• Rare Pre-Facelift version (only a handful of these are still on the road)
• Copious amounts of paperwork and history
• Well looked after and presented
• Two original keys, one even has the original keyring from the 90’s
• Has had a full air-con refit

The Vauxhall Lotus Carlton is a legendary car and well known by everyone of the era. With this being the fastest saloon car on the market at the time. With almost 400hp and an acclaimed top speed of 176 mph coming from the massive twin turbo 3.6L straight six engine, it was even quicker than the Ferraris of the period. And all of this from a four-door family car.

The reputation of the Lotus Carlton now proceeds it, it needs no introduction as an icon of the 90’s. But all the story of this car could’ve been totally different. After a spate of car thefts of specifically Lotus Carltons the British police soon realised that they had nothing that was able to keep up with the car.

he most famous Carlton being 40 RA, which was used in several ram raids in the north of England, but it was never recovered and the whereabouts is still unknown today.

Due to the high-profile robberies taking place with these cars there was a petition put to parliament to get the Lotus Carlton banned from the UK. The petition was ultimately a failure and the Lotus Carlton has always remained a cult icon for so many petrol heads.

With the financial crisis of the 1990’s and the price of £48,000 when new Vauxhall never produced as many Lotus Carltons as they wanted too. After 2 years and just 320 Lotus Carltons produced production ended. This means that these days it is rare to come across.

This car has a well-documented history which is apparent when you look at all of the paperwork that comes with the car. It has lived a very nice life with its previous owners with all the major works being down whenever necessary.

It has recently had its headliner replaced and a full air con refit to make sure that that part of the car still works like it would have done from the factory.

This Lotus Carlton has to have the most amount of history and paperwork of any out there. From original build documents which paint the picture of the car going down the line in Hethel, original correspondence between Lotus and previous owners and the original little green maintenance programme which show stubs from the pre-delivery inspection to some of the most recent works.

But this is not all the paperwork/memorabilia that comes with the car. It comes with two original books that you would’ve been given when you ordered your new Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, one is even still in its original cellophane wrap, in the original cardboard packaging.

There are old MOT documents, recent receipts for work like a headlining replacement and the air-con refit.

With such a documented history you can see that this car has been well looked after from day one. All the owners have known the importance of this Vauxhall Lotus Carlton.

The interior is just about as 90’s as you can get, big plush leather seats, lots of buttons and an analogue clock in the dash. The interior of this car is just as good as every other part of the car, it has been well maintained and looked after.

The little details in the cabin are amazing, from the Lotus Carlton side sills, to the big and well enjoyed metal throttle pedal and also the all-important plaque placed on the glovebox which proves that this car was number 0030.

The current owner has had the headliner replaced and the air condition refitted so you’re able to enjoy the inside just as it would’ve been back when the car came out of the factory.

The originality of this car is amazing, on the interior there are the original carpet over mats and the original tool kit in the boot which seems to have never been used before.

As you can probably tell the inside of this car has been well looked after by the precious owners so that it can be appreciated as much by the owner as the current/previous owners have.

Again, just like the rest of the car is presented in great condition.

Earlier this year it underwent some body work which included the removal of the front and rear bumpers to be resprayed and there was also some wheel refurbishment done which means they are now looking as new. After this process it then went to be ceramic coated to help protect this new paint.

All of the badges, headlights and small fittings on the exterior are also in great condition with little to no deuteriation over the years. The exterior is in such good condition that you are able to see the ice sensor that is nestled in the front bumper just to the right-hand side of the front lip. A little feature that not many people would look for.

The special feature on the exterior of this car, H10 LOT, are the pre-facelift smaller sidelights. There are believed to only be a handful of this specification left on the UK roads.

The car starts, runs, and stops well. With the copious number of receipts and the amount of service history present you can see that this Carlton has been well looked after mechanically.

The car comes with its build documents from back in 1990 and within the documents you can see that on the 20th of November 1990 engine number 0029 was deemed unfit for whatever reason and was refitted with engine LB 0065 and signed off by the appropriate Lotus technicians within the factory.

The 3.6L twin turbo power unit purrs nicely on idle, and when you are pushing on it sounds even better. With almost 400 hp this car shifts, it was the fastest saloon car when it was released and faster than any car in the UK Police force leading to some well-known stories of these cars.

When the car was new it was offered with a 3 year or 70,000 mile warranty, as you can see from the mileage the car has only just exceeded its mileage limit for the warranty some 30 years later, just showing how low the mileage on the car is in comparison the what Vauxhall and Lotus thought it would be.

With everything you have already read about this car you can see that it is an amazing opportunity. It has been well loved and looked after by all of the previous owners and you may never see one presented with so much history again. With paperwork going all the way back to the building process you’re able to tell just how important the previous owners 

This car is the epitome of 90’s styling, luxury and performance an icon in its own right. You could be driving around in a true legend. With the car now being over 25 years old it is now exempt from NHTSA import restrictions meaning you can now import it into the USA.

This specific example is in great condition as you can tell, the next owner will have great fun taking this anywhere. It is a car that people never fail to recognise, you may even get supercar owners being envious of you.