Elite - Lotus' push into posh
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ก.ย. 2023
- **Please bear with the bad audio in the car - as its tight a GoPro was used but it ignored the attached mic. Please dont un-subscribe or leave a dislike for it**
In the 1970s Lotus wanted to push upmarket and compete with more expensive luxury super cars, and the Elite was the car to do it.
Thanks to percivalmotorco.co.uk where this car is for sale
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The Elite was very innovative for the early 1970s. It was one of the first cars with side impact protection with door bars being built into the doors. The car won the Don Safety Trophy in 1974 I recall.
I loved seeing these as a kid usually on family holidays to the south coast usually pointed out by my car mad brother. The Elite, Eclat and the Esprit were all out at the time. One thing that I do remember was that the F1 championship plaques they used to be planted on the rear sometimes in no particular order on some cars. I also remember the the clear rear bulkhead behind the hatch. The interior was very Space 1999 Eagle. I've never been in one or seen one in decades but this video brings back some very old memories from my childhood. Many thanks Matt for sharing.
Yes same for me. I even had a Corgi Elite. Pedant corner: rear defrost not 'deffuser' lol. Great video.
Good video. The Alcantara™️ type velvety material on the dashboard is called Marcasite and was used on the Esprit S1 & S2 as well. Alcantara is a trademark by the way.
The story on why the interior was designed by Giugiaro's Ital studio was that the interior design proposal by the car's designer, Oliver Winterbottom was rejected. So Chapman got Ital to do the interior because at that time Lotus was working with Giugiaro on the Esprit.
David Wilkie (Olympic gold medal swimmer) came to my school back in 1977 to encourage us kids to swim. He arrived in a blue Lotus Elite. I never had any interest in swimming but that car started a lifelong love of Lotus’s. Beautiful car.
Won the Don Safety Award , this car. Will come as a surprise as it was usually dominated by the likes of Saab and Volvos etc;. They developed a special construction with their interpretation of GRP moulding which gave the car fantastic rigidity which also aided the handling further aided by the fact it was a Lotus in the first place.
Wow Matt what a survivor and time warp is certainly appropriate in that case! The elite was such a well designed and appointed car and was a design which stood out when new and has stood the test of time that interior certainly oozes 70s! I bet it turned heads on the test drive for sure
This car really does look factory fresh. I remember falling in love with the Lotus Elite when I saw it in a brochure as the first prize in a competition for American Express credit card holders in 1980. Also had a model kit of it when I was a child. Yet another example of the High Performance Estate look like the Scimitar you just tested.
I had the good fortune to drive one of these in 1981 at the tender age of 21, sadly it was an automatic but my lasting memory is actually the directness of the steering.
This car is as groovy as a groovy thing - and who wouldn't love that green dash. However, a bit of a tough job for a Lotus salesman back in the day if a 12 cylinder XJS could be had for similar money I'd have thought.
It`s a coincidence that today`s video is an Elite. Earlier today I watched the Reliant Scimitar video (a week late) and I happened to mention it in a comment.
The Elite is my favourite Lotus for those pop up headlights and that estate/shooting brake profile. This one looks particularly nice in red.
Wonderful 70s posh wedge. I had a model (Corgi?) in gold metallic as a child. Loved It to bits. Beautiful car. My childhood was apparently defined by a serires of Lotus models, like the Dinky Europa and the Corgi Esprit. Thanks for such an inspiring video. ❤❤
I love videos on obscure cars - thanks for producing this. And these are pretty obscure. The Excel was current when I was a kid but I remember these and I’m pretty sure I had the matchbox/corgi model of it too. I really liked the Excel - I vividly remember peering through the windows of a BRG on tan beauty parked in the centre of a market town in Bucks somewhere. That and Lotus Turbo Challenge were surely what influenced me to ultimately buy an Esprit Turbo SE.
The gear selector surround is very modern looking - I wonder what happened to the original one.
Great cars. My Step Dad had an Elite back in the 80s when I was a kid and from memory it was pretty reliable.
What a car! What an amazing car! This was really something above the crowd.
I worked at a dealer in 1974 when the Elite came out. A few things you mentioned were wrong. The brite work around the windshield and above the doors was not stainless, it was aluminum. And very soft. Try to take it off and you will see, star cracks where every you put to much pressure on it. The other thing is inside. The wood grain is nothing more than stick on stuff. Steel backing with this stuff stuck on the face. That rear space would smell like gas because the gas tank vents were so bad. But the thing that would piss customers off was the front suspention. The lower control arm was held in place by the sway bar. Drive over railroad tracks and the flex (give) would shack the steering so bad it would pop the wrist watch loose. We did several things to try to fix this, change the rubber bushings to a stiffer bushing. Helped some but still there. Seen some over the years with another arm locating the lower arm. Always wanted to first replace the lower arm to an A frame style with the stiffer bushings, but never got the chance. Other wise not a bad attempt by Lotus to move up market.
