The Lotus Grand Tourers

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https://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/the-most- ... to-science

Happy Easter

Richard

. Must get on with mine

Pete

And the Excel in at 45.
Nice one. Good find Richard.

MetBlue wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 04, 2021 15:25

And the Excel in at 45.
Nice one. Good find Richard.

Yes - the Elite Excel! I must admit to not understanding why it’s down at 45 if the Elite is at 4. The dimensions measured are from a frontal view which must be pretty much identical on both cars.

Still, we should gratefully take whatever is offered!

Cheers, Richard

Although an Excel owner I find the Elite much more attractive. The rear of the Excel is just a normal coupe rear, whereas the Elite has, in my eyes, a stunning profile and rear.
However, for my tastes the Excel is much better engineered than the Elite, and that rules out ownership an Elite.
I've always been disappointed that Lotus never made an Elite body shape on the Excel running gear, and find myself looking enviously at the Elite/Excel conversions.
Tony

tonypoll wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:02

Although an Excel owner I find the Elite much more attractive. The rear of the Excel is just a normal coupe rear, whereas the Elite has, in my eyes, a stunning profile and rear.
However, for my tastes the Excel is much better engineered than the Elite, and that rules out ownership an Elite.
I've always been disappointed that Lotus never made an Elite body shape on the Excel running gear, and find myself looking enviously at the Elite/Excel conversions.
Tony

Completely agree Tony. I did recently ask MJK that question about not doing an Elite Excel, and the answer was very simple; at that time Lotus were selling far more Eclats, which seems to have been particularly pronounced in the US market. So it made no sense to invest in a revised Elite - although MJK himself loves the design of the car!

Cheers, Richard

Nice to get carried away with the rating(s) but the geometry used to classify the cars as super cars is somewhat doubtful.
How the Alfetta got in there .... only knows, perhaps as a result of the geometrical calculation.
From a front-on view to establish the geometrical points of reference I can see very little difference between the Elite
and Eclat. (not Elite Excel as quoted), certainly not 40 positions in the 100 classified cars.

I still reckon that the 75 Elite could easily rate No. 4 using non-geometrical calculations, good old Ollie!

Dave the cog.

Completely agree about the Alfetta David! Should at least be behind the Excel!

Pete

The frontal aspect of the Lotus wedges are stunning!!!

What a far cry from so many new cars on sale today with a grills that have received multiple botox injections and in my opinion are better suited to a Ford Transit van

And that having to add on (late) a US bumper (sorry! Fender).
In Ollies book pages 32, 33 and 37 you can see the original without the US addition, although
I believe it would have needed some aerodynamic additions as the final Elite did, lower spoiler.

dave the cog.

It might be sloppy research on the part of whoever supplied the photos.... the Elite is one of the most beautiful cars since 1950, but that would be the Mk14 Elite!