when i saw a post on fb that Mr Richard now owns another Carlton with 40 RA reg i said to myself, what a wonderful time to be alive! If anyone wants to see one, theres a vauxhall display in gaydon transport museum and they have absolutely stunning carlton there.

Thank you so much mate! The Lotus Carlton has always been my dream car so the ram raid story about 40 RA was well known to me. I actually fell for all the online bollocks about it never being discovered and therefore most likely hidden away in a garage or warehouse somewhere. Thank you for putting our minds at rest.

I saw it the other day being driven by Lord Lucan, towing a horsebox with Shergar inside it.

Brilliant insight. I remember this. The lotus carlton to this day is my dream car. Wow in 1993 the car cost 48k a wopping 130k today. That's crazy. Some money back in the day 48k to walk into showroom purchase that motor. Feel sorry for the owner. What a car the lotus carlton was. Never knew the reg was 40 RA. how the mighty have fallen haha. 40 RA on a hyundai in 2014. From a lotus carlton super car to a hyundai electric vehicle wow. Thanks great insight to the true story the infamous lotus carlton 40 RA. Im belfast few people im sure would be interested in that plate. But great insight. If you were driving that carlton today by god youd be out some doe on fuel what. I loved sri Cavaliers 95 model etc. But a lotus carlton if i win the loto il buy the best example in the world and enjoy it. 177mph in 1993 crazy just crazy.

I lived in the area when this was happening (grew up in West Mids) and worked in central Birmingham at the time for a financial institution. Not unsurprising that it was found in Knowle - the rumors were from the police they came from Chelmsley Wood as they were seen driving it at high speed multiple times along the collector road near the Airport. One of my friends was a WM Traffic Officer at the time. It was the reason why WMP got themselves a Porsche!

I used to work at clay pigeon shoot when the Lotus Carlton came out. One of the regulars had one. That car car got more looks than any car in the carpark, and that carpark had loads of fancy cars.

What a great story, thanks for telling this and great to hear the plate was back on another Lotus Carlton.

My brother owned a Lotus Carlton back in 1992 registered new at the time, unfortunately didn’t get to keep it for long as it was stolen 6 weeks later, because of its exclusivity it couldn’t be replaced. The Vauxhall dealer sold him a v6 cavalier, the lotus Carlton never was recovered.

Love your Detective work on finding these cars great job once again. Happy Christmas to you and your subscribers Oscar look forward to seeing what you find in the new year buddy

A true motoring icon. My Cavalier GSi suffered a similar fate, ending up in a canal. The roof also got caved in whilst hauling it out & yes it was a dreadful smelly mess.

Well I never knew RA was Richard Austin, later a very successful businessman with his own Race team. Not sure the Carlton had much on his Lola built S99 Sintura with 4.0L Judd V10 engine in it. If you get hold of him that car is worth it’s own video alone as very little on the net about it. Also didn’t know it met it’s end in Solihull.

Hope you enjoy this one - its been one I really wanted to find out the real story of

Oscar, as someone who's watched you since your first video you are KILLING IT! Keep it up!

Very factual thank you very much for that, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year can’t wait for more interesting stories from you

Probably my favourite car ever made, i remember seeing one a few years ago on the road. It was far more special than your lambos and ferraris!

It was General Motors who decided that both Vauxhall and Opel should have a high performance car hence the birth of the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton and the Opel Lotus Omega all built by Opel

The Lotus Carlton back in the day was a very very special car, it was a rocket and very very fast. The police, especially the traffic police at the time were scared of the car because it was so fast and uncatchable.. even though it was a very expensive vehicle to purchase back in the 1990’s, if you have one now there priceless especially if it’s totally standard and original. This was the era when Vauxhall made fantastic cars, like this and Astra GTE, Cavalier SRI, Manta GTE, even Nova super sport 16v.. it was the light fingered car thieves that ruined most Vauxhall’s of all types at this time, stealing them, joy riding in them, then burning the vehicle out so it was no use to anyone after they had finished with the vehicle. Then they’d just go out and steal another Vauxhall and do the same. If only Vauxhall had spent a bit more on vehicle security and immobiliser systems some of these old Vauxhall’s would still be around today.

