Agreed. The later, lugged Lotus Aero Sports were particularly sloppy - little more than a tarted up, mid-range frame with Dura-Ace components.

-Kurt

The second bike looks like a Tsunoda/Lotus Super Pro Aero to me. Except Lotus spiffed it up with a chrome fork and full chrome rear drop outs.

Agree on the second, but not the one in my eBay link.

I beg to differ, maybe you saw a bad example. I have an Aero Sport with impeccable lugged construction, beautiful paint, the decals are even under a clear coat. Components are Shimano 600 AX and the frame is the same tubing as the Super Pro, just with lugs which possibly allowed for faster/less expensive construction, although the frame still says Hand Brazed.

Except for the seat lug/stay treatment the Panasonic AR-6000 frame and fork looks identical to the Aero Sport. They even both used the Tange Aero headset, a lot nicer looking component in comparison to the cheesy plastic cover Shimano was using on their AX group headset. Since Lotus used the Dura Ace AX on the Super Pro, it makes sense that they'd use the 600 AX group on the Aero Sport. The Super Pro had sew ups and the Aero Sport used clinchers.

I also find it odd that Panasonic didn't bother to use the Shimano aero shifters on their "aero" bike.