What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

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JB455
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What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by JB455 »

I had my '85 Excel out at a car show yesterday. I wasn't there for 5 minutes before being approached by a gentleman with a camera around his neck. He introduced himself and gave me his business card- He writes a weekly car feature in one of the local newspapers. He goes on to tell me that in 16 years he's been doing it, he has never featured a Lotus!
Anyhow, I have learned quite a bit about the Excel since purchasing this one back in June, but I figured some of you guys have owned them much longer. What information would you share with the writer, who needs to fill his 800 word allotment? Keep in mind that I am in Connecticut, USA and most people have never even heard of the model, much less seen one in person.

I am meeting him tomorrow afternoon for the photo shoot and story. Here's a link to his work- https://wheels.rep-am.com/category/my-ride/

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rbgosling
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by rbgosling »

The engine is a good point of discussion. It is entirely Lotus' own design (unlike Lotus up to Europa, and from M100 Elan onwards, which use bought-in engines), and is the same as that used in the (much better know in the USA) Esprit, albeit with no turbo option.

It was the first 4-cylinder production engine in the world to have 4 valves per cylinder, just beating the Triumph Dolomite Sprint by a few months.

The overhead twin cams required for this make the engine tall, hence being tipped over by 45deg so the car can still have a low bonnet line.

Although the 180hp was plenty for its day, the car still embodies the Colin Chapman principle that "Adding power makes you faster on the straights; subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere." Hence the total weight, for what was intended as a luxury GT car, of just 1,135kg (2,502lb in American money).
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

KevW
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by KevW »

I'd also add the Excel's high quality fibreglass body, galvanised chassis, sturdy Toyota/Ford running gear and simple front engine/rear wheel drive layout make it a very usable classic. The Lotus engine if properly looked after is also reliable and long lived.
Kev W no.282

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Hawaiis0
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by Hawaiis0 »

History of evolution Elite - Eclat - Excel.

Low build numbers of 2159 viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7158&p=51401&hilit= ... res#p51401
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richardw
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by richardw »

Here is an edited version of a piece I wrote recently for Club Lotus News which gives some background to the development, styling and engineering of the Lotus Eclat Excel – an important chapter in Lotus history.

Unlike the Lotus Elite and Eclat (the latter named the Sprint in the USA), the Excel was never launched in the USA probably because of the cost of the regulatory approval process.

The Lotus Eclat Excel (later simply known as the Lotus Excel) was released at the London and Paris Motor Shows in late 1982. The two predecessors of the Excel, the Elite and Eclat, were in need of a refresh and Lotus was looking for an alliance with a volume manufacturer to provide it with a reliable and competitively priced source of components. In 1980, Mike Kimberley negotiated a significant supply and cooperation deal with Toyota, signed later that year by Colin Chapman. The arrangement gave Lotus access to Toyota components at a very competitive margin over factory cost. The rationale behind the deal was to provide Lotus with technology it could use in future models. For Toyota, it provided access to Lotus engineering resource, which it initially used on the suspension system of the Celica Supra, and the cachet of association with a sporting brand with a global reputation that it could use to develop its motorsport presence and its performance road cars.

Lotus and Toyota had agreed that Lotus would use Toyota engines, drivetrains and braking systems on the high volume Elan M90 (Two seater sports car) project. They also agreed to use suitably rated components from the Celica Supra on a significant revision of the Eclat. The chassis and suspension layout was similar on both cars; the Elan M90 was specified to run with a 16v Toyota engine, drivetrain and braking components, using a modified Eclat chassis frame, which also incorporated a new rear suspension using a wide based lower wishbones as well as the top link.with the brakes located outboard. The Eclat Excel – named the M55 - followed the same layout, again using the Eclat chassis frame as a starting point, with suspension development carried out by Ken Heap.
Colin Spooner, who was responsible for Engineering and had overall responsibility for the project, recalls working on design sketches for the new car: “Developing ideas in my mind I sent sketches to Idat Developments, a small and talented group of pattern makers in Essex who had been involved in the prototype patterns and tooling for the Esprit. They produced a quarter scale model of the Eclat which was then modified on one side as per the sketch ideas.
“The model was presented to Chapman at a board meeting a short time later and he gave immediate approval to proceed with the idea. He fully signed off on the program a few weeks later on viewing a full-size mock-up.”

Body styling included a flattened window waistline, bumpers that integrated with the body shape, a revised bonnet, rear window, C pillar and boot profile, and replacement of the expensive aluminium gutter and window surrounds with fibreglass. The drag coefficient was also improved, from a Cd of 0.34 on the Eclat S2.2 to 0.32 on the new car. Colin Spooner recalls: “The chassis/suspension engineering was mainly the work of Ken Heap, a highly talented engineer. The overall effect was a huge improvement in refinement, dynamics and comfort. The car could be enthusiastically driven on the road with great confidence and safety.”

As volume manufacturers were increasingly keen to engage in the high performance coupe market, the cost reductions achieved on the Eclat Excel without affecting specification were important to improving competitiveness. The new car, at £13787, was £1109 less than the Eclat S2.2. The competition Lotus faced included Porsche (effectively in conjunction with Volkswagen) who had released the 924 in 1976, and in 1982 released the 944, a restyled version of the 924 with a Porsche developed 2.5 litre engine in place of the VW 2 litre. Amongst others, Audi, BMW, Colt, Saab as well as Toyota all had their own coupes or high performance versions of existing models.

The suspension development carried out on the modified Eclat chassis was hugely successful. The new Toyota differential was more softly mounted on rubber, reducing noise and vibration compared to the earlier car. This can justifiably be said to be the best implementation of the Lotus front engine, rear drive layout – sadly never put into production on the Elan M90.
Road testers judged the new suspension favourably: (they have) ‘made the Excel one of the best handling roadgoing cars available’ (Motor, January1983).

Hope this helps

Richard
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JB455
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by JB455 »

Spent about an hour and half yesterday doing a photo shoot, video interview and driving videos. The columnist was building up an inventory of stories so they can run through the winter. Story should be out some time between November and April.

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MetBlue
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Re: What's great about the Excel, or Lotus in general?- newspaper story.

Post by MetBlue »

You must keep us this side of the pond up to date as things get published.
Hopefully there may be an online version?
Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

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