1984 Lotus Excel

[e21Mark]

I do like these but every time I see the interior it reminds me of DFS and Homebase!

[anonymous-user]

That is very much part of the charm. The cars feature some fine engineering, and some good materials technology (in the bodyshells), but the interiors were nailed together in a shed.

[anonymous-user]

Jonmx said:

It would seem your departed Excel's sister car is up for sale. Very similar vrm. Not that I've been browsing classifieds for old Lotuses I certainly can't afford or justify!

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/lotus/excel/21...

That is the car that I used to own. It's not at all a bad car in many ways, and has a particularly good bodyshell with very good paint; but the interior needs a total revamp. The photos do not show the extent of the fading and cracking. There are about fifty shades of beige going on. The seats are not torn, and the headlining isn't too bad, but you would need to redo (at least) the top of the dashboard, renew the door cards, change or refresh the carpets, and maybe think of recovering the seats. A pale leather interior would look good, but would be expensive.

The early Excels have a silly arrangement for the instruments and the steering wheel. The instruments are arranged for the two spoke steering wheel of the Eclats and Elites, but most Excels have what is called the "Personal" three spoke wheel, which is a better steering wheel than the two spoker, but it interferes with the view of the secondary dials. The later Excels have a rearranged instrument panel that works with the three spoke steering wheel.

[Jonmx]

Breadvan72 said:

That is the car that I used to own. It's not at all a bad car in many ways, and has a particularly good bodyshell with very good paint; but the interior needs a total revamp. The photos do not show the extent of the fading and cracking. There are about fifty shades of beige going on. The seats are not torn, and the headlining isn't too bad, but you would need to redo (at least) the top of the dashboard, renew the door cards, change or refresh the carpets, and maybe think of recovering the seats. A pale leather interior would look good, but would be expensive.

The early Excels have a silly arrangement for the instruments and the steering wheel. The instruments are arranged for the two spoke steering wheel of the Eclats and Elites, but most Excels have what is called the "Personal" three spoke wheel, which is a better steering wheel than the two spoker, but it interferes with the view of the secondary dials. The later Excels have a rearranged instrument panel that works with the three spoke steering wheel.

Ah, I thought it had a different letter at the end of the plate! Obviously my eyes aren't as good as they used to be.
Not too many years ago I used to work near an independent Lotus specialist and there was always a steady stream of Europas, Excels, Elites etc coming past.Ever since then I've always fancied one. Sadly it'll be a while before I get to scratch that articular automotive itch.