info on Eclats?

[kalaran]

I have been trying to find information on Eclats but it has proven to be very difficult. I think that they are attractive cars but the only ones I have seen have been less expensive than I expected. Are these cars simply less desirable and if so why?

[Nightmare]

to be honest I think its just that they're quite a lot older....I dont know when Lotus stopped making them, but Im pretty sure it was near the time I was born!! that alone would probably account for their value now

[adrianr]

>Are these cars simply less desirable Yes. >and if so why? Partly cos they have 4 seats, which no "proper" sports car has, and partly cos they have some fundamental design/engineering flaws that are so expensive to put right that you're almost always better off going for an Excel. That said there are some happy Eclat owners about - try the 'Lotus4Seaters' group on yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lotus4seaters Cheers, AdrianR Edited by adrianr on Tuesday 24th April 12:44

[simonelite501]

quote:Are these cars simply less desirable and if so why?

Yes, these cars seem to be less desirable at the moment,I think this is due to a number of reasons, firstly and I think most importantly, is Fashion. The 70/80's looks of the Elite and Eclat are most definately out of fashion if you look at the ranks of sports cars around at the moment. But fashions change like the wind direction, the second reason is that these cars do unfortunatly have some rather expensive design faults, prodominently Drive shafts wear badly and as the shafts act as the upper suspension link this causes execesive play in the rear hub, MOT failure!
After saying all that, these cars are imensely practical vehicles and can be used as a daily driver without any problems, having 4 seats is very useful although to get in the back it helps if you are tres petit! Spares are readily availible through Lotus,or various specialists at reasonable prices. These cars provide an inexpensive way into owning a Lotus, If you can find a good one, buy it now as at the prices will only rise as people realise what a great car an Elite or Eclat can be.
The Best Web site about Eclats I have found Is at www.bellchamber.org/po.html its an Eclat owners site and he's alot more informative than I could ever be, hope this is of interest to you,check out my car att members cars,if you need any more info feel free to Email me, Simon.
>> Edited by simonelite501 on Thursday 31st January 20:14

>> Edited by simonelite501 on Thursday 31st January 20:38

[ianwayne]

The Eclat was in production until 82/83. This is a bit imprecise because Lotus utilised a thing called 'type approval roll-over' to introduce the Excel. It was badged as an Eclat Excel for 2 years and then just 'Excel' from 84/85. This avoided the expense of full crash testing, etc required for type approval!
I've owned 3 Excels in the past and 2 of them had 'Eclat' on the V5! The shapes are similar, 2door 2+2, but the Eclat originally had a 2 litre engine. The last Eclats were sold with 2.2 litre engines, which was the stadard engine in the Excel. Don't think the Eclat had a boot spoiler.