Feature: The 100 Greatest British Cars - part four

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100 Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (page 25 of 25)

General Motors owned Lotus for a while, and put it to work transforming Luton's rather ordinary big saloon. And what a transformation: a plain-clothes 176mph scorcher with a 377bhp, twin-turbo version of the Vauxhall 3.0-litre straight six, the Corvette's six-speed gearbox, AP Racing brakes and a 0-60mph time of 5.2 seconds. Offered in dark green paint only, the Carlton was a real undercover operator, with just Lotus badges, wider wheel arches, a small spoiler and air intakes to distinguish it as the fastest ever production saloon, a title it held for many years. Shame that, at £48,000, only 950 (mostly left-hand-drive Opel Omega versions) found homes in 1990-92.

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