Lot details Registration No: G436SEW Chassis No: SCC100ZT1LAD16322 Mot Expiry: April 2011
Introduced in 1989, the new Elan was designed to `allow 100 percent of its owners to use 90 percent of its performance 90 percent of the time'. Built around a multi-piece bonded and riveted backbone chassis with bolt-on GRP bodyshell, it featured all-round coil-sprung independent suspension, disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering. Powered by a 1.6 litre Isuzu-sourced dohc 16-valve four-cylinder engine allied to a five-speed manual transmission, the M100 (as the model was known internally) exhibited the kind of superlative handling and roadholding characteristics that the world had come to expect from Hethel's chassis alchemists. Available in both normally aspirated and turbocharged guises, the latter version proved a seriously quick car, and was well appointed with electric windows, power steering and tilt-adjustable column. With some 162bhp and 148lbft of torque at its disposal, the lightweight Lotus was reputedly capable of 138mph and 0-60mph in 6.7 seconds, and was a seriously quick car across country. Put head to head with a Porsche 964 Carrera 4 and Lancia Delta Integrale Evo by CAR magazine in an attempt to find the fastest point-to-point car on the market, the Elan SE acquitted itself with honours. Judged the best handling front-wheel-drive car in the world, it still conspired to lose parent company GM money on each one sold, and fewer than 4000 were built before Lotus closed production in 1992.
Finished in red with black upholstery, this particular example is described by the vendor as being in "excellent" condition with regard to its bodywork, paintwork and engine. Rating the car's interior trim, electrical equipment and gearbox as "very good", he adds that it is accompanied by "a vast history file which authenticates the mileage as being correct at 68,000". These important records are also understood to show that the Elan had its cambelt changed and brakes overhauled by a Lotus dealer as part of a major service carried out at 67,600 miles. "A super car to drive", he concludes.
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