RE: Lotus Carlton | Spotted

[s m]

tomic said:

After the BMW E30 325i that sold at auction a couple of weeks ago for £51k this doesn’t seem that outrageous.


https://www.carthrottle.com/post/e30-bmw-325i-spor...

One that sticks in my mind is this Merc



I guess if you want a low miler bad enough then 300k is worth it.......

[Sandpit Steve]

V8fan said:

If you can see past the badge, 5th Gear compared one to a VXR8 in 2008. The newer Vauxhall was faster round a track, unsurprisingly, but not by much:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoCYrtcF3mg

And if you don't need 4 doors, a Monaro VXR can be had for much less.

Young Vicki had a good day out with those two on a damp track!

As others have said, an icon from nearly three decades ago, but not close to a £100k icon. Clearly too many of today’s fortysomethings had an LC poster on their bedroom wall!

[irocfan]

s m said:

One that sticks in my mind is this Merc



I guess if you want a low miler bad enough then 300k is worth it.......

Suddenly both the LC and RS2000 I mentioned earlier seem good value! At £300k that is just insane.

[s m]

irocfan said:

s m said:

One that sticks in my mind is this Merc



I guess if you want a low miler bad enough then 300k is worth it.......

Suddenly both the LC and RS2000 I mentioned earlier seem good value! At £300k that is just insane.

And that Merc, in turn, seems a steal compared to that old 911 Sportomatic that sold.....
Someone must have really wanted that!

[andyj007]

er its a vauxhall..... nuff said
never understood these cars.. heavy sallons not great looking either...
100k ta da..

[Mr Tidy]

Shakermaker said:

the best reader's car thread on the subject is this one

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Yes, I've read that thread and enjoyed every update!

There's just something completely bonkers about an LC - I'd love one.

I've only ever seen 2 in the real world, the first was when I was working away from home all week in 1991 and saw one going the other way - I nearly crashed my 1.8 Cavalier staring at it.

And this one is barely run-in - where do you find another? In a world of £25K+ Escort Mexicos, £40K MK2 RS2000s in Terracota and £50+K Sierra Cosworths it doesn't seem too absurd.

The 2nd time I saw one was at a PH meet 4 or 5 years ago - 3 cars together that would work for me in a Lottery win garage. Just need the Lottery win now.

[monzaxjr]

My dream car. I would take this above anything else.

[thiscocks]

s m said:

cognac1979 said:

thiscocks said:

These prices are a piss take. A couple of years ago they were 50k absolute max for a sorted low mileage one. Just because one seller puts one up at 100k , now they all are. Cretins.

Are some people actually paying the crazy prices advertised these days or are the cars being sold for much lower? I want to see the thread "I've just bought a Lotus Carlton for 95k". I don't think I will see such a thread though.

Someone paid nearly £80k for one with 32000 miles last year so I guess the seller of this lower miles one thinks it’s worth asking

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/events/2018-au...

Mental. I guess now thats set the precident.

Slightly irksome is that they want that price and they cant even get the rear badges correct.

[skeeterm5]

thiscocks said:

Mental. I guess now thats set the precident.

Slightly irksome is that they want that price and they cant even get the rear badges correct.

What is wrong with the badges on the back? They look exactly like the ones on mine.

[NotNormal]

skeeterm5 said:

thiscocks said:

Mental. I guess now thats set the precident.

Slightly irksome is that they want that price and they cant even get the rear badges correct.

What is wrong with the badges on the back? They look exactly like the ones on mine.

They left the factory with Lotus on the left and Carlton (or Omega) on the right of the bootlid. Anything else has been messed about with.

[s m]

thiscocks said:

s m said:

cognac1979 said:

thiscocks said:

These prices are a piss take. A couple of years ago they were 50k absolute max for a sorted low mileage one. Just because one seller puts one up at 100k , now they all are. Cretins.

Are some people actually paying the crazy prices advertised these days or are the cars being sold for much lower? I want to see the thread "I've just bought a Lotus Carlton for 95k". I don't think I will see such a thread though.

Someone paid nearly £80k for one with 32000 miles last year so I guess the seller of this lower miles one thinks it’s worth asking

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/events/2018-au...

Mental. I guess now thats set the precident.

Slightly irksome is that they want that price and they cant even get the rear badges correct.

A year before the one above one with 4500 miles sold for £72k at the same auction house - 2017



So it seems like they’re still on an upward curve for anything with low mileage

I think many people on here generally don’t know the prices some of the old stuff actually does sell for

[Mr Tidy]

NotNormal said:

They left the factory with Lotus on the left and Carlton (or Omega) on the right of the bootlid. Anything else has been messed about with.

Top LC knowledge there!

I'll never afford one, but one day I'd love to just experience one - even at pedestrian speeds.

[Glasgowrob]

What would you have to build now to cause such outrage as these caused at the time


Modern cars have all but caught up and overtook them performance wise but at the time these were so far and away beyond what everyone else had to offer


The only thing that I can think of coming close is a full fat model S tesla for comparison in regards to being blown away with the performance difference

[B'stard Child]

PH Article said:

If we take into account inflation, each of the 285 Lotus Carltons (legend has it that 286 were actually built when Lotus made use of a leftover bodyshell).

Legend gets it wrong all the time

Edited to remove the phone correct

Edited by B'stard Child on Friday 22 November 19:47

[B'stard Child]

Shakermaker said:

the best reader's car thread on the subject is this one

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Ha ha thank you for that - didn’t start out as a readers car thread on my LC mind

[chelme]

Haha haha....£95k... delusional.

[waftycranker]

Two questions:

How are there only 68 left? Who the hell is scrapping these?!?

And why would anyone pay £95k for a new M5 when you could have one of these?

[Tycho]

skatty said:

Here https://www.hendersonsgaragenairn.co.uk/used-cars/...

"THE CAR YOU SEE TODAY AND PLAN TO BUY TOMORROW SOMEONE SAW YESTERDAY"

wkers

[Wildcat45]

I'd love this. Only seen one outside of a motor show. It was parked up on a waterfront car park and as the owner was with it, I went over for a chat. I was like a little kid and the owner was happy to show me round it. A very familiar mix of the ordinary, but pleasant VX Carlton coupled with the Lotus enhancements

I thanked the guy and got back to my car only for my puzzled wife to ask why I was so excited about some old Vauxhall telling me that when she was a kid her granddad had one but it wasn't covered in Halfords tat and fake Lotus badges.

I tried to explain. I guess that's the generation gap rearing it's ugly head. I'm not sure how she'd take a Lotus Sunbeam.

[s m]

Glasgowrob said:

What would you have to build now to cause such outrage as these caused at the time


Modern cars have all but caught up and overtook them performance wise but at the time these were so far and away beyond what everyone else had to offer


The only thing that I can think of coming close is a full fat model S tesla for comparison in regards to being blown away with the performance difference

I remember there being a right fuss in the tabloids/TV news about these. The outrage that Joe Public could buy an ordinary saloon car with over 360bhp!!

It was on a bigger scale than the similar fuss 5 years earlier with the Sierra Cosworth.

I think it was more the fact that they were in Ford or Vauxhall dealers - usual rubbish about 'badge' prejudice!