For sale: 1985 Excel
Specifications
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- Available with two engine options:
- Inline 6-cylinder 4.1l OHV (12-valve) carburettor, producing 105kw @ 3800 RPM. (Pre-July 1980 came with a cast iron head, July 1980 onward came with an alloy head).
- V8 5.8l OHV (16-valve) carburettor, producing 149kw @ 4,300 RPM.
- Borg Warner 4-speed manual floor-shift transmission or Borg Warner ‘35-3’ 3-speed Auto (applied to the 6-cylinder) / C4 3-speed Auto (applied to the V8).
- Bilstein gas filled shock absorbers with revised springs and ride height. (ESP vehicles are approximately 1 inch lower than a standard XD Falcon), but still ride on a leaf spring back end.
- Rear traction rods (also called drag struts). These were mounted on a bracket above each rear leaf spring, and connect to a bracket welded to the chassis for increased chassis rigidity / suspension rigidity under extreme acceleration. If you look in the back wheel arch you can see where the rod connects to a bracket above each leaf spring, and connects to the chassis in front of the diff. See images for several examples.
- 15 x 7 inch Bathurst Globe alloy wheels, fitted with Australian made ER60 H15 Uniroyal Wild Cat steel belt radial ply tyres. Genuine XD wheels can be identified by their date casting marks which should be close to the vehicle's production date, along with size casting marks on the inside of the rim,
- V8 engines were fitted with a Carter thermoquad four barrel carburettor.
- 6-cylinder engines were fitted with a Bendix Stromberg single barrel downdraft carburettor.
- Limited slip differential and four wheel servo assisted disc brakes standard (Front 286mm ventilated discs, rear 286mm ventilated discs).
- Revised front steering geometry (including faster steering ratio) and sway bar / stabiliser bar.
- All engine blocks were finished in a matt / semi-gloss engine black.
- Unique V8 air cleaners were designed for the 351ci ESP, and they along with the rocker covers were painted silver. A commonly noted close match for the air cleaner paint is ‘Argent Silver’ (PPG code: 8568). Red displacement graphics were applied to the air cleaner and front ends of the rocker covers.
- A factory fitted tow pack was available on the XD. Several towing packs were available as options (See image of spec sheet under section X).
- All Fairmont Ghia 6-cylinder automatics were T-bar, whilst Falcon automatics had the option of column shift or T-bar.
- It is believed that the 6-cylinder cars all received the new alloy head introduced in July 1980 (although, it is technically possible that a cast iron head engine may have been applied to very early cars).
Vehicle location
New Zealand , Wellington , Lower Hutt City
This is the first Lotus Excel on the register - one of the most overlooked Lotus cars.. Such great styling and typical of the era, the excel is a rare beast, with just 2,075 built. This example has just under 100,000km, and at the time we spotted it on trademe.co.nz, with a starting bid of $25,000. Not too bad if you got it for that! The seller made the following comments in the original advertisement:
"New Zealand new Lotus Excel in excellent condition. This is quite a rare car being new in New Zealand and never exposed to UK roads. It has been looked after well over the years, as can be seen in the photos. It runs extremely well and is a great touring car.
The Lotus Excel is often overlooked, as the Esprit got all the glamour. It is much more reliable than than Esprit and looks great. The Excel is front engine, rear drive with a 50/50 weight distribution, which makes it a great handing car. As Lotus was owned by Toyota when the Excel was being designed, it has Toyota Supra running gear (gearbox, rear drive), with the Lotus 2.2 engine, the same as the Esprit. The engine is non-turbo, and produces 160 hp in this model which is plenty of power for a relatively light car. The body is all fiberglass, so no problems with rust and being NZ the chassis has no problems. The interior is in great condition and is all leather as can been seen by the photos.
I have had the car for about 10 years and only selling it as it is not used. I have had the rego on hold for the last four years, but it has been regularly run and just flew through its WOF with no problems. It has been regularly serviced, even in storage and the cam belt was changed in 2020, so you can drive it away and enjoy."