1981 Lotus Eclat 2.2
Discussion
Breadvan72 said:
I quite like it. Tell me more about yer fake uncle!
He looked twice as old as he should have looked, sure at the time he was 40 but looked 60. Always had a fag hanging out of his mouth.His wife drove a lovely little MG midget, she was a horror, I mean she looked ok, but the attitude was horrific. The house was semi-detached to my grans, there were constant rows and argueing.
He must be dead by now.
The car feels very light, quick and nimble.
The series 1 cars suffered from chassis rot, particularly at the rear. The series 2 cars (as this one is) have a galvanised chassis. Steel side bars inside the doors can rust, but the chassis and suspension parts tend to be OK. There is also a steel roll bar that doesn't rust as it has no exposure to air or damp. The fibreglass suffers from the usual minor cracking with age and stress, but the bodyshell is quite thick and strong. It was made from a then new process in two halves, bonded along the waist line.
This car looks good from ten feet, but close up it has flex cracking near the bonnet badge, light cracking near the C pillars, and scratches and scuffs here and there on the paintwork, but overall the paint is quite reasonable, especially on the roof and doors. It looks as though someone used the spoiler to rest things on as it is quite badly scratched on top.
The interior has worn well. One of the door cards has been changed I think, but the tweedy dash fabric and seats are good, apart from two small areas of wear on the driver's seat. The carpets are new within the last year. All dials and switches work, except for the rear interior light switch, and the fog light switch as been wired upside down. The car has a high pitched old fashioned sports car horn. The electrically driven pop up headlamps work, but when you flash them they flick up and down in sequence like a double wink.
The series 1 cars suffered from chassis rot, particularly at the rear. The series 2 cars (as this one is) have a galvanised chassis. Steel side bars inside the doors can rust, but the chassis and suspension parts tend to be OK. There is also a steel roll bar that doesn't rust as it has no exposure to air or damp. The fibreglass suffers from the usual minor cracking with age and stress, but the bodyshell is quite thick and strong. It was made from a then new process in two halves, bonded along the waist line.
This car looks good from ten feet, but close up it has flex cracking near the bonnet badge, light cracking near the C pillars, and scratches and scuffs here and there on the paintwork, but overall the paint is quite reasonable, especially on the roof and doors. It looks as though someone used the spoiler to rest things on as it is quite badly scratched on top.
The interior has worn well. One of the door cards has been changed I think, but the tweedy dash fabric and seats are good, apart from two small areas of wear on the driver's seat. The carpets are new within the last year. All dials and switches work, except for the rear interior light switch, and the fog light switch as been wired upside down. The car has a high pitched old fashioned sports car horn. The electrically driven pop up headlamps work, but when you flash them they flick up and down in sequence like a double wink.
PlayersNo6 said:
Love these. Cousin of mine had an Elite in white in the early 90s. That switchgear looks like it's from a TR7.
Currently reading a book on Chapman. Seems he wasn't all that interested in the roadcars, they were simply a means to fund his racing activities.
BL parts bin for sure, along with the Marina door handles. The door key has the BL swirl on it.Currently reading a book on Chapman. Seems he wasn't all that interested in the roadcars, they were simply a means to fund his racing activities.
I have heard the same about Chapman, and IIRC he tended to drive Mercs himself, but he occasionally popped up to change a detail to one of the road cars. The Series 2 Elites and Eclats were the last road cars that Chapman had any involvement in.
Breadvan72 said:
"Lotus Legends" (2010) quotes stylist Oliver Winterbottom as saying that Chapman designed the basic chassis and suspension arrangement of the Elite/Eclat.
Oliver W. lived opposite my folks in said period. As a nipper I can remember seeing him leave for work in his black/silver Lotus Sunbeam. He always looked miserable. Seeing that dash and parts bin switchgear I can see why. Love that steering wheel.
Breadvan72 said:
I gather that Chapman and his wife and various Lotus execs used Elites as daily transport, so it wasn't all Mercs. The car represented the aspirational lifestyle thing, I suppose, Chapman being by the mid 1970s a middle aged millionaire.
There was a lot of 'aspiring' going on at Hethel in the '70s. 
And 'perspiring' though that was usually just the workforce.
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