Also as it seems no-one has ever tried to track these cars down................

Here goes. This list provenance comes from a letter from the Factory from J Stuart Allison - the factory records controller dated September 1992. I've tried to gain as much info as possible to confirm and track todays whereabouts speaking to owners etc. and using as much info/articles/books and having kept an eye out for these cars over the last 16 or so years as long as Paul (No.17) and I have owned the cars........

This is a typed copy of the records from the factory complete with my comments on 'where are they now'.

Any corrections/additions please feel free to add mail me etc. Bibs - can this perhaps be added as a 'sticky' topic for interest?

"22nd September 1992

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

I can state for certain that 22 'Essex' Esprit Turbos were built and that I suspect four other vehicles to be 'Essex' cars. There are no customer names against the cars, only the selling dealer. We also suspect that 001 and 002 were existing cars which were re-sprayed.

The first Esprit Turbo allocated to Colin Chapman was 0970GT painted in Silver and finished February 1981.

(Currently owned by Mike Ford UK - Reg.UVF 464X)

I list below the known 'Essex' Turbos with the selling dealer:

Essex Number/ Chassis Number/ Selling Dealer

001 Not Recorded

Possibly THE Bond 'For Your Eyes Only car' Reg OPW 678W. Was for Sale by Coys early 2006. Current whereabouts unknown.

002 Not Recorded

Possibly the car currently owned by Ian Churm Cleveland UK - Reg.MPW 71V. Test car for V8 - Demo for Pinewood Studios for Bond film as resprayed Copper.

003 0902GT Rylands

004 0899GT Goldblatt

Currently owned by Steven Tryner UK

005 0903GT Bell and Colvill

006 0900GT Bell and Colvill

007 0907GT Goldblatt

Currently Owned by Roy Bryant UK Reg.G90 7W

008 0904GT Norfolk Motor Co

009 Not Recorded

010 0906GT Bell and Colvill

011 0933GT Randles

012 0931GT Norfolk Motor Co

Currently For Sale - Bradford UK Reg.VUR 430W

013 0937GT Cubleys

014 0934GT Goldblatt

015 0935GT Bell and Colvill

016 0936GT Vardy

017 0941GT Randles

Currently owned by Paul Dewey Coventry UK Reg.OVU 84W

018 0942GT SGT

019 0943GT Broadway

020 0944GT Cathedral

021 0945GT Norfolk Motor Co

022 0946GT South Africa

023 0948GT British and Guernsey

024 Not Recorded

025 0950GT Portman

100 0949GT Supplied to Mark Thatcher (Margarets Son)

Currently owned by Ken Baird Elstree UK Reg.UAH 27W

0895, 0926, 0927, 0932 were all painted in Essex Blue ahd had full red leather interiors but there is no other indication that these are 'Essex' Turbos.

Yours sincerely,

J. Stuart Allison

Lotus Database Controller."

As you can see by the chassis numbers there are chassis built earlier than some of the official Essex cars so they were not the very first Turbos?!!

Chassis 0962 (Reg.OPW 679W) was Mike Brewers car as mentioned in earlier threads now in the Haynes Museum which was Essex Spec but seems not an official Essex car though Mike believes it was sent to Pinewood Studios.

Mike thinks there were around 120 Dry-Sumped cars......................

I cannot find any details as if David Thieme was actually supplied a car though i have read one was delivered to Monaco. Anyone know which one?

Lets hope this captures a definitive list and perhaps one day.............an re-union?!!!!

It pains me a great deal to be writing this post... my situation has forced me to sell my project car.

It's a '79 Monaco white car I bought without an engine and gearbox. I have a new S3 chassis, an S3 turbo engine and two gearboxes.

I'm looking to sell as a lot.

Any advice on where to advertise other than here and eBay?

Sad times for me. I've owned it for a decade and always thought I'd have it in a double garage at some point. Life had other plans.

Thanks for your help!

(the car is in Hampshire, UK)

Alex

I’m looking for a set of spare keys for my S3 Turbo Esprit (MY1984). At the moment, I only have the original set, which includes:

• 1x door key

• 1x boot key

• 1x fuel filler cap key

• 1x ignition key

Has anyone here managed to source replacements or an original-looking spare key set for this model? Any advice, tips, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Handbook is about as useful as a handbrake on a canoe 

As of June 2025, the full light with casing and three wires out the back can be found on eBay (U.S.) under:

"Front combination lamp case IH David Brown Massey Ferguson Valta" for models 174, 194, 200. These have the period-correct lens with the circles molded into their centers.

The same lamps, inside tractor mountings, are also available on Amazon, as Front Combination Light Tractor Indicator Light for Ford/Fordson Tractor 5110, 5610, 5410.

