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Lotus M90
The Lotus M90 (sometimes referred to as the Lotus X100) is a concept car that was developed by Lotus using many Toyota parts. Rumors were circulated that it was the initial design for the MKI MR2, but, though sharing an engine, it bears very little resemblance to the mid-engine roadster. The project was the last one overseen by Lotus founder Colin Chapman before his death in 1982. In 1981, Oliver Winterbottom was brought back to Lotus, after a stint developing the Tasmin for TVR, to design a new car to complement the Excel and the Esprit and bring some profitability to the lineup. The new car was to resurrect the Elan name which had not been used since 1975 and, like the Excel, make use of the company's close relationship with Toyota to use already well-engineered suspension and engine components. Initial designs were a coupé that didn't get much of an enthusiastic response from the board of the company. The project stalled when company founder Colin Chapman died in 1982, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Cars
Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is based in Hethel, Norfolk. Lotus Technology Inc. (), an all-electric lifestyle vehicle company, headquartered in Wuhan, China, and operates regional facilities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany. Additionally, Lotus Engineering, an engineering consultancy firm, is headquartered at the Lotus Advanced Technology Centre (LATC) located at the University of Warwick, University of Warwick's Wellesbourne Campus. Lotus was founded and owned for many years by Colin Chapman. After his death and a period of financial instability, it was bought by General Motors, then Romano Artioli and then DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary PROTON Holdings, Proton, which owned Lotus from 1996 to 2017. Lotus is currently majority-owned by Chinese multinat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Esprit
The Lotus Esprit is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004 at their Hethel, England factory. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Together with the Lotus Elise / Exige, it is one of Lotus' most long-lived models. The Esprit was among the first of the (near) straight-lined, hard-edge creased, and sometimes wedge-shaped, polygonal "folded paper" designs of the prolific, and highly successful Italian industrial and automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. The Esprit's backbone chassis was later adapted to carry the body of the DeLorean car, another low-bodied, Giugiaro-drawn, sharp-creased, wedge-shaped sportscar design. In 1978, the first updates led to the series 2 and engined Esprit S2.2, made until the 1982–1988 Series 3 and Turbo Esprit models, that used a 1980 Giugiaro designed aerodynamic and aesthetic restyling package. The Lotus Esprit however, lived on through the 1990s, and into the 2000s. It received its first significant restylin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a thermoplastic. Cheaper and more flexible than carbon fiber, it is stronger than many metals by weight, non- magnetic, non- conductive, transparent to electromagnetic radiation, can be molded into complex shapes, and is chemically inert under many circumstances. Applications include aircraft, boats, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, roofing, pipes, cladding, orthopedic casts, surfboards, and external door skins. Other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), glass-fiber reinforced pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the Escort (later the Focus). Ford had sold over 15 million Fiestas from 1976 to July 2011, making it one of the best-selling Ford nameplates behind the Escort and the F-Series. It has been manufactured in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, and South Africa. The Fiesta was discontinued in 2023, after over 22 million units had been made. The final Ford Fiesta rolled off the production line on 7 July 2023. Development The Fiesta was originally designed by the project "Bobcat" team headed by Trevor Erskine (not to be confused with the badge-engineered Mercury variant of the Ford Pinto) and approved for development by Henry Ford II in September 1972, shortly after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aston Martin Lagonda
The Aston Martin Lagonda is a full-size luxury four-door Sedan (automobile), saloon manufactured by British manufacturer Aston Martin between 1974 and 1990. A total of 645 were produced. The name was derived from the Lagonda marque that Aston Martin had purchased in 1947. There are two distinct generations: the original, the short-lived 1974 design based on a lengthened Aston Martin V8, and the entirely redesigned, wedge-shaped Series 2 model introduced in 1976. In 2014, Aston Martin confirmed it would launch a new Lagonda model called the Lagonda Taraf, Taraf for the Middle-East market, sold on an invitation-only basis as a successor to this saloon. As of 2022, 113 remain registered in the United Kingdom, though 82 are Vehicle excise duty, SORN (unregistered for routine road use). History Aston Martin was facing financial pressure in the mid-1970s and needed something to bring in some much-needed funds. Traditionally Aston Martin had worked on 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 sport ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Allegro
The Austin Allegro is a small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland (BL) from 1973 until 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti between 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent. The Allegro was designed as a replacement for the Austin 1100 and 1300 models. In total, 642,350 Austin Allegros were produced during its 10-year production life, most of which were sold on the home market, less than a third of 2.1 million 1100s and 1300s sold in the previous 11 years. It was built and sold by British Leyland alongside the hatchback Austin Maxi (launched in 1969) and the 1971 rear-wheel-drive Morris Marina. All three were eventually replaced by the Austin Maestro in 1983. Design British Leyland used a saloon design for the Allegro rather than a hatchback, as the company had decided that the Austin Maxi should have a hatchback as its unique selling point. The Allegro used front-wheel drive, with the familiar A-Series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opel Monza