Really enjoyed that .Put a lot of Rumours to bed .Have a happy Christmas .....

Great video, impressed with your research. I remember these cars coming out and all the hype that went around it, but I’m yet to actually see one in the flesh!

Great video Trev and team . A legend laid to rest

Brilliant video mate that has now put to bed finally the rumours about what happened to this car. Merry Christmas mate have a brilliant time 🎉🍺

The one story at the time was the police asked Newcastle police if they could use one of their cosworth escorts to catch the lotus as Newcastle was the hot bed for car crime and they had a number of escort cosworths! The was also one story of the thieves sat outside the local police station taunting the police to chase them

Really interesting account of 40 RA. Don’t suppose they ever caught the scumbags that destroyed a soon to be piece of historic motoring.

Richard Austin would now be about 71 assuming he's still alive, but would be good if he responded!

I saw 40 RA carlton at the nurburgring, parked outside pistenklause in may 2023...just watching your video I thought....hang on I'm sure I saw that! and found it as I'd taken a photo! great video!

I dropped onto this by accident and enjoyed the story,cheers

Great video always wondered what happened to that Carlton

Me encantó tu investigación. Excelente.

I have read the story about it, and read a few posts about it, that the plate was the only thing to survive. Saying that a work mate told me a story about his cousin who owned a escort cosworth. He was driving back from work, and he noticed 3 lads in a car following him, He knew the car was going to missing, so he drove into some random dealer ship, and said Mate, give me one of you most expensive cars, and cash my way for my Escort cosworth. The dealer said why mate? the owner replied its not going be on the drive away mate, when i get in the house. The dealer took the car off him there and then, gave him some other car, and the owner returned with the docs etc. Also i was told by another cosworth owner. That you couldn't leave a car like that in certain streets at all or even areas. Same story i can see with the Lotus Carltons sadly.

Just came across you channel, lovely content. Have you ever looked into Story regarding the Lamborghini Engine'd Audi RS5 that was stolen from Stourport on Severn and was used for similar criminal activities ?

Police in Luton/Dunstable had one, I watched a police driver trying to boot it out of a roundabout and get seriously untidy, nearly losing the back end completely.

The last time I saw a Lotus Carlton I was in a Ford Cosworth, Circa 2007. It passed me on a dual carriageway near Oxford at ridiculous speed, shortly followed by several police vehicles. Given that there were four men in the Carlton, I suspect it was being put to use as a getaway vehicle. I don't know if they caught it.

Great video about a legendary car, I've only ever seen one and that was near my uncles old house. Naturally I went to admire it

Great video, very interesting. I remember being really impressed with these cars when they came out in 1990 not long after I passed my driving test.

Great vid, wonder who scrap,d the original car, what scrapyard?

That was a really good account of the story ... P.s. also a great video on the new museum opened up in Taunton. You never know....an LC just might make an appearance there at some point 😉

Fantastic video, these were an awesome car back in the day and still are. I remember one overtake us when we were in a Citroën Bx16v then it was gone 😎

Great video mate

I’ve got to be honest I never new these cars existed until I saw your video 👍wow..

Hi watched both of your 40 RA videos. The wrong way round! Nonetheless brilliant. Thank you.

Really interesting video . As I live in the west Midlands and like walking the canals I know exactly where the original 40 RA met its end 😢

This happens also to my dads Opel kadett GSI 1.8 from 1985.

Brilliant video 😊

May have a notorious reputation but it sure is a beautiful car with some insane engineering, definitely on my list of dream vehicles. I don't plan on raiding shops for any "gentleman's magazines" though😆

Funny thing about the Lotus Carlton, is that it was fitted with the Vauxhall locks and alarm, I won't go into detail, but if you had a certain tool, you could unlock the car and turn off the immobilizer and alarm and get the car started in minutes..

Great video, atleast now this long debated question can be put to rest.

