the saga of the de lorean car company is fairly well documented,however the role colin chapman played in the company hasnt been ,i believe he passed off an “in production engine “as a new development to the then government who were investing millions in the de lorean factory based in northern ireland and recieved a considerable sum to develop the engine which of course wasnt correct etc does anyone know anything more about this .i know chapman was due to appear in court to answer certain allegations but tragically died before he could be questioned,he was a brilliant man lotus speaks for itself, it would be interesting to know what really happened, de lorean passed away a few years ago , he and chapman were very much alike risk takers etc.
By: dhfan - 7th March 2008 at 12:02
The standard Lotus engine (at the time) was the 2 litre Talbot Sunbeam derivative, which had the usuall Chapman treatment, i.e twincam head and twin 40’s (sidedraught carbs), this engine had 2 further incarnations, as a turbo, and a dry sump turbo (later engines were also charge cooled)
Wrong way round. The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus had the standard Lotus engine.
Originally derived from, or tested with depending on where you read it, the cast iron slant four from the Victor FD. The first few were built with Vauxhall blocks but quickly went to aluminium Lotus blocks.
By: Creaking Door - 5th March 2008 at 00:26
Yes, the Isuzu Piazza. At the time GM owned Lotus and also 40% of Isuzu.
Some models of Lotus ended up with Isuzu engines and Vauxhall (GM Europe / Opel) got the Frontera which is an Isuzu Trooper chassis.
By: J Boyle - 4th March 2008 at 22:34
IIRC Chapman was involved in some of the design work, maybe suspension, but fell out with De Loren and pulled his support.
Yes he helped sort out the chassis. I don’t know whether he/Lotus did it as a outside consultant or whether he had a stake in the company.
I believe the former. But I do recall reading that some felt the stress of the inquiry into De Lorean may have hastened his death.
Back then Lotus was doing a lot of outside work…anyone remember the Isuzu with the “Handling by Lotus” badges?
By: DazDaMan - 4th March 2008 at 20:03
Can’t remember what engine was in the Delorean, (thought it was a Frenchy) or whether it was turbo charged , but if something was planned, then I would think that it wolud have put it within the realms of developmental.
Originally, the car’s rear-mounted power plant was to be a Citroën Wankel rotary engine, but was replaced with a French-designed and produced PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) fuel injected V-6 because of the poor fuel economy of the rotary engine, an important issue at a time of world-wide fuel shortages.
According to Wikipedia, anyway….
By: stuart gowans - 4th March 2008 at 19:27
The thing with Colin Chapman and engines, is that nothing was ever finished, if an improvement could be made then it was.
The standard Lotus engine (at the time) was the 2 litre Talbot Sunbeam derivative, which had the usuall Chapman treatment, i.e twincam head and twin 40’s (sidedraught carbs), this engine had 2 further incarnations, as a turbo, and a dry sump turbo (later engines were also charge cooled)
Turbo’s were in their infancy as road car fitment in the early 80’s, and you could reasonably argue that this was a development.
Can’t remember what engine was in the Delorean, (thought it was a Frenchy) or whether it was turbo charged , but if something was planned, then I would think that it wolud have put it within the realms of developmental.
By: EN830 - 4th March 2008 at 19:21
Yes the PRV, as used in the Renault 25 V6 Turbo, the Alpine V6 Turbo and Volvo (264 ?)
I believe Citroen and Peugeot also used the same lump.
IIRC Chapman was involved in some of the design work, maybe suspension, but fell out with De Loren and pulled his support.
By: Newforest - 4th March 2008 at 19:07
I thought the car used a Renault engine?:confused:
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March 4, 2008 at 6:39 pm