RE: Lotus Carlton: Spotted

[Philv8s]

I would take an Alpina B10 bi turbo of the same age. Faster and more subtle,

[Welshbeef]

Aes87 said:

Seriously that is a lot of money for an ugly car. Who cares if it drives well if it has that face. I wouldn't buy it for 2 grand because it wouldn't be worthy of the space

Well if they sell for £15-25k then you’d be batst crazy not to buy one for £2k and flip it.

[markcoznottz]

skeeterm5 said:

Wildcat45 said:

I I guess it's down to who owns what. Was Lotus owned by GM in the days of the Carlton?

The gearbox, 6 speed, is from a Corvette, so yes I guess so.

The throw is quite long and the clutch is super heavy which makes extended driving in reallly bad traffic a pain, literally a pain in your left leg.

S

'They are all like that sir'. We looked after a few in the early 90's. Customer would complain gearbox was noisy, ZF would send new box out on pallet. New gearbox noisier than the one it was replacing.

[phumy]

markcoznottz said:

skeeterm5 said:

Wildcat45 said:

I I guess it's down to who owns what. Was Lotus owned by GM in the days of the Carlton?

The gearbox, 6 speed, is from a Corvette, so yes I guess so.

The throw is quite long and the clutch is super heavy which makes extended driving in reallly bad traffic a pain, literally a pain in your left leg.

S

'They are all like that sir'. We looked after a few in the early 90's. Customer would complain gearbox was noisy, ZF would send new box out on pallet. New gearbox noisier than the one it was replacing.

Except they were not ZF gearboxes

[skeeterm5]

phumy said:

Except they were not ZF gearboxes

erm.... I believe that they were.

It is the same six-speed manual ZF transmission as fitted to a Corvette ZR-1 with a rear limited-slip differential from the V8 Holden Commodore.

Edited by skeeterm5 on Sunday 8th July 17:46

[unsprung]

if you're a petrolhead and not from the UK [raises hand] there is a particular moment when you discover the Lotus Carlton and the incredible stories -- like from a movie -- that accompany this car

it all happened not too long ago, mind, but the principles involved are reminiscent of outlaw events of the 19th century or Depression Era Chicago

the bad guys get away and they do so multiple times

there is a discernible amount of notoriety which gives rise to a cheering section of sorts in some quarters of the public

the police not only "lose" but they are somewhat humiliated because their kit is no equal

there is no hacking, no remote use of clever software; it's all "we have a faster horse"

and I reckon that words like "notorious" and "lauded" as mentioned in the PH article are spot on

[Welshbeef]

Isn’t it factually faster than most of the super saloons of today (as they are limited) kudos

[ericmcn]

nice rare car but struggle to see anyone but the most hard core fans paying that much for one when more modern cars can be bought, a 3.8 Twin turbo gtr or a Lotus Carlton... hmmm

[Doofus]

ericmcn said:

nice rare car but struggle to see anyone but the most hard core fans paying that much for one when more modern cars can be bought, a 3.8 Twin turbo gtr or a Lotus Carlton... hmmm

That's because some people don't 'get' classic cars.

It's also why people here are saying they wouldn't buy one because the dashboard is old-fashioned.

[djdest]

Those 6 figure ones have been for sale for years, by years I mean pretty much decades!

[beigepants]

This one sold for just under £40k in April, which seems a much fairer price:

https://online.handh.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/cat...

[JMF894]

Welshbeef said:

blade7 said:

Even if I won a Euromillions rollover I don't think there'd be a place in my car warehouse for a LC. I'm glad Vauxhall built them, and I was suitably impressed back in the day, but they should have stuck the Vette engine in too.

So €180m in he bank and you’d still not buy one? That’s some dislike of it

Why would you buy a Vauxhall Carlton if you had £180m in the bank? I mean ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION!

[Welshbeef]

JMF894 said:

Why would you buy a Vauxhall Carlton if you had £180m in the bank? I mean ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION!

Why does Ant McPartlain Drive a Mini Clubman Cooper D when he has c£60m in the bank?


Anyway if I had €180m there’s a long list of cars I’d love to own (& would) but I doubt I’d have more than 5 at any one time. I doubt the Lotus Carlton would be in the first tranche of 5 but I’m sure it would be at some point.

[markymarkthree]

Had one on the drive the other day, I wouldn't normally allow a non Ford on the drive but the owner also owns a MK3 Cortina.

[markcoznottz]

skeeterm5 said:

phumy said:

Except they were not ZF gearboxes

erm.... I believe that they were.

It is the same six-speed manual ZF transmission as fitted to a Corvette ZR-1 with a rear limited-slip differential from the V8 Holden Commodore.

Edited by skeeterm5 on Sunday 8th July 17:46

You can confirm this being an owner. Same box as in the twin supercharged vantage of similar era. Not the slickest piece of kit but very strong. There probably wasn't the choice back then off the shelf. The Sierra cosworth used a mustang t5 box which again was like something out the ark.

[skeeterm5]

markcoznottz said:

You can confirm this being an owner. Same box as in the twin supercharged vantage of similar era. Not the slickest piece of kit but very strong. There probably wasn't the choice back then off the shelf. The Sierra cosworth used a mustang t5 box which again was like something out the ark.

Yep, I happen to own an LC.

[jnoiles]

blade7 said:

Even if I won a Euromillions rollover I don't think there'd be a place in my car warehouse for a LC. I'm glad Vauxhall built them, and I was suitably impressed back in the day, but they should have stuck the Vette engine in too.

I'm with you on this. See the Aussie equivalent here: http://performancedrive.com.au/sale-immaculate-199...

Mmm.

[Huskyman]

blade7 said:

Even if I won a Euromillions rollover I don't think there'd be a place in my car warehouse for a LC. I'm glad Vauxhall built them, and I was suitably impressed back in the day, but they should have stuck the Vette engine in too.

I remember reading an article where there was a competition between the two teams at Lotus who where developing the ZR1 engine and the 3.6 engine from the LC who could get the most power and torqur. The team developing the LC engine won...
375 vs 377 bhp

Edited by Huskyman on Sunday 8th July 23:00

[blade7]

Huskyman said:

I remember reading an article where there was a competition between the two teams at Lotus who where developing the ZR1 engine and the 3.6 engine from the LC who could get the most power and torqur. The team developing the LC engine won...
375 vs 377 bhp

I think the V8 would have sounded better.

[bloomen]

If Integrales, M3s and Cosworths can fetch this money, then surely this can.

I well and truly do not believe any of them are worth anywhere near the prices they ask these days, but what I think don't matter.