Actually I've always believed it might have inspired David when he sat down to design the orginal Imperial Courier. Although the present one in Elite looks nice and all I will always prefer the original model.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=19025&d=1432781247
And the rework by Gernot Schrader (this Swiss/German guy is still looking for work by the way for any that are interested) that was once available in the free Space Sim Pioneer long ago and still is in the latest FFE3D build..
https://www.gamedev.net/uploads/gallery/album_193/gallery_184247_193_310980.jpg
Happy days. It's beautiful