Lotus Tasmin. eh?
Discussion
I found this on the general page. Has anyone every heard of this before? The Tasmin is a Lotus?
Hexhamhc said:
How about the fact that the Tasmin was going to be a Lotus designed car built in Austria by redundant mineworkers!! This is true apparently, Colin Chapman was asked by the Austrian Government to come up with a design for a car that could be contructed over there. They were closing some of their mines down and wanted to be able to re-deploy the workforce. I have copies of correspondence between the Austrian Gov. and Lotus and some pics of an original scale model of the car as proposed, all via an engineer who worked at Hethel at the time. Obviously something happened and the deal didn't go through, Lotus sidestepped the car and it pitched up to ML in Bristol Avenue, and the rest as they say, is history!
Lots of other trivia stored away after nearly 33 years of selling these cars! Just need to get the old grey matter working a bit harder....
Best regards to all, Tony
Lots of other trivia stored away after nearly 33 years of selling these cars! Just need to get the old grey matter working a bit harder....
Best regards to all, Tony
...A Tasmin lotus..."Hi..I drive a lotus Tasmin"...."HI..I drive a Tasmin lotus".."Bloody yuppies"....
mrzigazaga said:
Was it this chap by any chance?...I found him scribbling on the back of my wedge in ettington car park last year...Although he was very drunk at the time...Turn's out he was a right decent fellow...
Oliver is a real gent. He had some very funny stories to tell at BBWF12. Rob
GinG15 said:
... the road-holding from an Tasmin compared to a Lotus is like comparing the Titanic with a Speed-Boat.
Amen to that, brother. My mate has a '76 Elite that hasn't seen the road in a while but when we compared it to my Tasmin the Lotus rod nad handled much better.Then I bought an Esprit S3: unfair comparison perhaps (though the trailing-arm rear end was still there, albeit with a top link and CVs) but it would run rings round my 390SE and often felt faster on certain roads, though that may be subjective...
Maybe, Mr. Winterbottom hasn't given us the full story and left out a few bits and pieces that TVR Wedge owners may not want to hear. If so, he has the makings of a good politician. Well, all I can say is it's Christmas time, and it's winter, so let's pour ourselves a drink and it's bottoms up!!! Merry Christmas.
Tony. TCB.
Tony. TCB.
Tasmin200 said:
Yes I knew about Oliver Winterbottom and his Lotus connection, but what Tony is saying in his post is that the Tasmin was conceived as a Lotus then passed to TVR. I didn’t know that.
It was't just a case of stripping off the LOTUS badge and putting the TVR one on instead.RCK974X said:
If true, I wonder what engine they originally had in mind. Not that there's anything wrong with the 2.8, it just doesn't seem like the type of engine Lotus would choose.
When it was the Zante and TVR regularly used Triumph 6s it had a Triumph 6. When it was a TVR and TVR reularly used Ford V6s it had a V6, so at a wild guess when it was a LOTUS and L only had one engine...The thing that always suprises me about the wedge cars is the suspension set up. Everything else is a development of earlier TVRs (chassis, engine etc.) but the suspension (grabbed from Ford and Jag-ish) was completely new, bore no relation to previous or subsequent TVRs and didn't work particularly well.
a few from from the photo shoot in car and classic sports car.
Thats back when I first picked her up and theres been a lot of work putting her back to original in the last 3 years!!!
http://s860.beta.photobucket.com/user/hallsie/libr...
Stu
Thats back when I first picked her up and theres been a lot of work putting her back to original in the last 3 years!!!
http://s860.beta.photobucket.com/user/hallsie/libr...
Stu
TA14 said:
When it was the Zante and TVR regularly used Triumph 6s it had a Triumph 6. When it was a TVR and TVR reularly used Ford V6s it had a V6, so at a wild guess when it was a LOTUS and L only had one engine...
The thing that always suprises me about the wedge cars is the suspension set up. Everything else is a development of earlier TVRs (chassis, engine etc.) but the suspension (grabbed from Ford and Jag-ish) was completely new, bore no relation to previous or subsequent TVRs and didn't work particularly well.
What that slant 4 DOHC 2 (2.2) litre one ? I'm not convinced it will fit... (Yeah, I know it's my obsession at the moment) and let's face it, the TR6 setup had its weaknesses too. The thing that always suprises me about the wedge cars is the suspension set up. Everything else is a development of earlier TVRs (chassis, engine etc.) but the suspension (grabbed from Ford and Jag-ish) was completely new, bore no relation to previous or subsequent TVRs and didn't work particularly well.
Adrian@ said:
It really would of helped it the 'Cortina/Granada' suspension had been put on the right way round, when it was designed.
Adrian@
Amen to that - especially noting that TVR did attempt to fix it later (and the rear end too).Adrian@
RCK974X said:
What that slant 4 DOHC 2 (2.2) litre one ? I'm not convinced it will fit...
Rumour has it that the Lotus twincam was intended to have a V8 variant...The 'old' Lotus twincam was a Lotus head on a Ford bottom end, and Colin Chapman offered the head designer a choice: either a flat payment (£100 rings a bell) for his work, or a royalty for every engine they sold. He took the cash, not convinced that Lotus would ever sell many.
Several years later, when some commemorative model (10,000th?) of the Lotus Cortina rolled out of Ford's, he asked Chapman if he could change his mind...
DavidY said:
And don't forget the Zante!!
One design, chopped up, and sold to Lotus and TVR!!!
It's not that simple though: Ferrari and Lamborghini already had cars with the broad wedge shape so it was a case of going with the stylistic flow. Hence the TR7. And the Princess, but I shall now wash my keyboard out with soap and water One design, chopped up, and sold to Lotus and TVR!!!
Oliver W. had already worked on the E-cars for Lotus when TVR asked him if they could get on the bandwagon, so he drew on what he knew (and had already drawn
) so of course the shape is similar.Even Giugiaro didn't get it completely right, as Lotus had to change the windscreen rake of the prototype Esprit to make it work. And that prototype itself drew on other work that had gone before...
I have had several Lotus Eclat/Elite in my younger days when these cars were still newish, and though they look good and hold the road well, the performance is a let down. The V8 Wedge on the other hand, especially the upper models, the performance is awesome as is the muscle rumble from the engine. Having owned both, if I were offered either car the Wedge would win every time, no question. The Jaguar e-type had awful road holding especially in the wet. It performed well but lacked the spots sound and feel, but look how desirable that is now. Yet, in the days I had an V12 e-type jointly with my brother and we couldn't give it away. 'Gas Guzzler' everyone called it.
Sorry, gentlemen, for me it's the V8 Wedge every time, though I do have a soft spot for the e-type, but Elite/Eclat, I don,t miss them at all.
Tony. TCB.
Sorry, gentlemen, for me it's the V8 Wedge every time, though I do have a soft spot for the e-type, but Elite/Eclat, I don,t miss them at all.
Tony. TCB.
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