BTW anybody got one for sale? I am in northern AZ, I got cash!!
Not keen on Red cars Matt 🤔 but think I would put up with that one , incredible design for 1980 , when that
“ V reg” was registered I had just bought my brand new Honda Superdream 250cc motorcycle, happy days indeed.
Absolutely love these - and those wheels! - but I feel I may have missed the boat as prices have been on the up for some time 😢 Great review 👍🏼
Very nice survivor! I love these, and the Eclat/Excel too.
2:46 The back view looks like my Dads old 1980 Talbot Sunbeam after it's been sat on by Jabba the Hutt 🤣
A bit surprised by the constant parts bin jibes, please look at any Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin etc from the 1970's, 80's and 90's and they are also full of parts bin parts
And it's condition is because the owners looked after it, amazing how cars survive when they are not abused
not jibes, just amused
Blasted technology eh Matt . . . I was just relieved to read your message, brand new air buds coincided with watching your video, was pairing during the adverts and thought I got a dud set !! Great relief all round when I scrolled down . . . great vid, you must have been impressed given your usual view on Automatics !! Could only imagine how much fun it would be with a five speed in it !! Cheers !!
This would have been amazing with a manual, the BW auto does dull things but that probably saved this car from being driven hard
Thanks for bringing this…great review…and you deserve 100k😃👍
The Elite, Eclat, and the Esprit were expensive, but much cheaper than the competition. They all handled, they looked great and they created a mystique that still exists today. I think it is a shame where Lotus ended up, but it appears as though there may be a glimmer of hope on horizon.
I had a yellow Corgi one as a kid. Many years later I bought an ancient real life Triumph 2000 which had the same blue backlit selector for the BW 35 autobox.
Beige suit and mustache is a must while driving this beauty.
And a fat cigar
A safari suit no less! Maybe a neckerchief……….
And a medallion
Perhaps some corduroy for good measure :)
No, you NEVER grease your trunnions. you oil them! The uprights are not originally from a Herald, they were first used on the Standard 8 (made by Alford and Alder). The dash was clad in a material called Marcasite.
Those Triumph front uprights got used on the Lotus 7, 11 Mk2, 12, 14 Elite, Elan, and so on. The Caterham 7 used them until they redesigned it to use a lower ball joint instead of the trunnion.
Was there an advantage of a lower trunnion over a ball joint?
My father had a couple of Heralds through the 1970s, and I don't recall him oiling the trunnions.
@@pashakdescilly7517 I think Triumph specified grease, but I can remember a time when seeing a Spitfire/GT6 or Herrald/Vitesse with a front wheel folded up into the arch due to a snapped off siezed trunnion was quite common. Lotus specified oil as it doesn't dry out and naturally flows around the threads.
@@EVguru similar stories of Morris Minors
Great with you, Matt, really enjoyed that, didn’t know so much about these and especially the trim levels and Ital design interior.
13:29 Ideal for giving a lift to Douglas Bader 🤣
O, I spotted that one for sale & could easily be tempted if I had the garage space. What a survivor 👍🙂
504 was not the loved version due to the 4 denoting automatic. 501 base car, 502 air con added, 503 power steering added, 504 the auto box added. Parking a 501 and 502 required some muscle.
As a card-carrying 'punctuation Nazi', one of the best things about this video for me is your wholly appropriate use of the apostrophe in the title. Well done Matt 😂
Yes, these days well placed apostrophe’s are vanishingly rare.
@@AJC508Oh you devil.
@@AJC508Was it irony?
Your use of apostrophe is also not warranted!
Spot the ex-newspaper man here!
@@AJC508they’s are indeed.
Back in the day when I was a kid it was a very cool car
Certainly the nicest Elite I have ever seen-they are like hens teeth here in the US. I remember when these came out and saw my first one at the Lotus dealer in Falls Church, Virginia. My Dad and I were getting parts for his 71 Elan FHC. For me it was a bridge too far at the time-too much of an upmarket shift from the Elans and Europas we loved and very expensive-about $16,000 at introduction here in the States-plus it had paint overspray on the inner door card plus fake wood! I wondered who would buy it at the price of a 911 while admiring the way it met US crash requirements with ease. Over time, I've grown to really like the wedgy style and features and wouldn't mind having one to go with my 69 Elan S4DHC , especially with upgrades like Lotusbits will do! By the way, I seem to recall the 502 spec had power steering and the 503 added air conditioning but I could be wrong. Thanks again for sharing.
