I just picked up a steel framed Lotus Grand Prix. It is black with red striping and the Lotus Brand name. It looks more like a touring set up from the early eighties. Straight handlebar and such. I will get a picture as soon as I can but does anyone have any info about what years these were made. It is heavy as all get out. It cost me 80 bucks and I don;t know if I overpaid. All the components appear to be original.

I am thinking of tricking it out into a touring road bike of sorts. It is solid though! Wowsers! Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

used as pit bikes in formula one in the years 1975-1979. designed to carry the mechanics' lunch from the mess truck to the garages. (originally sported a large coolbox on the rear, hence the eyelets and pannier racks.)

doubled as a pace machine for the Lotus team. the tubes were extra thick to handle the abuse of hammers and spannners being thrown and dropped from frustration, which happened a lot on that team.

dropped from standard team kit as the relocation costs for such a heavy bike became a serious financial drain on the Lotus company.

your may have been gloss black with two thin gold stripes originally, in the JPS sponsored era of Lotus racing.

Oh, don't believe all you read on BF.

Colin Chapman would never have allowed his company to be associated with anything heavy, even if they shared the same name.

So I guess I am not going to get any sort of a straight answer here. Oh well!