It’s time to embark once more on the rusting, diesel-hydraulic train of curiosity, travel past the closed, ancient stations of history in the hope of breaking down somewhere forgotten and interesting. Welcome back to the Carchive. After Triumphing with a Dolly Sprint brochure on tuesday, we’re leaving Coventry, taking the A14 and travelling East about a hundred miles before joining the A140 and sitting behind tractors until somewhere just after Norwich, where we’ll stop and get into the Lotus position. 
“Everything that impresses about Lotus comes as standard” Last time I spoke of Lotus on these electropages was after I met two examples in very different conditions within a very short period of time. They were an Excel and an Elite. Of course, in the late ’70s and early ’80s the Excel hadn’t yet spawned from its Eclat mother; the latter of which lived cheek-by-jowl in this conveniently laminated, wipe-clean brochure. 
“You may choose a Lotus for the value of its sheer business presence. Or its purely practical values. Or for its exclusive standards of elegance, comfort and luxury” They made no mention whatsoever of reliability, but even pointing that out seems an unnecessarily callous and low blow. The old acronym of Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious is weak, hackneyed and predictable, and only partially true. Being largely hand assembled a huge amount of care was lavished on each and every one of these cars during their travels along the production line, and due to the fallible hand of the human being along with the fact that many of the ingredients within a Lotus are completely home cooked, components do fail from time to time. Call it character. Still, old Lotus cars do pretty well when you consider the sheer scope for disaster that such variations of build ought to imply. 
“Flagship of the Lotus fleet, with its exclusive styling, exclusive 4-seater comfort, exclusive economy. The Elite offers standards of performance for your personal motoring that amply match its name.” The Elite was close to station-wagon in silhouette, and that was reflected on the inside, too. Here was a Lotus that four generously sized adults could fit into and go charging around the countryside as a club. Leather trim could be had, along with electric windows, a stereo installation and even air-conditioning available if you were determined to put the weight back on that Mr Chapman would have been so keen to be rid of. Much was made of the luxury that had hitherto never been seen in a Lotus, and that pretty much meant that it had rarely been seen in a British car with anywhere near the driveability of the Elite. This brochure goes to some length to promote the Eclat and the Elite as transport for the “Executive” who’s going places and needs to get there fast in something with only two doors. In truth, I have my doubts as to how many of the relatively few customers who exist in that sector fell for the fibreglass charms of the couple from Hethel. 
“Living proof that driving luxury is no extravagance, the Lotus Eclat combines exhilarating, sure-footed handling with extra-ordinary fuel economy. Top speed is 132 MPH. Acceleration 0-60 in 7.1 seconds” The legendary Lotus 912 2.2 litre engine provided motive power, breathing through twin Dellorto carbs and pushing out 160bhp, which was an impressive number from a normally aspirated four cylinder motor. The same engine, albeit turbocharged, was rather impressive in the Esprit Turbo but never officially made it into either the Elite, Eclat or the Excel which followed from 1982. At the moment the Elite and Eclat seem to still be “minority interest” models in Lotus terms, perennially overshadowed by the Esprit which is seen as almost exotic. I rather like them, for the idea (…and I imagine the reality would be rather different) of proper Lotus handling allied to something like sedan comfort and refinement. For ages we’ve been promised a replacement for the Esprit and, although the Evora could never be called a direct replacement, it is, at least, awesome. There has never been any mention of a replacement Elite, though, and it’s in danger of becoming a bit forgotten. (Disclaimer: All images are of original manufacturer publicity material, photographed by me. Copyright remains property of Lotus Cars. Come on, Lotus, let’s have a 21st Century Elite. A Lotus Longroof. You know you want to…)
By RoadworkUK
RoadworkUK is the online persona of Gianni Hirsch, a tall, awkward gentleman with a home office full of gently decomposing paper and a garage full of worthless scrap metal. He lives in the village of Moistly, which is a safe distance from London and is surrounded by enough water and scenery to be interesting. In another life, he has designed, sold, worked on and written about cars in exchange for small quantities of money.
Jeff Glucker