva built customer versions of Bruce McLaren’s early sports-racing cars, sold as McLaren-Elvas. Courier production passed to Ken Sheppard Customised Sports Cars before ending in 1968.
