Car Guys finally see the light.
Discussion
With a garage full of exotic supercars, what would you expect to buy that gives you so much driving pleasure and excitement? Of course it's a tuned Sunbeam Lotus.
https://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
https://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
Edited by 2172cc on Saturday 4th April 08:40
My cousin had one in the very early 80s - of all the cars he had to me it was most impressive, far more so than the RS2000 I thought.
He rolled his on a motorway when a child from a car broken down ran out in front of him. He saved the kid from certain death, totalled his car and his legs for a while. Never got so much as a thank you from the parents
He rolled his on a motorway when a child from a car broken down ran out in front of him. He saved the kid from certain death, totalled his car and his legs for a while. Never got so much as a thank you from the parents
I well remember mine, sadly sold due to redundancy back in the mid nineties.
Often wonder if its still around. It was an 'X' reg series 2, sold with private plate RYA 740 on, in black and silver stripes.
Quite heavily modified with four wheel discs, LSD and Skip Brown suspension. Torque Developments built the engine and dynoed at 208BHP. Wonderful memories for me.
Often wonder if its still around. It was an 'X' reg series 2, sold with private plate RYA 740 on, in black and silver stripes.
Quite heavily modified with four wheel discs, LSD and Skip Brown suspension. Torque Developments built the engine and dynoed at 208BHP. Wonderful memories for me.
2172cc said:
With a garage full of exotic supercars, what would you expect to buy that gives you so much driving pleasure and excitement? Of course it's a tuned Sunbeam Lotus.
https://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
Says a lot to me about how much actual fun the exotic supercars they have are - maybe this is why some old Sunbeams, Escorts, Alfa 105s etc attract “crazy” priceshttps://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
Edited by 2172cc on Saturday 4th April 08:40
Seen a similar reaction from a 911 owner at a rally experience day driving a dog-eared Mk2 Escort
Back in the 80s one of my friends owned/built a similar spec Sunbeam - well north of 200bhp it was properly quick
Doofus said:
Slightly OT, but who are these guys? I've tried to watch The Car Guys, but I find them incredibly boring.
Are they a couple? Only one of them seems to have the money and the cars, so what does the other bloke do?
I must admit I’ve never watched them before and was waiting for ‘something’ to happenAre they a couple? Only one of them seems to have the money and the cars, so what does the other bloke do?
Might be better when he gets to use it as his own car
2172cc said:
With a garage full of exotic supercars, what would you expect to buy that gives you so much driving pleasure and excitement? Of course it's a tuned Sunbeam Lotus.
https://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
Sorry, stopped watching after 3 mins after the 3 mistake they made which they could have found out with a 30 sec google for the right info.https://youtu.be/DUbipBPVe78
Never seen these two so excited about a car before.
Edited by 2172cc on Saturday 4th April 08:40
I didnt even watch 3 minutes, in comon with a lot of theses so called specialist car channels on youtube the talk some right rubbish,
Ive never actually had a drive in a Lotus Sunbeam but have driven loads of the standard versions from the 930cc to the 1600cc, as there built on the Avenger floorpan and Ive owned 3 Avengers I expected them to be very similar but found the Sunbeam handling very twitchy compared to the Avenger.
Ive never actually had a drive in a Lotus Sunbeam but have driven loads of the standard versions from the 930cc to the 1600cc, as there built on the Avenger floorpan and Ive owned 3 Avengers I expected them to be very similar but found the Sunbeam handling very twitchy compared to the Avenger.
Collected one for a good customer who just fancied one, came from Preston area to South Wales ,the chap who sold it was sad to see it go and took me on a good 15 minute spin before I loaded it onto my truck {pic 2017}. Car got repainted and new seat covers then took it to NEC classic auction where it sold in 2018. 
My strongest memory of the Lotus Sunbeam isn't great, one was in front of me at the lights, revving away ready on the handbrake for a massive launch, the lights changed, he dumped the clutch at a gazillion rpm, spinning tyres etc, all very impressive, only problem was, he was in reverse. Luckily my Fiat Ducato Swift Kontiki had bull bars fitted, as was the fashion at the time. He still did some damage though.
