Saturday 13th January 2018

Lotus Carlton: Spotted

Turn your friends Imperial Green with envy thanks to this Man Maths bargain

---

The Lotus Carlton needs no introduction, but articles do, so here we go. Produced for a short while in the early 90s, just 950 examples of the Lotus Carlton - all of them wearing the same shade of Imperial Green - saw the light of day, some way short of the 1,100 originally planned. Of those, a large proportion weren't Carltons at all, but left-hand drive Omegas for Europe instead, leaving depending on whether you ask PH, Wikipedia, or Vauxhall themselves, either 285/6, 320, or 440 right-hand drive versions for the UK. As with many such revered things, it seems the exact facts have passed into myth and legend; perhaps a PHer in the know might clarify...

More important than the production figures - to us, at least - are the performance ones. The Lotus Carlton producing 382hp from its twin-turbo 3.6-litre straight-six engine, propelling it, according to most sources, from 0-62mph in just over five seconds and on to a top speed which saw it crowned the world's fastest production saloon.

That performance soon saw it making headlines for the wrong reasons, with the press branding a 176mph family saloon as immoral and the existence of the Carlton even ending up the subject of a parliamentary debate.

It's highly desirable then, and, as with most things that cause outrage amongst the establishment, it's become incredibly cool; but £50,000 for a 27 year-old Vauxhall with almost 40,000 miles on the clock will always seem steep. Time to bring the full force of our Man Maths to bear.

In 1991, this Lotus Carlton would have cost £48,000 - an E34 M5 was £43,500 - instantly making that £50,000 figure appear rather less offensive; it's pretty much just its value. Then there's inflation though, which, through its magic, makes that £48,000 RRP the equivalent of around £105,000 in today's money. All of which means that, at this price, you'd essentially be getting a Lotus Carlton for less than half price, thanks to nothing more than the passage of time and it being nicely run in. Sounds like reason enough to us!

---

SPECIFICATION - LOTUS CARLTON

Engine: 3,615cc, 6-cyl twin-turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 382@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 415@4,200rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1991
Mileage: 39,558
Price new: £48,000
Price now: £49,995

See the original advert here.

[samoht]

Yum, yes please. These somehow have a real mythology to them that transcends the Vauxhall badge; the Lotus connection and consequent promise of being a really good drive, not just a tuner special is the main part, with pissing off the Daily Mail being the cherry on top. They also have mega presence with the chin spoiler, wide arches and green metallic, way over any regular Carlton.

However... I'm given to understand that these rust even worse than a regular 25-yr-old Carlton due to the body mods, and that some spare parts are rarer than rocking-horse poo. So I'd want more than a few photos against that premium white-sheet background before shelling out my £50k. Also, the car being sold is a LHD Omega, which is fine if you do a lot of Continental driving I guess.

But yeah, I would see a RHD car in rust-free condition as worth the £50k, indeed.