Always wondered what happened to the car and plate nice to see it back where it belongs 👍

I watched the car being crushed the insurance company insisted that it was crushed intact didn’t remove a single part from it. I remember photos or a video being taken for proof for insurance company at the time sadly can’t remember what happened to the photos / video

I’m sure that Richard Austin is related to Rob Austin the BTTC Driver. Because he’s from Pershore.

One of my friends had one I think he may still have it, He had it on special insurance and I asked him just hoe special it was je said on a private track he had the thickness of the needle under 190mph. later on another friend has one but I think it may have been a replica as there was primer and other stuff going on and he was unable to open the bonnet the few times I saw the owner.

The plate was on a yellow nissan Micra Evesham area as well

I saw another video debunking the canal car and after many years what was thought to be 40RA has been sat in a compound and recently found after all this time

Really enjoyable video. Just thought I'd put this info out in case it helps someone, and it pertains to personal registrations. I have a personal registration which I bought in 1982 and is quite valuable. It is on a 1998 BMW E31 840Ci which I have been trying to restore for over 6 years. In late 2021 I got very ill and it occurred to me that I may never finish the project and the car would never be back on the road. The car had been SORN since 2016. I thought it would be best to put the registration number onto retention so that I could pass it on to my son. I then found out that there is a DVLA law which states that if a car has been SORN for over 5 years, in order to transfer the registration or put it on retention, the donor vehicle has to be taxed and tested. I wrote a nice letter to DVLA explaining my circumstances, and tried to argue the point that I was only slightly over the 5 year limit and if I had known that I could have transferred it before the 5 years was up, I would have, but how is one supposed to learn of the legislation? I got a nice letter back which more or less said "tough". I am now attempting to finish the project enough to get the car through a test so as not to lose the plate, and or course its' value.

Awesome fella loved this! - to think now the owner must be like 70 something! - excellent story 🙂

I'm positive I watched a video and the original one was rebuilt to showroom condition by a garage and they had the car on camera with the exact damage done to it . I'm not 100 💯 percent sure if it was the original. But I also a video on a Vauxhall which was the carlton Estate and the fella has fully turned it into a Lotus carlton . He has given it the bodywork and everything to with it even the engine is lotus version its a full stunning 1 only version ever . Was even in a Vauxhall magazine . You tube has the video on the estate car it's actually stunning .

Thank you for good story Oscars Garage.

Cool video bro. Good information apart from when you said the car was so famous that it was featured on grand theft auto. Its never been on any grand theft auto ever they use made up cars and brands no real cars. The picture you showed was a mod for gta that someone made themselves. you can get pretty much any car for any game via mods. The car was featured legitimately/ licensed on the forza series. And it was probably the most fun car on forza to drive as a stock standard car

i remember talking to the geezer who was the driver or passenger in this when they outran the helicopter on the M1 i recall!

Do you know the original number plate for 40 RA? there is some scrap checks online

Great story, I remember the story all over the papers at the time

Have you ever done a video about the Essex boys Range Rover classic?

There was a Jaguar Saloon that was faster it had a V12 with quad turbos, it was a protype for the XJ220 and was tuned by TWR, it was reported as flying down a German Autobahn at 170mph still accelerating and was not at full revs, but it was going a bit light on the frontend, the engine never made it into the XJ220 because the engine was too long so the V6 from the Metro 6R4 was used, pity as if the V12 had have fitted the XJ220 should have been able to do 220mph

Very interesting! Now can you find out what happened to the rettendon range rover?

Bloody hell I live in belbroughton never knew the car was used here

I remember this time when the UK police we're looking for a new police car unfortunately they chose the Vauxhall senator quotes about bigger only to find out a short time later that's the Lotus Carlton had become out and would have been the perfect police car It is possible for a car to OutRun a helicopter but only in a straight line Using a car for a RAM raid can be a terrible idea as there is huge risk to the radiator, and with that no fast escape thank you fascinating story

I got a funny feeling that lotus Carlton was stolen in a village in Evesham where I grew up I never forget it as I never had seen one before when I was young

The canal barge owner should have been charged with numerous offences and jailed for doing that damage

I had a chance of buying a lotus omega out the automart (auto trader) in around 03 or 05 , bought a 2 year old evo 8 in 05 so must of been 02 or 03 anyway it was 8 grand and the fella had someone coming so I had cash to spend so bought a escort cosworth but nearly had a lotus which would of been around 6 grand less than a rhd

Even the Sierra Cosworth and the Granada Cosworth what the motorway police had at the time had ZERO chance of keeping up with it.

