The Lotus Grand Tourers have put on a display of four Type 75s at the Classic Motor Show. It’s apt for the Elite, Eclat and Excel club to focus on the model that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It’s one of several Lotus clubs among the 3000 cars that were on show.

Among the Lotus Grand Tourers gathering is Marcus Horrell’s recently completed restoration, now shares garage space with his heavily modified Lamborghini Urraco inspired Excel that we featured in the magazine earlier this year.

Backing onto the Grand Tourers display was the Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club who also brought four cars to the show. There’s a mixture of modified cars and genuine works rally cars to explore – and judging by the crowds of people we witnessed on the show’s opening day they’re very popular with show-goers (we had to come back later to take photos).

In close proximity was Club Lotus. As you’d expect, they had a broad range of models on show. There was an Elite to celebrate the anniversary, but also a Mk1 Cortina, Excel, Elan Plus 2, Esprit and Europa to demonstrate a variety of Lotus models from throughout the generations.

Another club with a broad cross-section of models was the Lotus Drivers’ Club situated away from the pack in the fully carpeted Hall 1. On display there was this year’s Salon Privé concours-winning Cortina Mk2, an Elan M100, and Elan Plus 2, an Elise Sport 160 and an Esprit, again given showgoers a variety of models to inspect.

We spotted various other Lotuses around, too. An Elite Type 14 and Carlton are in the auction, while the Cortina we featured on the cover of Issue 37 earlier this year is in the Ford hall. Bedfordshire-based Lotus and Morgan specialist Allon White Sports Cars also took a stand, displaying an Esprit that had just been fully re-upholstered in the trim shop.

This NEC Classic Motor Show returns on 7-9 November 2025.