1981 Lotus Eclat 2.2

[anonymous-user]

I can almost detect a whiff of the great smell of Brut from the collar.

[anonymous-user]

Might even be Old Spice. If the dude pulled some paddock hottie, the jacket would perhaps smell of Charlie.

[anonymous-user]

Head for the plume of smoke! If you are lucky you may spot my neighbour's way cooler and not usually on fire Lancia Montecarlo.

[anonymous-user]

Does the CX have a Thread? Come and laugh at the Lotus or whichever heap is in use at any given moment.

[anonymous-user]

Fourteen or fifteen inch wheels were bigass in those days.

This car has been neglected and bodged over several years, and my mech is gradually discovering and unravelling the bodges, but the electrics are a bit wahey. At present most things are working.

[anonymous-user]

Earthing is a pain with plastic cars. On this one there was lots of back to front wiring. For example the pop up lights had been wired backwards. My Dolomite also had lots of rubbish wiring, now sorted by mech.

I had no clue that there were Lotus pushbikes. I see that it was an American company from the 80s. I assume that Lotus Cars had not protected the name Lotus in relation to wheeled transport devices in the US.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 9th November 15:47

[anonymous-user]

Biker's Nemesis said:

I had this set when I was a youngster in the mid 1970's

Now expensive on eBay!

[anonymous-user]

wobert said:

Ex-Lotus Engineering chap here....

Make sure you drive from the A11 to Potash Lane along Wymondham Road.

It’s been slightly realigned since they upgraded the A11, but during my time at Hethel it was used as the primary road for Ride and Handling development.....

Nice Eclat BTW... :-)

Thanks! I shall aim to do that. Please tell us Lotus tales.

[anonymous-user]

Wowza!

[anonymous-user]

Here's a Series 1 Eclat with a JPS scheme and an, er, ambitious price tag -

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C860004

[anonymous-user]

He smokee good spliffee.

[anonymous-user]

Or try an expensive Series 2 Elite -

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C925456

[anonymous-user]

I reckon more like 5K to 8K.

[anonymous-user]

The Eclat is enjoying Norfolk, and has hooned much. I overtook an M3 yesterday and, as is not uncommon when you overtake a modern hot car in an old wreck, the driver was miffed by this, tailgated and re overtook a bit later. Ho ho ho.

The lights have not been upgraded - they are quite meh, so this precludes driving like a wazzock after dark. Sadly I failed to see a smsll owl in the road in time and squished it, which made me sad.

[anonymous-user]

A 1981 review of the Series 2 Eclat -

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/...

The comments about rearward visibility and parking difficulty are accurate. The rearward visibility from a Europa Twin Cam or Special is much better than that from an Eclat. The Eclat is longish as well. Parallel parking it is a bit of a faff, but at least the steering is light.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 12th November 07:50

[anonymous-user]

The car made it back to London from Norfolk without incident, save for me clonking a curb through ineptitude. The fan fail light comes on if I go above 80, so maybe it is a "slow down you tosser" light.

I shall try to allow time next trip for posing by the factory gates at Hethel.

[anonymous-user]

An interior shot that shows my shiny knob.

[anonymous-user]

Probably a small round wooden one when new. When I first got the car it had a horrid modern leather thing, pictured on page 1 of this thread. The chromy one was an eBay splurge.

[anonymous-user]

A more sensible price for an Elite -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1978-Lotus-Elite-503/31...

[anonymous-user]

Romanian car care -