I first bought
the car on the 31st March 2003 following 6 months of searching. The car had
2 owners from new & I collected the car from 2nd owner who was based in
Norfolk. The car was in pretty good condition compared to the other cars I'd
already
viewed & for the money I believe a got a good buy. These first pictures are
following a solid 2 days of cleaning immediately after purchasing the car as
it was extremely grubby due to the previous owners farm land location. What
the pictures don't show are a few bodywork niggles including a a cracked
front bumper due to a stone impact & scratches on some the wheel arch
extensions, amongst others! However generally it was all genuine and nothing was trying to
be hidden so I knew what I was buying.
Engine 1st Pictures
Here's the
pictures of the engine bay as it was when purchased, again nothing un toward
& pretty much what all other Lotus Carlton engine bays look like 10yrs or so
down the line.
More Engine 1st Pictures
Again more
pictures of the cars engine bay when purchased. The last two pictures in
this sequence show what happened when I started to polish the inlet
manifold. What I found was under the blotchy top layer was a nice powder
coated finish. This is what led me to carry on with the rest of the covers
despite it being a VERY lengthy process.
Polishing Has Started !!
These pictures
show in stages when I started to polish the front of the rocker cover. As
you can see, bit by bit the look is totally transformed with the dark grey
finish found underneath.
Inlet Manifold Polishing
Again some
more pictures showing more polishing work on the engine covers, suspension
turrets & the fan shroud. The last picture shows what the engine bay looked
like before I went the whole hog in pulling the car apart. I'm sure you'll
agree its already quite a bit different to the original picture taken at the
top of this page but it could also be improved so read on for what followed
in the full restoration of Lotus Carlton 0890G ........