I wonder if the Lotus motor was sold on, it ciuld well have been salvageable.

Its been a long time this story.. What i remember people talking about... the chassis number of 40 RA and the one in the canal didnt match..

So has the original owner of the Carlton purchased another and put his plate on or has he sold the number plate

Great story. What is the Car plate web site to check the number plate change..?

in the day brodie brittain racing did a ecu chip tune for £395 iirc that gave 500 bhp and simliar big torque gain,afaik it was stock turbo's with bigger injectors,

these cars were abit like the lockness monster back in the 90s....everyone hurd of it but rearly ever seen in the flesh.

Interestingly the reg 40 RA was only put on the car a month before it was stolen.

i believe it was late summer 1989 I was touring Germany in my series 111 V12 Jaguar Sovereign . I was in the overtaking lane when a Vauxhall Carlton flashed his lights for me to move out the way _ bad manners in Germany you indicate left,. I thought cheeky b*gger so moved over and floored it. He sailed past me at 140mph and dissappeared into the distance. A few weeks later when back home I read a story about a Lotus Carlton being tested in Germany .I think I met it !!!

But the 'Ghost of 40RA' lives on!!!

Btw there is video in internet where police is trying to catch Lotus Carlton/Omega. This was prolly filmed somewhere in Nordic countries in nineteens. Judging by the nature a round the road. The police Mondeo is running flat out behind the Carlton/Omega. You can see that car disappearing in to the horizon after passing some cars.

The one pic snapped on the trailer of it in 2014 going down the motorway had no damage to the roof, and only had front and rear damage it was sat in a Police yard in Basildon and is now on the road.....according to "CuriousandSpiritual" on YT......2 years ago🤣🤣

Worked on these and yes fast very fast VERY VERY fast

The Police learnt from that car and at one time were using Holden Commodores, the Australian ones with silly horsepower. Don’t know if they persuaded Vauxhall to sell them direct because, at the time you hd to buy an Australian one, new or used, then import it to UK. Bit silly really when there were built in Luton in the first place and shipped to Oz.

£48k back in the very early '90s would have bought you a house in many towns and cities. That's how expensive it was.

Allens Farm Rd, Northfield is very relevant to this story, the River Rea runs close by.

Hot Wheels need to do 40 RA.

So did he keep the plate and buy another LC or did he sell the plate to someone else who got one?

As Einstein himself is quoted as saying 'Less than 10% of all facts stated on the internet are actually true'

Did the robbers stick false plates on it ? Surprised if the kept 40 RA.

Should do one on the Essex boys range rover

We had a rent a van business in Letterkenny around that time - We hired a Luton body van to a customer who I believe got all the running gear, wheels interior and loom from 40 RA - he transplanted it into a Red Gis 3000 Carlton which was on a 90 DL plate - he even modded the back arches - At the time there was a lot of cloak and dagger - Vauxhall refused to help in any way as the car he had wasn't a genuine Lotus and didn't have the proper strength in the shell to take the power - he found it very hard to insure as well - I haven't seen this car for over 15 years but in no doubt it still exists !! Am I wrong ? - was 40 RA the donor ?

The gta 40 ra is a mod just adding onto that

Stole this car to rob newsagents? Wtf

40 RA has a mot that runs out in May 2024

Gov uk , has current mot, not taxed,

The clutch was a total bitch on the Lotus Carlton, but what a car.

Id be impressed if you can tell me who was behind it all 😊

That Hyundai is not an electric vehicle, it's a petrol 1.6ltr se spec, 3 cylinder

If this car was on GTA I’d have it already I think it’s on some GTA modded mode but not actual GTA lol what a car it is was

You couldn't afford one now!!!

Gentlemen's special interest litterature? These really were master criminals.