lotus carlton

The Lotus Carlton (standard) fired out 377 BHP & 419lb ft of torque. The source of the power is a 3.6-litre, six cylinder, 24 valve, charge-cooled, twin Turbo Charged engine. The engine is bolted to a ZF gearbox, the same as the Corvette ZR1, as nothing else could handle the torque.

Official Performance figures:

0-60 mph 5.2 secs 0-100 mph 11.5 secs 50-70 (third gear) 2.8 secs

I'd always aspired to have a Lotus Carlton (LC) ever since the day I heard Lotus engineering and General Motors had created the Worlds fastest Production saloon car. In my opinion, more often than not dramatic acceleration figures and extrovert styling are considered far more important than practical features when cars of exceptionally high performance are being designed. The Lotus Carlton was the exception. Developed from Vauxhall's best-in-class Carlton GSi 3000, it combined super car power and torque with the sumptuous luxury of a spacious, big-booted, beautifully trimmed and fully equipped executive four seater. What more could a 25 year old, with money to spend and no need for a big boot ask for ?

The decisive moment for me to track down one of these beasts came one afternoon driving along my parents windy road. I was driving a cavalier GSi 4x4 Turbo, which in itself was a fast car, however no sooner had I noticed this menacing and intimidating "black" monster with big bonnet-vents appear in my rear view mirror (3 inches off my boot !), than it had gone past me and disappeared into the distance, leaving me in a hail of dust. I had to have one. Within two weeks I did.

A common misconception is that the LC was black. In actual fact the LC was only ever produced in one colour which was Imperial Green pearlescent (the colour you see when you peer into a can of Duckhams, and the interior was Anthracite Connolly leather. My car was in Concours condition inside and out, and even had a polished engine bay.

After scouring the land and looking at 5 LC's, I found the one for me, number 006 out of a total of some 950 odd produced, of which only 400 were for the UK market. Every car has a serial number on the glove box. My number 006 LC was one of the three original cars, registered on 14/09/1990 on a H plate. It was used for the Lotus Press Release and featured in CAR, Performance Car and Autocar & Motor and was displayed at both the London and Paris motor show. It had 25,000 verified miles on it when I bought it and 34,000 miles when I sold it. Car numbers 001, 002 and 003 were prototypes, later dismantled. I have press cuttings of the Land speed record holder Richard Noble driving my actual LC at it's absolute limit on the 1.8 mile runway at Bruntingthorpe. A great car complimented by an exclusive history.

To drive, the car was every bit as fun as the hype and press that surrounded it, a real modern day muscle car. Acceleration was phenomenal (as the figures above show) even with 5 adults and a boot load of suit cases. Unlike modern day cars in it's class, the LC had no traction control system due to it having been too expensive to engineer the electronic throttle that the system would have demanded.

Not a car for the faint hearted, although treated with respect it took off from a standing start with no wheel spin, however it was from then onward you had to be careful. I always found handling and breaking to be exceptional. At the time only the Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari F40 mustered more torque than the LC. On one occasion I changed down from sixth to fifth gear at 95 mph and floored it and the back stepped out !! Scary experience...

I used the car every day to travel to and from the office and it attracted looks from the both the young and old and when parked, sparked many a conversation.

Paul Carwana
August 2006