Curious Excel Ad I discovered

[Phantasm]

So I bought these 4 pages pulled from an unknown magazine. Complementary article write-up about the SE. Curious as they reference U.S. specs (fuel Capacity), but the word Tyres isn't spelled the american way "tires", the photo is Left Hand Drive and it's written in English, but seems to have Euro style plates. FWIW, I bought it from a guy in Canada. Thought it might be an interesting piece of literature to share...
Text and Photo Credit is given to, "J. Ambinet"
The front cover Caption reads:
"Visitors to last October's now traditional Motorfair at London's Earls Court were pleasantly surprised by the appearance there of a greatly changed Lotus Excel. altogether sportier and plusher looking than ever before. We describe the the new good-looker is all about..."

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Looks like a well-written piece. It highlights the differences and describes the improvements with the SE very clearly.

[Hawaiis0]

....... the photo is Left Hand Drive and it's written in English, but seems to have Euro style plates. ......

They're not European plates ! They're Brexit ones

[amarshall]

....... the photo is Left Hand Drive and it's written in English, but seems to have Euro style plates. ......

They're not European plates ! They're Brexit ones

Pound in the box. Let's not do politics here it's a friendly place most of the time.

[Hawaiis0]

Pound in the box. Let's not do politics here it's a friendly place most of the time.

Sorry I'm normally middle of the road

[Phantasm]

I'm certain I don't know the difference. Are they the'old' pre EU UK plates? Is the reg traceable?

[Hawaiis0]

Just to answer your question:

They are standard UK prefix plates. The AEX part identifies the area the car was initially registered and if you search just AEX in the forum a plethora of owners registrations will pop up.

The C prefix determines the year 1985-1986 as prefix A began in year 1983-1984, with the prefix letter changing each new year in sequence, skipping letters resembling numbers - O-I-Z-U(Too close to V)-Q to assist the cops chasing the speeders.

The previous sequence 1963 - 1983 had the single letter at the end as a Suffix.

These 2 sequences each had a finite life span of 21 years so as they began to run out in 2001 the sequence changed to include 2 numerical combinations half yearly to assist the car industry selling new reg's to materialistic suckers who must have the newest car on the street. Current sequence has 2 letters 2 numbers 3 letters, where the numbers are linked to the year - examples 2013 = 13 & 63 (13 + 50); 2014 = 14 & 64 (14 + 50) and so on. This sequence will last for 50 years or until we run out of fossil fuel and go back to donkeys or Fords

[amarshall]

C704AEX had an interesting history : http://somecrazymail.com/AS/AS1.pdf http://somecrazymail.com/AS/AS2.pdf

[ChrisJ]

Through the years, I think EX suffixes tend to be Lotus registered cars. Mine certainly was and I've seen others in adverts as well.

[amarshall]

Unfortunately, C704AEX is showing as untaxed since 1987 and there's no record of it being MOT tested.

Date of first registration was 8th Jan. 1986.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Unfortunately, C704AEX is showing as untaxed since 1987 and there's no record of it being MOT tested.

Date of first registration was 8th Jan. 1986.

Probably went abroad then?

[amarshall]

Unfortunately, C704AEX is showing as untaxed since 1987 and there's no record of it being MOT tested.

Date of first registration was 8th Jan. 1986.

Probably went abroad then?

I suspect it of being a prototype and destroyed at some point - or re-registered under a different number. Let me do some more digging.

[amarshall]

Are there any photos which include the VIN anywhere?

[kkv444v]

If it's showing up on the DVLA check under that registration, then it's not been re-registered, and it would tell you if it had been exported.
It's probably still sitting in the yard at Hethel...