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Story popped up on a social media feed about a Lotus Carlton. So I checked Autotrader and there are 2 for sale. Some thing like 73 and 82k.
Out of interest, I decided to visit a comparison website and ran an insurance quote for one.

Flabbergasted at the price.....around £270 fully comp, sitting on my drive with Cat 1 security and mileage limited to 5k, no commuting
That's half the price of my daily driver, an Audi Q5 with 10k miles a year including commuting. All other details the same.

Unreal.

Lotus Carlton was one of my dream cars back in the day. I had a work colleague that owned one. It wasn't a great car but boy was it quick!

Edit: just looked on AT....HOW MUCH??

Older classic cars are often cheaper to insure. Not certain why. Perhaps because the owners look after them and don't park them in supermarket car parks often.

Was there not a famous story about a carlton in a police chase

Nictrix wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:03 pm Was there not a famous story about a carlton in a police chase

Yep - that they could only stop it if they (The Carlton) let it be caught

Now I’m dreaming too../ what a car!! I’d take a LC over a Cossie. Please don’t shoot me

Nictrix wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:03 pm Was there not a famous story about a carlton in a police chase

Reg 40 RA lots of YouTube stuff available .

My first buy if I win the lottery is a LC. Had the chance to buy one from a dealer late 90’s for sub £20k in Rutherglen or a Calibra turbo, Bought the Calibra as insurance was proving difficult at the time

pvr wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:33 pm Yep - that they could only stop it if they (The Carlton) let it be caught

It was famous IIRC as the first four door car to be able to reach 170mph. And could have been the last, as the Germans all restricted theirs to 155 ever since.
The only other family car that can do that sort of top speed is a rented diesel Astra!

There’s two of these that go to a local classic car meet, one in much better condition than the other…. There’s no way I’d want to be doing anywhere near 170mph in either of them

Pondrew wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 4:53 pm

pvr wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 12:33 pm Yep - that they could only stop it if they (The Carlton) let it be caught

It was famous IIRC as the first four door car to be able to reach 170mph. And could have been the last, as the Germans all restricted theirs to 155 ever since.
The only other family car that can do that sort of top speed is a rented diesel Astra!

The Alpina models are not restricted though, and neither are the Porsches

I almost had an e34 Alpina B10 Bi-Turbo back in the day...but it was LHD and the insurance was astronomical compared to an e34 M5.

I''ll have to dig out the magazine articles of the day, but I think it was slightly slower to accelerate than the Lotus Carlton, but had a slightly higher top speed (officially by about 3mph, unless you overrode the Carlton's official limiter)...and would probably handle the high-speed cruising without bits falling off.

I always wanted a Lotus Carlton. Especially after all the stories in the press saying how irresponsible it was of Vauxhall for putting them on sale!

I've only ever seen 3, first time was one going the opposite way in 1991 on the A417. Then I never saw another until I went to a Pistonheads event in 2014 and someone turned up with a real stunner, then in 2018 my sister went to look at a Fiat 500 at Frosts in Shoreham which used to be a Vauxhall main agent back in the 80s and there was one in the showroom that Mr Frost had kept hold of that also looked mint.

I imagine parts might be hard to find, but at least it's nice to know that if I get a Euromillions win insurance won't be a problem!

Slightly back to reality I was surprised when I got my MC insurance was cheaper than for my 3.0Si.

Amazing what some cars are fetching now. A neighbour has a 1995 Ford Escort RS Cosworth 4x4 in the RS Blue with some 25k on the clock. Moved into the house in the same year and I think I've see it come out of the garage less that 10 times in all those years. One the same spec and colour with 23k sold at auction recently for 70k

Tim.

Funny you say that Tim.

When I saw that stunning Lotus Carlton it was parked near a red Escort Cosworth with an Alfa GTV between them. Some of my all time favourite cars together.

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 11:05 pm Funny you say that Tim.

When I saw that stunning Lotus Carlton it was parked near a red Escort Cosworth with an Alfa GTV between them. Some of my all time favourite cars together.

LC!.jpg




Escort Cosworth.JPG

Great cars, have a soft spot for the Alfa purely on the looks

Tim.