1986 Lotus Excel

Lot details
Registration No: D22 TNN
Chassis No: SCC089912GHD11982
Mot Expiry: July 2012

The first product of the short term marriage between Lotus and Toyota was the two-door, four-seater Excel, that was manufactured from 1982 to 1992. It was based on the design of the Eclat, which in turn had been a development of the Elite II. Among the benefits of the Toyota union from Lotus's point of view was ready access to a parts bin containing one of the world's largest arrays of tried and tested automotive components. And among the Toyota items that made the Eclat a better car than its predecessor were: the slick five-speed manual gearbox, clutch, differential, drive shafts, ventilated disc brakes, wheels and even the flush-fitting door handles. Toyota cannot be credited with all the improvements, however. The Lotus-designed body for example benefited from hours of testing in the MIRA wind tunnel and boasted a 0.32 drag coefficient against the 0.356 of the Eclat. Other outward changes included a small front spoiler that formed part of a new injection-moulded bumper, re-profiled rear quarters and a smooth cover for the underslung spare wheel. Arguably the most significant of the many mechanical changes concerned the rear suspension, where a more conventional wide-based wishbone and short upper link replaced the Eclat's Chapman strut. The interior boasted more rear seat headroom and an improved facia plus a marked reduction in noise, vibration and harshness. The power source was little changed and was Lotus's own 912 slant four-cylinder 2174cc all alloy DOHC unit that, in Eclat guise, produced 160bhp - sufficient to power the newcomer to 60mph in 7.9 seconds and on to a top speed of over 126mph. Some 415 Excels are apparently currently registered in the UK.

The Excel on sale is a 1986 model and its glassfibre bodywork is finished in Maroon with the interior trimmed in Grey cloth. The third keeper apparently stored the Eclat from 2001 to 2010 and it was recommissioned for the vendor by Huddersfield marque specialist Chris Foulds, since when `D22 TNN' has covered just 1,500 miles. The vendor currently considers the car to have "excellent" bodywork, interior and engine and it comes complete with numerous old MOTs and one valid into July 2012.