I saw about 30 Lotus cars this morning, mostly Dutch, some Belgian. Including an Elan+2
Thanks for presenting that rare car!
Gorgeous cars…….externally. One of my favourite childhood Corgi models. But…..the dashboard, with its stick on Formica wood and 1930s style dashboard rear view mirror, is ghastly! I’d have liked to have seen an Excel style update of these - the shape is still brilliant!
Snap! 👍I had the same Corgi model (two in fact, a red one and a silver one) and I loved the shape, but unlike you, I really love that dash, it feels so cosy with all the switches close to hand and that bit of fake wood giving it an air of pseudo luxury. Yes, gorgeous cars!😎
The rear view mirror is mounted on the dash for the same reason as in a Citroen DS - the sloping roofline means you wouldn't be able to see out the rear if it was mounted on the usual place.
My memory says that the dash has actual rosewood. It's not used now because the tree is an endangered species.
I personally prefer the shape over the Eclat, which cuts rear head-room, and the sloping rear roof probably induces aerodynamic lift.
Used to run an Excel 2.2 litre improved to abt. 220 hp. My mom, in her eighties, absolutely loved being taken for a spin in the rear seat which she found very comfortable.
What an intriguing car - huge Scimitar vibes from it but that’s not a bad thing! The detail in the cabin is just so nice and that was definitely one of the poshest cars at the time. The condition is simply gob smacking too! I am personally a fan of automatics but that really old school unit does seem to hamper the performance somewhat. Awesome video Matt
I own 4 automatic cars. I regret nothing!
Help is available!
Thanks Matt great review of one of my all time favourite cars
Amazing vehicle.
Looks like a Hearse for Thunderbirds.
they'd have to go sideways in the boot!
Great video. Love the dash top
Those English cottages are so gorgeous and cute, that car is immaculate.
According to a magazine article i read recently, i was under the impression that the back seats were reasonably useful...
Excellent review as always Matt, first time I seen one of these was back last year at parked in the car park at the Lakeland Motor Museum in the lakes and I was confused to what it was, but what a great looking car, I beleive Princess Anne has never owned one of these 😂😂
I can confirm, Princess Margaret was not a Lotus Elite owner
@@furiousdriving Did she not have a Rover 400 Estate neither? 😎
It's a "cigar" lighter, instead of a "cigarette" lighter, posh, indeed 😊
This has to be the best car that you've reviewed Mat and you've been in some brilliant car's.
Now there's a six speed manual conversion in the waiting. I've driven an FTO 4 speed slush-o-matic and that took enough prodding to wake it up.
Only downside with the slant engines were the distributors sat under the forever leaking side draughs and a lot caught fire 🔥
Anyone old enough to remember Maurice the gambler in Minder and his yellow Eclat?I am so sad I thought of it as soon as I saw the pic of this very similar Elite and I haven't seen Minder since its first showing in the early 80s.I did have to google his name though.
Had one with a Rover V8 and Jag XJ6 rear end. 12 previous owners at the time which tells you about the pain of owning one I suspect. Rear driveshafts formed part of the suspension linkage (as XJ6 setup but Jag version better made) so needed regular not to be neglected maintenance, as did those front trunnions, they can snap off if not oiled and they seize. The long doors can drop once safety side beam rusts away from the hinge mounting. Usually shown in photos with default-position raised headlamps as the vacuum system that holds them down against a big spring fails. Rear reminds me of Lambo Espada and also the Pink Panther-mobile to some extent. Fuel pump in trunk - it would always smell of fuel so moved mine to underneath rear body. There was a time when these were almost worthless but good to see some people committing to restoring them now. The looks if anything have improved with time. The later Excel which looks very similar had Toyota Supra running gear and so was a lot more reliable with respect to drive shaft UJ's, those trunnions etc. th-cam.com/video/Ly48HSpba3U/w-d-xo.html
Love these cars. 🎉
The passenger seat might be all the way back. In normal position, the rear seat room is adequate. Way better than a 2+2
Especially for the time a very well finished car. Interior looks amazing, same goes for the front. Backside is a bit iffy... Another great review Matt! Where do you find these gems?
