I own two of them. I put about 100,000 miles on them including several coast to coast trips (USA). Great GT cars, the trunk swallows a lot of luggage. Good commuter cars. Amazingly capable.
Nice to see more "behind the scenes stories" on the M100 online, its a shame all the things I learned from Mike Kimberley and Barry Hills are not in this format, untortunately, NDAs make it very dificult for them to talk to a camera without knowing where the boundaries of the contract are and they cant say much. As someone with countless hours of restoration work on mine and more than 30k miles over a 4 year period (pre-covid) any little nugget of information about the origin of parts (daewoo rear lights) can be extremely usefull in order to try and keep these cars on the road for years to come
had one of the first elan SE's with the opera style headlight and then a later example which was one of the last SE's just before the S2 came along. both were great and a very underated car all told.
I remember seeing an M100 for the first time in a back street of Kings Cross in Sydney in around 1992 and since then has always been a favourite. Just the angle the front has as well as how wide it looks while also having a very snub nose look about it.
Etna wasn't bad but it was run of the mill Giugiaro; looked too chunky to be a true Lotus to me: the X180 is on the balls of it's feet where the Etna's sitting on it's heels. Interesting to hear GM's (enlightened) approach - the Pontiac Solstice (which I do have a soft spot for) was sort of presented as revolutionary when in fact it was nearer S.O.P. Do think it's a bit like the original Mercedes A-Class: driven by engineering rather than customer demand. Maybe because of some of the issues Peter highlighted, whilst FWD was acceptable for mundane machinery, it was not seen as the enthusiasts choice. How would things have turned out were it RWD? Contrast & compare with the contemporary MX-5... & I've wondered if this is why the Elise was, comparatively speaking, so retro (& RWD, obvs) Gotta say that the simpler cross sectional profile of the rear bumper on the silver car @16:07 does much to address my main gripe with the M100: the apparent lack of planform in the rear fascia, which the short overhang exacerbates & contributes to the car feeling a little oversquare generally Though clearly of it's period, it's also timeless enough that it _could_ still be on sale today - albeit with some changes driven by rule changes: even just as an academic exercise, would like to see a Stevens 2022 facelift sketch with fixed headlights...
So interesting to hear from the designer on how much thought and love was put into the M100. I had one, and spent a ton of time getting to know it by working on almost every aspect of the car. What's most amazing is how owners are so impressed and loyal to the M100, but let's be honest, it's a horrible little hairdresser's car. The legendary handling is only about as good as a Corolla, and it's pretty under powered even with the cheap Isuzu having a turbo, and then there's the incredibly cheap build quality of the interior and exterior. Really horrible interior. It's in every way, just a gussied up Geo Metro convertible. That's the honest truth, and Peter knows it. I am sure the people that designed the Geo Metro could have just as passionate a discussion about that car, and I am sure the owners gush over their Metro's just the same.
@@urbansoundscapes7734 it is going to break your heart to know I made huge profit after a very short ownership with my M100. You should really feel sorry for Lotus engineers that were forced to build such a piece of crap. Imagine how hard it was for them to sleep at night knowing they were building a horrible car with the worst possible parts bin in the world! And on top of it, they were forced to pretend like front wheel drive was their choice. They deserve Purple Heart medals for being wounded emotionally for life during service.
Great video. Lovely to hear Peter Stevens M100 story first hand. Legend!
I have always had a soft spot for the M100, I will own an S2 example at some point. A peace of timeless design! Just wonderful.....
Thank you Peter Stevens for this wonderful, timeless design!!!..Lotus Elan s2 no 783-greece
Stunning cars, and I'm proud to own and drive a beautiful green example. Absolutely timeless.
Great video!
Even with the production faux pas it has proven to be an outstanding piece of automotive design that still delights from every angle!
I own two of them. I put about 100,000 miles on them including several coast to coast trips (USA). Great GT cars, the trunk swallows a lot of luggage. Good commuter cars. Amazingly capable.
