The legendary Lotus Carlton is the kind of car that comes along once in a generation.

At a time when rapid four-door saloons were the preserve of BMW and Mercedes, this Vauxhall (the Opel-badged left-hand drive derivative was the Lotus Omega) derived 'super-saloon' arrived on the scene, demolishing the opposition.

It wasn't its huge performance or masculine good looks that created the most fuss, but the fact that the Daily Mail was so outraged by its stated top speed of 176mph that it declared it too fast for British roads.

Of course, the Lotus Carlton - or Type 104 to Lotus aficionados - was nothing of the sort and aside from the fact it shared its major components with a mainstream executive car, its level of development had resulted in a truly special performance car.

Production of the Lotus Carlton began in 1990, four years after the original Carlton/Omega went on sale.

Vauxhall/Opel had hoped to build 1,100 cars in total, however owing to the recession of the early 1990s, th...