Lotec Ambassadeur
Weird Car of the Day #484: 1985 Lotec Ambassadeur – Special sauce
Some of you have no doubt already worked out which car the Lotec Ambassadeur is based on. For everyone else, I'll give you 3…2…
It's a Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W126), with its 5-litre M117 V8 treated to twin turbochargers and enough engine plumbing for a septic system. Crazy, and German—but this unicorn car wasn't built for Europe.
Kurt Lotterschmid founded Lotec in 1962, and by the early 1980s, the company had a well-established presence on-track in sports car racing and in the high-end tuner car market, specializing in Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz modifications.
The Ambassadeur project came before the better-known C1000 and Sirius supercars, and I think is better for it.
Some say its bodykit apes UK designs too closely, but if you know your history, it's tough to find a classic car without aggressively pontoon'd fenders.
In other words, yes: if you squint hard enough, every classic car looks like a Jaguar.
Not every 1980s luxury sedan had approximately 540 horsepower, combined with an interior kitted out in sumptuous Connolly leather (yawn) and a corner office-worthy suite of electronics: telephone, fax machine, television, videotapes, and I should hope an HBO subscription.
