1991 Lotus Touch Up Paint (13 OEM Colors)

The 1991 Lotus Vibe

By 1991, Lotus was in a bit of a creative fever dream. You had the Esprit Turbo SE looking like a wedge of pure speed and the front-wheel-drive Elan M100 trying to prove that lightness could still beat physics. In our shop, 1991 is remembered as the year of the deep emerald. While other manufacturers were busy spraying every car in sight with teal or "Electric Blue," we've focused our database on the only shade that truly defined the marque: British Racing Green. It's the quintessential Lotus soul-a color that makes the car look like it's breaking the speed limit even when it's sitting in a driveway waiting for a cooling fan relay.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the heart of The Peeling Era. By '91, the industry had fully committed to the basecoat/clearcoat system, but nobody told the clear coat how to behave on hand-laid fiberglass. On an Esprit or an Elan, the paint isn't just sitting on a flat piece of steel; it's clinging to a Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) body that moves, flexes, and "breathes" differently than a normal car. If your Lotus has seen a decade of sun, you're likely fighting delamination. This is where the clear coat loses its grip on the color layer and starts flaking off in sheets. It usually starts at the sharp edges of those pop-up headlights or the high-stress curves of the rear wing.

Restoration Tip

If you own a '91 Lotus, your mantra should be "seal the edges." Because clear coat failure on a fiberglass body can spread like a rumor in a small town, you have to be aggressive with rock chips. If you see a tiny chip or a spot where the clear looks like it's starting to lift, seal it immediately with a touch-up. If moisture gets between the base color and that clear layer on a composite body, it'll travel across the surface and lift the paint in massive flakes. Don't wait for a weekend that never comes-cap those chips off today to keep that British Racing Green exactly where Colin Chapman intended it to be: on the car.