Vauxhall SRV

I recently saw this at this year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC. I mean it was just there on a club stand!!!!!! This was Vauxhall’s Special Research Vehicle and was debuted all the way back in 1970 at the Earl’s Court Motor Show.

Retro Show, Santa Pod

After getting up early on the Saturday morning and replacing the radiator and thermostat seal on my own retro machine since they failed the night before, I headed off for the 160 mile drive to join the rest of the Retrobeutes at the home of British drag racing Santa Pod for the Retro Show.

Vauxhall VX Lightning

The Vauxhall name though has a long and trusted reputation for building quality cars with fast versions, who can forget the Lotus Carlton or the VX220. The VX Lightening was built to celebrate the centenary of Vauxhall  back in 2003.

Lancaster Insurance Classic Car Show, NEC, Birmingham

Thanks to Lancaster Insurance I headed down to what is probably the largest indoor car show in Europe last Friday, the first time I’ve attended since 2008 and how it’s grown. Over those years it’s gone from filling three of the NEC’s massive halls to now spanning five. The quality and abundance of metal now on show has also improved from “just a classic car show that’s in doors” to showcasing the best of the best as well as club projects, rare gems and concept cars. Enough to make walking round this colossal show take six hours, and some of that was at some pace!!!!

Lotus Carlton

Collaboration between car manufacturers are a fickle affair, particularly when it comes to sports car builders tie-in with the main stream ones. They usually ends up as a “sports” model that’s had a rebadging exercise, ie the MG Montego!!!!! Some time though is more than that, the “tweaking” to the standard model is more than the badge, sometimes it results in the car being lifted to another level. When its seen as more the sports car builders car than the donor manufacturer think about the Lotus Cortina.

The collaboration between Lotus and Vauxhall has produced some iconic cars starting with the Lotus Carlton. Fast saloon cars with a sporty edge had been around for years before this was released on the public in 1990. Most were homologation versions to allow a manufacturer to go rallying/racing (Ford‘s Cosworth‘s and RS‘s), but the Carlton was built as a fast road car as simple as that.

Lotus worked its magic on the executive car in the Vauxhall line up, a relatively dull run of the mill barge, turning it into an iconic car that set in urban myth.. Packing a 3.6ltr straight 6 with twin turbochargers strapped to it, it produced 377bhp and accelerated upto 177mph!!!!! That was supercar territory back then, giving it the deserved title of fastest 4 door saloon production car, which it held for a number of years, 10 to be exact!!! With only 950 built under the UK Carlton name and European Omega mantel with a price tag at the time of £48,000 this was one exclusive car.







For more information-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Carlton