1991 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

Introduced to the press in 1990 as 'The fastest 4 door saloon in the world', the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton was hand-assembled at Hethel by Lotus with unique chassis, brakes, steering and engine upgrades. The original 3000cc 24 valve straight six engine was handbuilt by Lotus and taken out to 3615cc and fitted with twin Garrett T25 turbochargers, a Behr intercooler, a unique strengthened block, steel crankshaft, Lotus con-rods and Mahle slipper pistons. The six speed ZF transmission was lifted from the GM Corvette of the day and the limited slip diff from the GM Holden Commodore V8. All this combined to give a 0-60mph in just over 5 seconds, an astonishing 0-100mph in 11 secs and a top speed of 177mph.

A complex multi-link rear suspension was developed by Lotus to improve handling dynamics and self-levelling suspension was also fitted, along with 17" Ronal wheels and Goodyear Eagle tyres. Brakes came courtesy of 'AP' with 4 pot calipers and 328mm discs on the front and 300mm discs on the rear. All cars were finished in Imperial Green, which appeared black in most lights, and only 320 of the £50k right-hand drive Carltons were ever built for the UK market.

This car is production number 0095, an early UK car, which the first collector owner kept until 2003. During this time it covered only 3,800 miles. Purchased then by our current vendor, the car has continued to be garaged and very well cared for with occasional useage and trips to concours exhibitions. Today, it has covered just 13,690 warranted miles with a full annual maintenance history. As our pictures show, the car is in exceptional condition throughout and is now being recognised as a highly collectable future classic.

There is a separate, comprehensive Lot of new Lotus Carlton spares in our auction today, being sold by the vendor of this car, which are too numerous to mention individually but well worthy of consideration.