Industry giant buys lotus – and calamity follows

Lotus broke the mould, quite literally, with the 1957 Earls Court Motor Show launch of its first ‘proper’ road car, albeit one developed with motorsport in mind. The precocious Type 14 Elite, with its

The exquisitely detailed 1927 Rolls-Royce ‘Phantom of Love’ captured Best in Show at the Concours of Elegance, held at Hampton Court Palace from 5-7 September. Commissioned by Woolworth’s financial di

The first Autocar magazine of the new century was a cracker: official details of MG’s hot new roadster, the F Trophy 160 SE, conceived to do battle with the BMW Z3 via its 158bhp engine and £21,000 pr

Last week’s motorsport fun (I ran Autocar’s electric Renault 5 in a Cornwall sprint) sent me into one of those urgent moods of car desire that stay with you after you’ve had a really good time. Sprint

Price new: From £18,950 Price now: £16,000-25,000 Engine: 1.8-litre, four-cylinder petrol Gearbox: Fivespeed manual Power/torque: 118bhp/165Nm 0-60mph: 5.8 seconds Top speed: 126mph HAD Lotus not come

Patrese had jumped out of his V8 Juddpowered Formula 1 Williams after first qualifying on the Friday afternoon of the 1988 Italian Grand Prix and straight into a mount that wasn’t perhaps quite as dif