WHEN LOTUS DID THINGS DIFFERENTLY

1979 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus

Here was a Hethel-fettled hot hatch with a 2.2-litre twin-cam slant four sending 140bhp to the rear and a sub-tonne kerb weight – an unimaginably attractive proposition. We found it “went extraordinarily well” but felt let down by its sub-par economy, poor refinement and propensity for understeer.

1989 Lotus Elan (M100)

A dalliance with front-wheel drive for Lotus’s would-be Mazda MX-5 killer. It never matched the sales of its rival, but we still reckoned “you should sell your grandmother” to own one and labelled it a worthy bearer of the hallowed Elan name.

1990 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

Never before and perhaps never again will a car attract quite so much attention from outside the car world as did the Lotus Carlton. It was the ultimate Q car: a Vauxhall saloon with 377bhp and a Ferrari Testarossa-matching 0-62mph time. Motorway Patrol weren’t huge fans, but we were smitten.