Nice to see more "behind the scenes stories" on the M100 online, its a shame all the things I learned from Mike Kimberley and Barry Hills are not in this format, untortunately, NDAs make it very dificult for them to talk to a camera without knowing where the boundaries of the contract are and they cant say much.
As someone with countless hours of restoration work on mine and more than 30k miles over a 4 year period (pre-covid) any little nugget of information about the origin of parts (daewoo rear lights) can be extremely usefull in order to try and keep these cars on the road for years to come
Great discussion, thank you.
had one of the first elan SE's with the opera style headlight and then a later example which was one of the last SE's just before the S2 came along. both were great and a very underated car all told.
I remember seeing an M100 for the first time in a back street of Kings Cross in Sydney in around 1992 and since then has always been a favourite. Just the angle the front has as well as how wide it looks while also having a very snub nose look about it.
No mention of the reasons for giving the US Elan’s their different rear wings/bootlid/spoiler design...??? They looked so much cleaner/neater.
I wonder how Steve Cropley's rides on those 17inch wheels
Can I ask what wheels the car has in this video?
So which handles better, the big wheels or the original?
Etna wasn't bad but it was run of the mill Giugiaro; looked too chunky to be a true Lotus to me: the X180 is on the balls of it's feet where the Etna's sitting on it's heels.
Interesting to hear GM's (enlightened) approach - the Pontiac Solstice (which I do have a soft spot for) was sort of presented as revolutionary when in fact it was nearer S.O.P.
Do think it's a bit like the original Mercedes A-Class: driven by engineering rather than customer demand. Maybe because of some of the issues Peter highlighted, whilst FWD was acceptable for mundane machinery, it was not seen as the enthusiasts choice. How would things have turned out were it RWD? Contrast & compare with the contemporary MX-5... & I've wondered if this is why the Elise was, comparatively speaking, so retro (& RWD, obvs)
Gotta say that the simpler cross sectional profile of the rear bumper on the silver car @16:07 does much to address my main gripe with the M100: the apparent lack of planform in the rear fascia, which the short overhang exacerbates & contributes to the car feeling a little oversquare generally
Though clearly of it's period, it's also timeless enough that it _could_ still be on sale today - albeit with some changes driven by rule changes: even just as an academic exercise, would like to see a Stevens 2022 facelift sketch with fixed headlights...
I would like to have seen an M90. Just not impressed with the M100. Mazda got it right.
So interesting to hear from the designer on how much thought and love was put into the M100. I had one, and spent a ton of time getting to know it by working on almost every aspect of the car. What's most amazing is how owners are so impressed and loyal to the M100, but let's be honest, it's a horrible little hairdresser's car. The legendary handling is only about as good as a Corolla, and it's pretty under powered even with the cheap Isuzu having a turbo, and then there's the incredibly cheap build quality of the interior and exterior. Really horrible interior. It's in every way, just a gussied up Geo Metro convertible. That's the honest truth, and Peter knows it. I am sure the people that designed the Geo Metro could have just as passionate a discussion about that car, and I am sure the owners gush over their Metro's just the same.
Just like other 2 seater sports car then , only this is more exclusive, and all that coming from another trolling empty account
@@LOTPOR0402 It's not all bad of a car, and if you like the M100, then you'll likely enjoy this video: ua-cam.com/video/fcZXfoB2f70/v-deo.html
Shame you spent so much time and effort on almost every aspect of a car you think is horrible!
@@urbansoundscapes7734 it is going to break your heart to know I made huge profit after a very short ownership with my M100. You should really feel sorry for Lotus engineers that were forced to build such a piece of crap. Imagine how hard it was for them to sleep at night knowing they were building a horrible car with the worst possible parts bin in the world! And on top of it, they were forced to pretend like front wheel drive was their choice. They deserve Purple Heart medals for being wounded emotionally for life during service.