Lotus Eclat 521

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“The sheer pleasure of handling the Lotus Éclat is something every motoring enthusiast should experience. If your garage contains several beautiful cars with famous names, you will find a strong temptation to use the Lotus for any sort of journey and leave the others behind…Colin Chapman has taken the best things that have come out of racing and combined them in one package.” John Bolster, Autosport.

In terms of exclusivity, performance and price, the Lotus Éclat successfully competed against much larger-engined rivals (Ferrari 308 GT4, Fiat 130 Coupe, Jaguar XJ-S and Porsche 911 Lux), offering vice-free handling and vastly superior fuel consumption, thanks to the 160bhp, 16-valve, DOHC Lotus 907 engine. Although well-received by the motoring press, the Éclat was an expensive car (£12,870 in 1980), resulting in just 1,522 sales between 1975 and 1982.

First registered in May 1979, this stunning Éclat was built to 521 specification: 5-speed gearbox, alloy wheels with 205/60/14 radial tyres, door mirrors (!), electric windows, heated rear window and a radio. The legendary handling came as standard as did a 0-60 time of 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 129mph.

As you can see, the car is in excellent condition throughout, both above and below, and we are told that it was treated to a total nut-and-bolt restoration by a previous owner about 10 years ago which included a full interior retrim in red leather, a repaint in its original JPS black with gold stripes and a powder coated chassis. Sadly there are no bills to document exactly what work was carried out, but the results are plain to see and the attention to detail is exemplary.

Since it was returned to the road in 2009, the car has only covered around 4,000 fine weather miles (as evidenced by 10 old MOTs) and has been serviced every year since 2011 regardless of mileage, the last five services being carried out by Warringtons of Warwick. In September 2010 it was featured in a five-page article in Classic & Sportscar magazine, a copy of which is included in the sale, and it also comes with a Lotus Certificate of Vehicle Provenance, a detailed factory workshop manual and an MOT to February 2019 with no advisories recorded.

With excellent parts and club support, straightforward maintenance (by today’s standards) and providing great levels of performance and economy, the Éclat makes a fine alternative to more run-of-the-mill classics and you would be hard pressed to find a better example than this beauty.