21st Century Man said:
My strongest memory of the Lotus Sunbeam isn't great, one was in front of me at the lights, revving away ready on the handbrake for a massive launch, the lights changed, he dumped the clutch at a gazillion rpm, spinning tyres etc, all very impressive, only problem was, he was in reverse. Luckily my Fiat Ducato Swift Kontiki had bull bars fitted, as was the fashion at the time. He still did some damage though.
Was he the owner, and had just bought it that day or had he borrowed it off someone else?It was a very amusing thing to keep repeating on Top Gear when James May had the Merc 190E 2.3 16v on that 3 car test in Germany, but you'd have to be an utter cockwomble to do it for real.
The “ School of Folded Paper, Car Design “ was one leading magazines thoughts on the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus styling.....
But in Moonstone with silver stripes, these just Did Something to me.
I had a Series 2 Moonstone X reg one, in circa 1997 /98 ish. I had spotted it driving around Chelmsford a fair bit and then one day, I saw it parked on the drive way of a very scruffy house, on the main rd, near the Widford estate, with a For Sale sign in the side window.
Its young owner was selling it for what ever reason and I secured it for £750 quid and drove it home. It had been “ tweaked “ so I was told and was ferociously quick, but it’s dog leg ZF box, took some getting used to. I don’t recall it having any history, but it’s engine had apparently, recently been rebuilt.
I can’t recall if it had had a dire glass sunroof in it ??
The factory build quality of these cars, was Really dire. And like most of them, it had received a cheap re paint and had rot lurking. It had also had a whack, low down on the left corner, the chassis leg was lightly kinked, rot was coming through on the chassis leg. I was going to keep it, but it needed £ lots throwing @ it to get it how I wanted it and they just were not worth anything back then.
I advertised it in an East Anglian free ads paper and a punter came down from Suffolk or Norfolk. I took him out for a short test drive and had it beautifully side ways on a local roundabout, I can still see him grasping the sides of the passenger seat, lol. I think that convinced him to have it. He gave me £1,350 and drove it away.
Often wonder what happened to it, it’s one of the few cars that I never got a photo of sadly, so I don’t recall it’s reg no.
Im tempted to look and try to see if it’s survived.
But in Moonstone with silver stripes, these just Did Something to me.
I had a Series 2 Moonstone X reg one, in circa 1997 /98 ish. I had spotted it driving around Chelmsford a fair bit and then one day, I saw it parked on the drive way of a very scruffy house, on the main rd, near the Widford estate, with a For Sale sign in the side window.
Its young owner was selling it for what ever reason and I secured it for £750 quid and drove it home. It had been “ tweaked “ so I was told and was ferociously quick, but it’s dog leg ZF box, took some getting used to. I don’t recall it having any history, but it’s engine had apparently, recently been rebuilt.
I can’t recall if it had had a dire glass sunroof in it ??
The factory build quality of these cars, was Really dire. And like most of them, it had received a cheap re paint and had rot lurking. It had also had a whack, low down on the left corner, the chassis leg was lightly kinked, rot was coming through on the chassis leg. I was going to keep it, but it needed £ lots throwing @ it to get it how I wanted it and they just were not worth anything back then.
I advertised it in an East Anglian free ads paper and a punter came down from Suffolk or Norfolk. I took him out for a short test drive and had it beautifully side ways on a local roundabout, I can still see him grasping the sides of the passenger seat, lol. I think that convinced him to have it. He gave me £1,350 and drove it away.
Often wonder what happened to it, it’s one of the few cars that I never got a photo of sadly, so I don’t recall it’s reg no.
Im tempted to look and try to see if it’s survived.
neutral 3 said:
And like most of them, it had received a cheap re paint
A lot of them received that at the dealerships under warranty.Most of the later Moonstone cars were all built in the first few months of 1981, in the last few months of production at the Linwood plant prior to the closure of the factory in April 1981.
There was an issue with the metallic moonstone paint at the factory that meant a lot of cars started having paint problems within 12-18 months old and they got 'blowover' jobs under warranty (if you can call it that!)
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff