ronmccullock
What do you call a very fast Vauxhall?
Towards the end of the eighties Vauxhall then a subsidiary of General Motors (GM) decided that they wanted to take on the likes of BMW with its high performance M5 4-door saloon car. Vauxhall already had in its range the Carlton GSi powered by a 3-litre inline six-cylinder engine. Vauxhall asked GM for permission to develop a high performance version of the Carlton GSi. GM granted permission and Vauxhall then turned to another subsidiarity of GM, Lotus at Hethel in Norfolk. In 1989, a standard Carlton GSi built in Germany by Opel was sent to Lotus to improve it, Lotus always gave a code to any project, in this case it was 104.
Lotus took the standard 3-litre 24 valve DOHC petrol engine and fitted it with two Garrett T25 turbochargers and increased the capacity of the engine to 3.5-litre which produced 377bhp and 419 lb.ft of torque The standard five-speed gearbox was replaced with a ZF six-speed synchromesh gearbox which was fitted to Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. The standard rear axle was replaced with a limited-slip differential unit from Holden both manufacturers mentioned were subsidiaries of GM. The standard suspension was replaced with the self levelling suspension from the Vauxhall Senator. The braking system was uprated, along with the fitment of larger rear wheels. Even the bodyshell was modified to seam welding from the standard spot welding this was to give extra strength to the body. The Lotus Carlton had a top speed of 177mph and a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds and 0-100 of 11.5 seconds.
Vauxhall announced at the 1989 Geneva motor show that the Lotus Carlton would go on sale in 1990 with a price tag of £48,000 and available in one colour, Imperial Green. The car would sold in the UK as the Lotus Carlton and as the Lotus Omega in Europe. Opel built both cars in West Germany which were then shipped to Lotus to be modify. The plan was to build a total of 1, 100 cars, sadly this figure was never reached because of the resection and the Lotus Carlton got a lot of bad press about it's high top speed. A grand total of 950 were built with 286 Lotus Carlton cars sold in the UK the rest were Lotus Omega cars sold in Europe.
Today a prestige Lotus Carlton would fetch a price of £50,000. Without question the Lotus Carlton was a special car and an important part of Vauxhall's history.
My photograph shows a Vauxhall press car conventally parked over the M1 near Luton.
Copyright: Vauxhall Motors Ltd
What do you call a very fast Vauxhall?
Towards the end of the eighties Vauxhall then a subsidiary of General Motors (GM) decided that they wanted to take on the likes of BMW with its high performance M5 4-door saloon car. Vauxhall already had in its range the Carlton GSi powered by a 3-litre inline six-cylinder engine. Vauxhall asked GM for permission to develop a high performance version of the Carlton GSi. GM granted permission and Vauxhall then turned to another subsidiarity of GM, Lotus at Hethel in Norfolk. In 1989, a standard Carlton GSi built in Germany by Opel was sent to Lotus to improve it, Lotus always gave a code to any project, in this case it was 104.
Lotus took the standard 3-litre 24 valve DOHC petrol engine and fitted it with two Garrett T25 turbochargers and increased the capacity of the engine to 3.5-litre which produced 377bhp and 419 lb.ft of torque The standard five-speed gearbox was replaced with a ZF six-speed synchromesh gearbox which was fitted to Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. The standard rear axle was replaced with a limited-slip differential unit from Holden both manufacturers mentioned were subsidiaries of GM. The standard suspension was replaced with the self levelling suspension from the Vauxhall Senator. The braking system was uprated, along with the fitment of larger rear wheels. Even the bodyshell was modified to seam welding from the standard spot welding this was to give extra strength to the body. The Lotus Carlton had a top speed of 177mph and a 0-60 time of 5.2 seconds and 0-100 of 11.5 seconds.
Vauxhall announced at the 1989 Geneva motor show that the Lotus Carlton would go on sale in 1990 with a price tag of £48,000 and available in one colour, Imperial Green. The car would sold in the UK as the Lotus Carlton and as the Lotus Omega in Europe. Opel built both cars in West Germany which were then shipped to Lotus to be modify. The plan was to build a total of 1, 100 cars, sadly this figure was never reached because of the resection and the Lotus Carlton got a lot of bad press about it's high top speed. A grand total of 950 were built with 286 Lotus Carlton cars sold in the UK the rest were Lotus Omega cars sold in Europe.
Today a prestige Lotus Carlton would fetch a price of £50,000. Without question the Lotus Carlton was a special car and an important part of Vauxhall's history.
My photograph shows a Vauxhall press car conventally parked over the M1 near Luton.
Copyright: Vauxhall Motors Ltd