Talking of kit cars-



Cant remember what engine you could have?
Unlikely to source a Dino are you!


The lotus fibreglass is unbelievably thin by the way, my
front clam shell weighs no more than the cardboard its
sat on.





Russ.

 

I believe that's the idea, Russ!

IIRC, those Stratoi used a Lancia Beta powertrain. Or a 206/246 Dino, if you were very lucky!

 

You do remember correctly and I think you should quit number crunching and follow in the footsteps of the late great L J K Setright. You have that sort of aura about you. Think he was a journo who couldn't be bought.

 

Thanks, MQ!

Well, I've got the beard and the Prelude, not quite sure about the integrity!

 

Is that the Lancia that is left hand drive only?

 

It's a Honda in a sand dune!

 

Nice write up MQ, I've always been a fan of Lotus since being a kid and being out in/helping my dad work on our 67 Elan S3 and 79 Eclat...both got sold though when they moved abroad

The Evora looks great and although people are saying

 

TBH, it's probably that most people have no recollection before the Elise.

The Eclat/Excel was directly comparable to a 924/944 and was more expensive/exclusive.

The Esprit S4 Turbo wasn't far short of an NSX.

The Elite (Lotus 14) was as much as an E-Type. The revolutionary monocoque GRP body was extremely expensive to produce.

So was the M100 Elan, with its complex FWD platform.

Now they have VVA to demonstrate as viable.

These are extremely low-volume, specialist cars, so it's a chicken & catch-22 situation.

 

Dropped the Exige off this morning at F1 in Newcastle and got waylaid in the showroom casting my eye over a red Evora (a colour that suits the car's shape well).

I was offered a test drive on the spot, which I was itching to take up, but I had to get back. I did spend 10 minutes chatting to the manager and sniffing around the car, I do like the interior, there are some nice touches like the LEDs set into the doors and the seemingly well stiched leather. Kate liked it too.

As Nick says, having spent a fair bit of time recently in Ralston's Cayman, the Lotus felt more of an occasion - the German cars are all superbly engineered and well finished, but they all seem to lack a sense of drama that the Lotus manages well, though I did find myself wondering how long it would last (and there are a lot of electronics, never a Lotus strong point).

When I go to collect the Exige, likely as not (if I have the time) I'll have a drive and report back.

Still tempted though.....

 

The one I saw was a boring german no-imagination carpet-crawler battleship grey, which really did nothing for it.

I think red, or orange or even Louts yellow (I've given up correcting that typo; it's appropriate!) would suit it far better.