Lotus Carlton Abandoned for 30 Years Is an Unlikely Yard Find

Come 2024, Lotus has taken the electrification route. It unveiled the Evija supercar in 2021 and began producing its first SUV, the Eletre, in 2023. A third EV, the Emeya, joined the Lotus lineup this year. It's technically the company's first vehicle that resembles a four-door sedan.

However, it was not the firm's first venture into four-door territory. In the early 1990s, Lotus sold a super sedan based on the Opel/Vauxhall Omega. It's called the Carlton, and it's among the wildest sedans of the era.

The Carlton was born at a time when Lotus was under General Motors ownership. So was Opel and its British sibling, Vauxhall. GM had already commissioned Lotus to develop the drivetrain for the then-upcoming Chevrolet Corvette C4 ZR-1, so it's not exactly surprising that the partnership extended to a European-made vehicle.

Both the ZR-1 and the Carlton arrived in 1990, and both were quite impressive in their respective segments. Powered by a 375-horsepower V8 engine (later upgraded to 405 horses), the ZR-1 set no fewer than seven endurance and speed records. Lotus had no such ambitions, but the Carlton was also massively powerful and fast.

Powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter inline-six, the sedan arrived with 377 horsepower and 419 pound-feet (568 Nm) of torque on tap, a tad more than the Corvette. It wasn't as quick as the ZR-1 from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) at 5.1 seconds, but it trumped every beefed-up sedan of the era, including the BMMW M5 E34 and Mercedes-Benz 500E.

The Carlton's top speed was just as impressive at 176 mph (283 kph), especially when high-performance sedans hit showrooms with electronically limited top speeds. The Lotus was also only four mph (6.4 kph) slower than the Corvette ZR-1. The Carlton was so ridiculous that the Daily Mail and the Association of Chief Police Officers launched a campaign to ban the sedan in the UK.

Lotus and Opel planned to build 1,100 units, but the recession of the early 1990s and the vehicle's expensive price of £48,000 saw only 950 cars leave the assembly line before production was halted in December 1992. The company built 320 Carltons and 630 Omegas. Needless to say, the Carlton is a prized collectible in 2024.

But that doesn't mean all 320 units were pampered by their owners. As unbelievable as it may seem, the example you see here was abandoned for a whopping 30 years. That's right; this Carlton was driven for two or three years before being parked in a front yard, fully exposed to the elements.

Granted, the sedan doesn't look terrible for a vehicle that sat for this long. However, the damage is extensive enough to require major repairs or perhaps even a restoration. But the owner doesn't seem happy with people posting the car on the internet, so who knows how long this Carlton will remain a sad yard find. Check it out in the video below.