Lot 125: Lotus Carlton

The Lotus Carlton (in mainland Europe, the Opel Lotus Omega) was a Vauxhall Carlton saloon upgraded by Lotus Cars to be a 177 mph (285 km/h) sports car. Like all Lotus vehicles, it was given a type designation, Type 104 in this case. The external differences were minimal to the five seater with only the rear spoiler, air intakes on the bonnet, Lotus badges on the front wings and boot lid, and considerably wider wheel arches telling it apart from any other Carlton. The car was only sold in one colour, a shade of British racing green called Imperial Green, a very dark green that in anything but direct light appears black. Lotus' modifications included an upgraded engine, which was stroked from the standard Vauxhall 3 L 6 cylinder, used in the GSi, to a capacity of 3615 cc. Lotus then added twin Garrett T25 turbochargers to give 377 hp (281 kW). A six-speed manual ZF transmission from a Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 was used to transfer this power to the rear wheels. The car was capable of 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds and had 12.5 in (330 mm) AP ventilated disc brakes with racing calipers all round.Production of the Lotus Carlton began in 1990, four years after the original Carlton went on sale. General Motors (the parent company of Vauxhall, Opel and at the time - Lotus) had planned to build 1,100 cars in total, but due to the recession of the early 1990s, the £48,000 cars did not sell as well as anticipated and production at Lotus was halted in December 1992 with 950 cars having been built: Of the cars built 320 were Vauxhalls and 630 Opels.Offered here is a very late, RHD, Lotus Vauxhall Carlton, which is said to be the third to last, RHD car built.Part of a private collection and often seen at show events, the car has benefited from a new LSD, new discs, new fuel pump and filter and rolling road tuning, which showed 378bhp and 419 lbs./ft peak torque. The car is described as being in excellent to show condition.With just 3 owners on the V5, the vendor is able to warrant the mileage at 72000 miles and confirms that he has used the car sparingly for pleasure and showing. It is offered complete with an interesting history file, which includes a magazine article pitting the Carlton against a Sapphire Cosworth.