Kía de Muertos: 1991 Lotus Elan M100
I love it when a plan comes together — John “Hannibal” Smith. I love it when a man comes with pepper –Hannibal Lecter. Today’s competing themes of All Souls’ Day and Día de Muertos will now be brought together in perfect harmony with this next feature…find this 1991 Lotus Elan M100 here on eBay
bidding for $1,999 with a few hours to go located in Colorado Springs, CO.
The Day of the Dead aspect of this car is instantly clear — in fact this is about as close as you’ll ever get to finding a Lotus you could campaign in 24 Hrs of LeMons without getting penalty laps, but the All Souls’ Day connection is muddy…but the Elan design and tooling was sold to Kia after Lotus decided they’d had enough, and from 1996-1999 the Kia Elan was sold in Korea. It is basically a Kia Soul with convertible top.*
The seller claims that the Isuzu built 1.6 liter inline-4 that is turbocharged to make 162 horsepower is in great running condition, odd given the total wreck that is the rest of the car. This thing is just screaming to be turned into a track car.
See a cheaper Lotus for your race team? tips@dailyturismo.com
*Except totally not.
These always seemed to me to be the lamest (please note there are several more vulgar words I'd prefer to use here) possible Lotus, but with the seemingly square track-vs-wheelbase and a Quaife the ultimate killer autocross car.
Give me a list of what I can sell off to fund purchase of a Quaife LSD for it within the Lemons/Chump cost horizon, and evidence I can cage it and still fit my six-foot-one anatomy in the thing, and I'll buy it.
Selling price $2K and the buyer wasn't me.
Its a hell of alot cooler than a mercury capri fwd. And probably cheaper.
mercury capri fwd
These weren't terrible cars….buddy has one and it's fun enough. I've always posited that in the "image is everything" era this car was introduced in, sales would have been significantly higher if prospective buyers didn't open the hood and see "Isuzu" staring them in the face. Who knows how much a simple valve cover redesign would have positively impacted the future of Lotus?