It helps to know the right people for perfect but strange cars!
Lotus trying to go up-market? Sounds familiar! The story of 50 years!
I'm pretty certain that the Reliant Scimitar also had Austin Allegro door handles , also I noticed the Austin Metro / Morris Marina etc etc column stalks.
The crimped brakepipe screen washers are pure Chapman!
Twenty grand of super 1970s style, best i've seen.
What a absolutely gorgeous car treatments❤
The Morris Marina door handle gets absolutely everywhere!
What a great find. I want it.
When lotus made interesting cars that stood out
12:14 HOOT! HOOT!
Eclat was 2+2. Elite was full four seater, and yes, you could fit people back there. It’s quite comfy.
they'd have to be bloomin' short, as I couldnt get in there!
Marina door handles were the best thing about the Marina.
our Morris Nomad has those door handles. Marina too, I think
I remember Barry Carter, Lotus' UK Sales Director at the time of the Elite's launch, saying this was the car that was going to allow Lotus to compete in the market Porsche had made their own throughout the late 1960's. Sadly, while it was a great car to drive when working properly, it's build quality and reliability were absymal. I very much doubt it ever caused Porsche a moment's lost sleep.
Loving the Austin Allegro door handles (:
All agro i recollect fondly
Gear selector and stalks look very Triumph.
probably they are!
I see my old Marina door handles and indicator/horn stalk. The JVC cassette deck is from the late 80s or early 90s.
Nice condition. The dash trim is called Marcasite, not Alcantara.
I have the only Elite 501 ever made that that came from the factory with the automatic transmission. No aircon, no power steering, just auto.
Wow, so rare in that condition!
Treated myself to one of those Tilley hat's this week 😊
They are so good - so many features for a hat!
Did u use the tea shelf?
What an everyday car.
Amazing.
Actually my Scimitar SE6a has a rear wash but err.. it doesn't work But its there!
Was it Italian designed like the Esprit?
I like it a low mileage luxurious Lotus l like the dashboard and interior also the exterior but there is a small detail id the automatic transmission l would prefer a manual and l am sure you would have apreciated a manual also but been a luxury Lotus and air conditioning excellent and l just wondering how much the Lotus is selling for and after your review it will sell quickly
Borrowed an Elite for a weekend....was a delight.
The Morris Marina parts bin heavily used 🤣
Please do a video on who manufactured those door handles which is found on so many cars of that era.
Wilmot Breedon made them for BMC, as standard fitment for the Morris Marina/ Austin Allegro. They were very popular with small volume British car producers like Lotus and Reliant, as well as kit car manufacturers.
Good video. Twould be nice to know a little more about engine character
The reliant was a better looking car and more practical
Nowhere for the fluffy dice, 1/10... only kidding! When I first saw it I did expect the engine towards the back like the Europa (only Lotus I've been in). Also did they come from the factory without a timing cover?
If it has aircondition, why drive with the windows open, doesn't that affect the sound? Or do you have wires out to the cameras?
Those outside door handles may have also been in common with same era AMC cars. My family's Ambassador wagon had something very similar.
Scimiter GTE se6 also used these
Lotus actually sourced them from BMC, they're Morris Marina/Austin Allegro items; beloved of British small volume car producers/ kit car manufacturers.
Stalks are definitely BL too, Marina I guess to match the door handles ?
Is it just me but did Reliant model the Scimitar after this Lotus?
Amazingly low vehicle. i love low cars , as you say a work of art , shame about the automatic
No tea shelf? Denied!!
What is the cable next to the throttle cable for ? not the choke as I can see that to the side.
bonnet release?
@@furiousdriving Look at 5min 36 secs.....I don't think that would be a bonnet catch cable.
On the Excel, two generations later, it would be the cruise control cable, present only on the auto. So I expect it's that.
The interior looks like a 70's Play for Today set. All in all an amazing but rather weird car.
Is the dash from a TR7 🤔🤔
The Lotus Europa or Breadvan as it was called handled a lot better according to Hubnut
The epitome of Lotus....Lot's Of Trouble Usually Serious 😂
As bought by greengrocer's...
You've displayed your ignorance publicly.
Mouse fur does not translate well today. And the styling, well.... Took the Esprit (and a Pretty Woman featured appearance) to really elevate Lotus, and for awhile that was the 'It' car.
The bloke who owned the village chip shop owned one (this was c.1980). It was white.
RWD hatchback, that sounds familiar
Looks like a baby Espada
I was thinking the same.
It’s no looker to my eyes but that is of course subjective