JUST the front lenses, but NOT with the stock pattern, can be found on eBay and in the US at "Yesterday's Tractor" as replacement lens for Ford TW-25 or TW-30 tractors.

These are getting incredibly scarce and I only managed to find one round-center replacement lens this May 2025 to join the other lamp that came in a box with my car.

Looking through the internet, the Triumph TR7 arm looks very very similar - anyone know if they are interchangeable.

I just took my car down to the garage to get the inspection done (to transfer registration into my name) and they had absolutely no idea how to jack up the car without damaging it.  In the end, they just put it on the four poster wheel alignment hoist (on ramps).  I have so far only jacked up the rear of the car (i used the cross brace) and it seemed ok - however, it got me thinking some more and I (yes...) read the manual.   It shows four jacking points, but to be honest, I am not sure if they seem strong enough.  Being a fibrerglass car, I think the potential for things to go ugly very quickly are high.   I read a similar thread on there about jacking an S1 Esprit - are the S3 (1982) the same?  Or is there a better procedure?

The reason I ask too is that I am about to take all four wheels off to send them away to be redone and will need to support the car on four jack stands.   I have (from my VERY low Porsche 911 days) an excellent low profile jack and ESCO jackstands - so they are all good kit, just need the right place to put them !

This is a a long shot does anyone know whether it was Lotus or the selling dealership that kept the key registers ?

Plan B  - get a locksmith to open the car

Plan C - break a window to get entry ( next question which is easiest glass to source and replace ? )

Thanks Andy

To do so, I need to do some clutch adjustment, so,. (having no lift) I need to remove the rear boot floor and separate the box of electrical mystery attached to it, engine side.

No biggy but I recall someone here talking about this issue and the solution being to split the floor. But I'm not sure if this is the same reason to do it or not.

Also not sure how I might safely go about it.

Any advice/memory etc gratefully received - I did search but failed.😐. I might have done a 'man look' of course......

I'm looking for rear brake pads for my 86 Turbo. Old pads were removed to unlock wheels and were thrown away  😬

The lotus number is A082J6076F .... OK. 200€ for a pad set 🙄 NO !

I found there : 

Quote

A082J6076F--Rear Brake Pads--actually they are the same as front brake pads for a Renault LeCar except the Renault pads do not have the metal "nib" on the back plate; is that important? If not, these pads will work

A Renault Lecar is an American oddity of the Renault R5. It's not something common in France. After some time researching online, it seems this model has the same brakes as the R15, R17 and R5 Alpine (and Turbo).

So I found this Renault OE number : 6025170586 .... And now, it's easy to find pads for ....15€ and with the little "nib" on the back : https://www.auto-doc.fr/ridex/8040481 for exemple with a 360° view

Cross references of the website seems to be OK with me :

85' on S3 Turbo has the same rear brakes as the Turbo S4 

Could you have a look and tell me if I'm right ? Thanks. 

Ive tried the usual suspects like Lotus Bits and SJ without success. 

Short of having a replica made I’m not sure if I’ll find one but if anyone knows what they’re from I’d be grateful

Thanks as always

thanks Cor

I measured up the existing strut open/closed and figured out that the 110N is a 25lb strut. I placed an order from McMaster-Carr (I think they may be US only though). What I bought was item 9416K136 which is a strut with threaded ends (M8x1.25) 18.18" open and 7.87" stroke. I removed the ends from the stock strut. Here's the photo of the two side-by-side (new on the left, OEM on the right):

The threaded ends are different, so I drilled and tapped the plastic ends of the stock strut to accept the new strut:

Then reinstalled. I didn't have the metric tap, so I had to purchase that in addition to the strut. My total cost? About US$30.

Now my bonnet actually stays open on its own!

Just FYI. The OEM strut (as mentioned) is a 110N/25lb strut. I think you could probably put a 30lb strut in there if you didn't have any other choice. I doubt a 20lb strut would keep the bonnet open though.

Had the drivers side stop popping up, swapped the relays over and the fault moved to the passenger side.

Opened up the relay and gave it a bit of a clean and seems to be working for now, but I still want to replace it to be on the safe side.

Lotus part number A079M6141F I think, but surely a fairly generic part?

Cheers.

I'd like to do my first trackday, but everone wants some form of towing hook/eye/ etc. as a pre-requisite which the car never had.

How do I resolve this?

I've seen a couple of threads for different cars - but it's not clear if the solutions would work for my car.

I'm also going to post this on the Trackday forum for max exposure .....

Thanks in advance ...

Just wondering what batteries are recommended (UK) for a normally aspirated S3? Currently I have a Lucas Classic LC075 12v 60AH 540A but it needs replacing and I don't think these are available anymore.

Thanks

No. 21 in the diagram. Any idea if there is a x-reference to another vehicle or who might stock them?