Which is the most deserving of its badge?

Lotus gained its reputation building racing cars, and then road-going sports cars, but the engineering expertise the company developed in its early years and gradually refined over the decades would come to be applied far more widely. The four cars gathered here are examples of that, and each one earns its Lotus badge by delivering performance and driving pleasure – though they are four very different machines, each with its own individual appeal. The easiest to dismiss is the Proton, yet it’s also the most surprising of the four. There’s a delicacy and precision to the way the Satria GTI tackles a twisty road that belies its hand-me-down origins and the lack of cachet of the badge on the bonnet. If you can get past the admittedly cut-price materials and some questionable styling details – and its lack of outright power – it makes an interesting alternative to the better-known GTIS of its era.

The Sunbeam’s ancestry is barely any more illustrious than the Proton’s, but it does at least have world-beating motor sport achievement on its CV and a proper Lotus engine. Drive a wellsorted example today and it’s massively entertaining, and the Lotus motor is central to that appeal.

The Carlton also benefits from Lotus engine nous. The 3.6-litre turbo motor is sublime, delivering all the benefits of a forcedinduction engine with none of the usual drawbacks, while the reworked suspension gives it top-drawer road manners. It’s extraordinarily rapid, even by modern standards, yet it’s not so much the headline figures for power or top speed that are impressive as the way the Carlton makes it all so useable.

It’s a hugely impressive example of what world-class engineers can achieve even with run-of-the-mill machinery. A shame, then, that so little thought was given to longevity when they were being built, and that there’s so much that can trip up an unwary buyer today. But if you can find a good one, and look after it, it will be deeply rewarding.

Great as the Carlton is, it has to take second place to its ancestor, the Lotus Cortina. Colin Chapman’s original sports saloon is rightly regarded as an icon of Sixties motoring, and 60 years on from its launch it is still one of the most enthralling performance cars money can buy.

Little can touch the characterful delivery of that twin-cam engine, or the poise and balance of the chassis that flatters your driving in every corner. You can feel the history in the wood-rimmed steering wheel, and experience the same thrill that greats like Clark, Stewart, Whitmore and Sears must have had driving it.

The Lotus Cortina was never perfect but it remains compelling, just like the engineer who created it.

‘Each one earns its Lotus badge by delivering performance and driving pleasure’