The Opel Monza is an executive fastback coupe produced by the German automaker Opel from 1977 to 1986. It was marketed in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Royale Coupé by Vauxhall. Monza A1 (1977–1982) The Monza was planned as a successor for the Commodore Coupé. In the late 1970s the Commodore C model was made as a two-door version (as was the Rekord E1), but still as a sedan type car. The first model of the Commodore the "A" series had a regular coupé in the production line and Opel desired to make a newer version of their large luxury coupé. Work began in 1976 and in 1978 the first Monzas were available to buy. The cars to compete with would be the Mercedes-Benz C123 and later the Mercedes-Benz C124 and the BMW 6 Series (E24) models (coupe models), and any other large luxury coupe. There was plenty of space inside for the class, and the seats were upmarket. The internals consisted of parts mainly borrowed from the Rekord E1 and later the E2, which meant cloth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past participle of , "cut". Some coupé cars only have two seats, while some also feature rear seats. However, these rear seats are usually lower quality and much smaller than those in the front. Furthermore, "A fixed-top two-door sports car would be best and most appropriately be termed a 'sports coupe' or 'sports coupé'". __TOC__ Etymology and pronunciation () is based on the past participle of the French verb ("to cut") and thus indicates a car which has been "cut" or made shorter than standard. It was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. These or ("clipped carriages") were eventually clipping (phonetics), clipped to .. There are two common pronunciations in English: * () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Elan
Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel drive vehicle. Timeline The first range of cars (1962–1975) comprised: * Two seater sports cars: ** Lotus ''Type 26'' drop head coupé (DHC) marketed as the Elan 1500, Elan 1600, and Elan S2 (Series 2). ** Lotus ''Type 36'' fixed head coupé (FHC) marketed as the Elan S3, the Elan S4 and, lastly, in a higher performance model, the Elan Sprint. ** Lotus ''Type 45'' drop head coupé, replacing the Type 26, delivered in parallel with the Type 36 in S3, S4 and Sprint form. ** Lotus ''Type 26R'' racing version of the Type 26. * Four seater sports car (rear seats suitable for children): ** Lotus ''Type 50'', fixed head coupé, marketed as the Elan +2. After the S2 was released the original Elan 1500 and Elan 1600 models were typically refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Excel
The Lotus Excel (Type 89) is a sports car designed and built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars from 1982 to 1992. It is based on the design of the earlier Lotus Eclat, which itself was based on the earlier Lotus Type 75 Elite. Development Toyota engaged Lotus to assist with the engineering work on the Supra. During this period, Toyota became a major shareholder in Lotus, later giving up their holding when General Motors bought Lotus. Part of the deal between Lotus and Toyota included the use of many Toyota mechanical components in Lotus' cars. The original Excel (aka the Eclat Excel) used the W58 manual transmission, driveshafts, rear differential, 14x7 inch alloy wheels, and door handles from the A60 Supra. The engine was the familiar all-aluminium, DOHC 2.2 L Lotus 912 slant-four engine also used in the Lotus Esprit S3, producing . Overview Launched in October 1982, the Excel received two major upgrades during its 10-year production run. With ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Winterbottom
Oliver Carton Winterbottom (24 February 1944 – 6 November 2020) was a British automotive designer who designed cars for Lotus, Jaguar and TVR. Early years Winterbottom was born in Ashford, Kent. His father was born in Oldham, Lancashire and attended school in Shanghai before coming to England and public school. His father took up medicine and qualified at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington where he met Oliver's mother who came from Lincolnshire. In 1952 Winterbottom was sent to boarding school in Staffordshire and at the age of 11 he was committed to becoming a car designer after having made some preliminary attempts to draw a racing car in 1952. He attended Denstone College like his father and had science on his curriculum, but also was a cross country runner and skilled marksman in the winter season. Towards the end of this college period his father accompanied him to Jaguar Cars in Coventry to discuss an apprenticeship. He was accepted as an apprentice automobile engineer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TVR Tasmin
The TVR Tasmin (later known as the TVR 280i) is a sports car designed by Oliver Winterbottom (coach) and Ian Jones (chassis) for TVR and built in the United Kingdom by that company from 1980 to 1987. It was the first of TVR's "Wedge"-series which formed the basis of its 1980s model range. The Tasmin/280i was available as a 2-seater coupé, as a 2+2 coupé and as a 2-seater convertible. History As with all TVRs, the running gear was located in a tubular spaceframe steel chassis, which was powder coated for extra corrosion resistance. Much of the running gear was sourced from Fords of the period. The suspension and steering was sourced from the Ford Cortina, with TVR engineered trailing arms at the rear, similar to designs previously used on Lotus models including the early Esprit. Gearboxes were from the Cortina, Granada, and Sierra. Brakes were discs all round, with the front units from the Granada. The differential (and rear brakes) was from the Jaguar XJ-S. Ancillary c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
