The Lotus Grand Tourers

Just thought I 'd do a bit of free advertising for Lotusbits by posting a couple of pictures of the alluminium gear and seat knobs and light wood dash panels I bought from them, I think they look rather nice and modernise the interior whilst looking OEM at the same time. I have also fitted a smaller diameter Personal Grinta steering wheel, not cheap but as a close as possible to the look of the original and feels great to hold. The one of the exterior I have uploaded as she looked particularly pretty in the morning sun

No Pics that I can see

M

Curious, see it now, first time was with a warz warning. Fine now.

M

Sorry muphy, had a few problems uploading but sorted now.

Shaun

I'm liking the mixed interior colour combo ie dark dash, dark blue carpets with light piping, and light leather seats and tunnel etc.

There was a similar scheme posted recently but in red and cream contrasts in a red Excel which looked good too. My red Excel has sand leather everywhere with mid brownie-beige carpets which although in good nick, is a bit boring by comparison and so I'd prefer the contrasting scheme TBH.

Shaun, how do the alloy seat knobs attach ? Are they a push fit ?

Has your car been retrimmed ? Yours is the first Excel I've seen with magnolia interior and black "A" pillars and main dashboard. It's a smart combination though.

This is the colour scheme in my car for comparison (I've since ditched the naff wooden gearnob).

The gear knob is an exact copy of the original wood ball complete with screw thread. I did have to fiddle around with copper washers etc to get the engraved gear shift pattern straight though.

The seat knobs were a total nightmare to fit. They too are supposed to be exact copies of the originals but for some inexplicable reason they come with a screw thread and the diameter of the hole is far too small to slide over the seat tilt lever. I thought that maybe the leaver unscrewed and then you screwed the new knob on. I got some mole grips and gently twisted the lever and it just came away exposing a thinner rod. In the end I filled the new knobs with soft wood, drilled a small hole and glued them to what was left of the rod.

In the flesh both sets of knobs look great IMHO, they are beautifully finished and well worth the money. I just cant understand why they didnt engineer the seat knobs to slide on to the seat tilt lever like the originals do

The dashboard of my car is black as apparently the car was originally destined to go abroad (Austrailia I think) I presume black was preferred as it reflects less on the windscreen in strong sun. So I'm told the order was subsequently cancelled and the car ended up in London. To be honest I sometimes think I'd prefer a magnolia dash (thought that when I looked at yours Kev!) but it does offer a nice contrast.

The carpets must have been replaced at some stage (although the previous owner told me they were original) as when I had the interior stripped out there were still bits of beige carpet glued to the transmission tunnel.


Regards

Shaun

Interesting stuff. That Australian order story certainly sounds plausible. The black dash is a damn sight more practical than my magnolia one. One of my clumsier mates has a habit of kicking the dash below the glove box when getting in. Once I told him to watch he didn't kick the dash which resulted in him avoiding the dash but standing on the edge of the seat! Strewth !

Reminds me of my Father in Law, he's clumsy. In a moment of madness I offered to take him for a spin. After kicking the the exterior getting in he then went to pull the seat back and hit his head on the windscreen.

After driving away I said to him, 'sounds great doesnt it' His reply? 'mmmm, its a bit noisy'. Not everyones a petrol head I suppose.

Shaun

Your car looks fantastic. Once mine is back from its retrim we should get them together and try and find some sunshine. I definitely have the right setting for a photo - my offices

My car may look fantastic but your offices have the ones where I work comfortably beaten.

Lotus once ran an advertisment showing an Excel in front of a very similar building. Looks like a great venue for a few photos

Shaun