There Are Three Lotus Carltons And An 838-Mile Escort Cosworth At This Auction

We can understand entirely why you’d want a Lotus Carlton. The 377bhp is a legend that was so fast it caused outrage from both the government and the tabloid media in the UK upon its release, and its straight-line performance is still impressive today.

And if you’re after one, we’ve some good news: Silverstone Auctions’ sale at Race Retro this weekend features not one, but three examples of the Lotus-overhauled car for bidders to snag.

First up, we have a 1992 example (above), which has just 41,960 miles on the clock. Quite how you can own one of these and cover an average of just 2500-ish miles a year, we’re not sure.

Its original owner was the managing director of a Lotus dealer, but it’s been under the care of the current keeper for most of its life. Other than a new stainless steel, it’s all original and is listed with an estimate of £65,000 to £75,000.

If you can’t quite stretch to that, perhaps you’d be more interested in the leggier 1993 example pictured above. It’s clocked just shy of 100,000 miles and has been run by the current owner since 1993. The estimate for this one is a more reasonable £28,000 - £32,000.

The final car technically isn’t a Vauxhall Lotus Carlton - it’s actually the left-hand drive, European-market Opel Lotus Omega, but other than the badge, it’s exactly the same car. Originally purchased in Germany, the Omega (above) was imported to the UK in 2017. It’s had its headlights swapped for clusters from the right-hand drive version of the car, so you don’t have to worry about blinding oncoming motorists. The originals are included in the sale.

It’s actually less well-traveled than the first Carlton we looked at with 64,000 kilometres (39,800 miles) on the clock but is expected to be considerably less expensive. The estimate is £35,000 - £40,000.

Fancy a different performance car hero of the 1990s? There’s a 1996 Ford Escort Cosworth Lux that’s covered just 838 miles, with an upper estimate of £90,000. Or if you’d like something more modern and have plenty to spend, the 80-car auction also includes a Mercedes-AMG SLS GT, one of nine UK cars that could go for as much as £250,000.

A full list of Race Retro auction lots can be seen here.