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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 198 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Cars
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics. Lotus was previously involved in Formula One racing, via Team Lotus, winning the Formula One World Championship seven times. Lotus Cars 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 DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton. It is currently majority owned by Chinese multinational Geely, with Etika Automotive as a minority shareholder. The engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, an offshoot of Lotus Cars, has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Malaysia. Notable Lotus cars include the Lotus Seven, the Lotus Esprit and the Lotus Elan. History Early years The company was formed in 1952 as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Esprit
The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Background In 1970 Tony Rudd, who had arrived at Lotus the previous year, proposed two new model development projects. The first, Project M50, resulted in the 1974 Elite. The second, Project M70, meant to develop a successor to the Europa which, like the Europa, was to be a two-door fixed-head mid-engine coupé. A meeting between Colin Chapman and Giugiaro was arranged in 1971 by designer Oliver Winterbottom, who also suggested that Giugiaro use his Maserati Boomerang concept as the inspiration for the new Lotus. Work began on the new car in mid-1971 with production of a 1:4 scale model. According to Italdesign, Chapman was disappointed with the wind-tunnel test results with the model and halted the project, but the Italian coachbuilder pressed on and built a f ... [...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 plastic (GFRP) or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the Focus). Ford has sold over 22 million Fiestas since 1976, making it one of the best-selling Ford marques 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 is planned to be discontinued in June 2023, after 20 million have been made; it had been largely displaced by newer models. The hybrid Ford Puma became the more affordable option with the approach of bans on internal-combustion-engined cars. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aston Martin Lagonda
The Aston Martin Lagonda is a full-size luxury four-door 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 Taraf for the Middle-East market, sold on an invitation-only basis as a successor to this saloon. 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 sports cars but the Lagonda was a four-door saloon. As soon as it was introduced, it attracted hundreds of deposits and boosted Aston Martin's cash reserves. After the production of seven Ser ... [...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 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 ten-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. It was decided that the Austin Maxi should have a hatchback as its unique selling point. The Allegro used front-wheel drive, using the familiar A-Series engine with a ... [...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 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 ''couper'', "cut". __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 clipped to .. There are two common pronunciations in English: * () – the anglicized version of the French pronunciation of ''coupé''. * () – as a spelling pronunciation when the word is written without an accent. This is the usual pronunciation and spelling in the United States, with the pronunciation entering American vernacular no later than 1936 and featuring in the Beach Boys' hi ... [...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 ref ... [...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. Overview Launched in October 1982, the Excel received two major upgrades during its 10-year production run. With the introduct ... [...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 engi ... [...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 1980's model range. The Tasmin/280i was available as a 2-seater coupé, as a 2+2 coupé and as a 2-seater convertible. History The Tasmin was the first production car in the world to have both a bonded windscreen and also to incorporate the aerial in the rear screen heater element. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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