I used to work with an Excel owner in the late 80's and it always makes me smile to see that same car still rumbling around now. So Lotus doesn't inevitably stand for Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious ?!

Wearing my new Monaco re-issue today, pic taken a few days ago just after getting it from the local TAGH outlet store at just over 50% of retail. You see - this is what happens when vintage buying becomes just too fraught and costly in an escalating market - the temptations of shiny trinkets in shop windows easily bought with minimum fuss or thought become just too much (well for me anyway). The orange lume sealed it I'm afraid.

Returning to the Lotus, whether it's valid to draw parallels between the vintage watch and classic car markets I'm not qualified to say, but those of us who follow the latter on a monthly basis will have just seen the first real cooling signs (in the UK anyway) in a market that went frankly nuts over the last 18 months or so...