RE: Lotus Carlton: Spotted
Discussion
king spectacular. Bravo sir!
Krikkit said:
Appreciate it was a cracking car in its day, but why would you but one of these over an E39 M5 or Jag XJR?
You either understand why or you don't. For me I could put a pretty large list as to why but somehow I fear you just wouldn't understand, which is fine, there's plenty of choice out there for car people.
One of these sat on a driveway near me, hiding behind an audi quattro. Owner doesn't drive them as far as I can tell, and they seem to be going the same way as the mk1 golf shaped rust sculpture, also on the drive.
Saw a lowloader outside with a classic rolls Royce on it, seemed the guys were enquiring about the carlton or quattro, but the cars are still there so he can't of been interested in selling for whatever they were offering.
Shame to see them rotting, would love to speak to him about them one day.
Saw a lowloader outside with a classic rolls Royce on it, seemed the guys were enquiring about the carlton or quattro, but the cars are still there so he can't of been interested in selling for whatever they were offering.
Shame to see them rotting, would love to speak to him about them one day.
StephenGalley said:
Great cars, I always loved these, the performance was incredible for the day. I loved the GSi 3000 24v too.
This Performance Car article from nearly 30 years back summed it up really
First one I saw out on the road "performing " as it were, was Dalian Atkinson's car. It was like a video where it had been sped up compared to the cars it overtook
This-isnt-real said:
The LC was the car that the Daily Mail whipped its readers into a frenzy over.
Jasper Carrott had one and even did a skit about it
When the motoring Press described the LC as "fastest production family saloon" I believe it was the Carrott who said -"What family, the Fittipaldis?"Jasper Carrott had one and even did a skit about it
The car is such a (British
) legend there are so many tales about them. Sadly, mostly below the radar outside of us motoring nutters.I met a chap with a 911 who used to go to Porsche track days & a pal asked if he could have a go in his Porsche at the next one. His was sold, awaiting collection so declined. The pal then asked if he thought he could take his own LC even though not a Porsche. Apparently he could & did, smoking all the Porsches & costing him a full set of tyres in the process.
I also recall a magazine write up of a test where the driver said he stood on the brakes ("pedal to the bulkhead stuff" he said) in the middle of a 100 mph bend. He said it pulled up as straight as a die absolutely no drama.
Krikkit said:
Appreciate it was a cracking car in its day, but why would you but one of these over an E39 M5 or Jag XJR?
Because an E39 M5, XKR or similarly mass produced cars just don't have the incredible WOW factor that one of these has. Yes the M5 and the Jag are very good cars and I can't fault them, but cars like the Lotus Carlton, RS2, B5 RS4, Lancia Delta Evo, 205 M16, Renault 5 Turbo 2 / Clio V6 (and a few others) had that perfect combination of motorsport pedigree, absolute rarity, outlandish looks, and crazy skunkworks engineering that you just don't seem to get in cars these days where a special edition 'this or that' is launched every other day it seems.All of the cars mentioned above (except the M5 or the Jag) have left themselves ingrained in my retina the first time I saw one, and I can still to this day remember the exact first time and place I saw an example of each of them on the road in the UK - or in the case of the Renault 5, in Dieppe, Northern France.
sprinter1050 said:
When the motoring Press described the LC as "fastest production family saloon" I believe it was the Carrott who said -"What family, the Fittipaldis?"
That part of the carrot show can be found in here https://youtu.be/qlbbkfD3IQU
Tiff tests the LC for Top Gear - I can't watch it as it makes me wince a little too much
Edited by B'stard Child on Sunday 14th January 11:54
ChemicalChaos said:
I remember back 3 years ago when these were £25k 
Or even 15k 3 years ago....https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/un...
so a top speed of 176mph and 377bhp got the Daily Wail hot under the collar back in 1990.
What do they make of the Audi RS6, BMW M5, Alpina B5 & Merc E63S, all of which are packing around 600bhp and, if derestricted, are knocking on the door of 200mph? All these cars with plenty of devices to stop the ham-fisted spinning them backwards through a hedge.
If anything, this serves as an excellent example of how much power we can realistically use without needing electronic nannies to cut power in normal circumstances to make the things driveable.
Hot hatches (AMG A45, RS3) are now pushing 400bhp - I wonder when, if ever, we'll stop chasing ultimate bhp.
What do they make of the Audi RS6, BMW M5, Alpina B5 & Merc E63S, all of which are packing around 600bhp and, if derestricted, are knocking on the door of 200mph? All these cars with plenty of devices to stop the ham-fisted spinning them backwards through a hedge.
If anything, this serves as an excellent example of how much power we can realistically use without needing electronic nannies to cut power in normal circumstances to make the things driveable.
Hot hatches (AMG A45, RS3) are now pushing 400bhp - I wonder when, if ever, we'll stop chasing ultimate bhp.
dmcrobin said:
VR6 Eug said:
To give an idea of how much these cost in 1991, I brought my 1st house that year and that was £33000 opposed to a car that cost £48000!
My friend brought one in 1997 for £21000 and its still in his garage now but with a blown head gasket and at the moment and no way of fixing it as that part isn't available anymore from anyone he's tried, lotus even have some cylinder heads for them left but no gaskets, if anyone knows how to get one made, a post on here would be appreciated thx
P.S. I believe one lotus carlton was silver, owned by the director of opel but I could be wrong
Exactly the reason I sold mine, couldn’t get a clutch for it unless I had one made, could get cam chains but no guides - I enjoyed owning it, had it for 5 years and about 15,000 Miles but couldn’t bear the thought that one day it’d break and it couldn’t be fixed because so many LC specific parts are completely unavailable, so I sold it.My friend brought one in 1997 for £21000 and its still in his garage now but with a blown head gasket and at the moment and no way of fixing it as that part isn't available anymore from anyone he's tried, lotus even have some cylinder heads for them left but no gaskets, if anyone knows how to get one made, a post on here would be appreciated thx
P.S. I believe one lotus carlton was silver, owned by the director of opel but I could be wrong
I believe with modern machining it is possible to have both faces so cleanly machined that you could work without a gasket....I may be talking rubbish though.
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