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Clint Eastwood had a dark coloured one, amongst other Ferraris, and used to park it in the background of scenes in movies. Intentionally. Can’t think of any movie names now but remember a scene where he’s getting on a Greyhound bus and the BB is in the background.

He’s a great guy named Spencer Canon, look him up on Instagram. It was his Esprit that was also featured on Petrolicious…

If you ever wondered about the parts commonality between an early Esprit and an Ascona or Manta, form what I can tell the front suspension components are almost identical on a Manta (Cavalier) A. There’s some evidence of commonality with Manta B in the latest video, too…

Watch this space 😉

@Fridge Your question is the big one, has anyone actually ever seen an LT551 or LT558? As per my original post, Motorola themselves have no record of having provided these [or any other model] to Lotus. Yet Andy Graham at Lotus finds factory fit Motorola units listed in the build records for some cars. @Paul Coleman Philips units in early cars isn't in dispute. Far as I'm aware, those are well documented. There seems to be a distinction made here between the Motorola and Sharp units. The latter evidently were dealer fit, while the former were [if the Lotus records are correct] factory fit items. There was a little ray of light above when @Matt-watts and Jake went through their box of head units and came up with a Motorola unit [above] that it's possible was a factory fit. But sods law the model number seems to have been rubbed off the label!

Not sure how I missed it but came across this TLF thread [about Viper green] while researching further.

It's only £18 or £24 per year for membership depending on where you are, which, if you've seen some of the annual fees for other websites [without the literal hive of knowledge that TLF has], is an absolute steal. Looking at it from an altruistic point of view, aside from helping fund a true resource, it's a tiny amount to donate so that your real world knowledge and experience helps others. hard sell deactivated* And yes we know Dave, you're a TNG

Oh no! What did he say? I can't imagine it's because of lack of orders, he makes tanks and panels for all sorts so there must be something specific to Esprit items? Maybe they're more labour intensive because of all the welding, and more difficult to get sealed.

Never! I found a couple more images of one of those factory green S2's. If anyone has an Autogespot.com membership it'd be great to see the other 5 images of the car below. I love green, but '70's bathroom green' wouldn't be my first choice of interior colours

Speechless Matt edit - Studying your photos @Matt-watts I noticed your car and mine had almost identical damage on the front bumper! Funny coincidence. Sorry I don't have a better pic...

The Flickr feed I found those KAH photos in had a brief description that said it was a factory demonstrator.

So the three possible greens of the early cars could be Martini [can't find a code ref], Mint L29 and Viper A05. The two colour codes come from the Esprit Registry thread here. I'm dubious about Martini even being a Lotus colour, and maybe there were only two possible greens between 1976 and 1980. Viper seems to be Matt Watt's car colour [the farmyard car], which I would have expected to be Altair Green, but Matt's car does seem to be a slightly paler colour. Martini Green is claimed to be the colour of KAH 530V below. The thing is, the registry above doesn't list Martini Green at all, unless I'm missing it. Which leaves Mint Green as the possible colour of the magazine car, VYW 229S, if that is a factory paint job. The article that the photo is from was the February 1996 issue of Practical Classics, but the car hasn't been taxed since then and it's last V5 was issued in March that year. I wonder does it still exist? It was first reg'd in May 1978 so it's a late number S1. This Europa page has a colour code list that shows the Elan below in L29 Mint Green. It doesn't look at all similar in colour. 366G is listed here [but not pictured] as Mint Green and 'released' 240478. That could tally with the UK Gov data on VYW229S having been first registered in May 78. The page also lists one domestic S2, chassis 403G, and three export S2 cars 615H, 616H and 700H as being Mint Green. Interestingly 329G is listed simply as being metallic Green, that's Matt Watt's car. No other S1 or S2 cars are listed as having been painted any colour green at all. It's possible we already have photos here of the only two green S1 cars that were produced, but I'm not sure because the magazine car is so different to everything else. I think it follows that the 'Martini' green KAH 530V below is actually Mint green. As there was [reportedly] only one domestic green S2, KAH 530V is likely 403G, possibly now in Australia. The project car pictured below came up for sale a few years back. It looks close in colour to KAH 530V [given the KAH photos have long shadows and so unrealistic golden hour warm hue] and to the Elan. It's also LHD and wears a Federal style rear number plate plinth. Could it be one of the three Mint Green export cars? Any thoughts?

The spreadsheet seems to be gone from Google again? The message says it's been deleted. For anyone's ref, you are currently reading the new version of the TLF Esprit registry thread, started in 2015. The original Esprit registry thread from 2008 is here. A second new version compiled by forum member LJR provides a pdf file.

@Paul Coleman Oh! I think I have that mag, not sure. Thanks for the steer. I've a feeling that particular green isn't a factory colour. What do you think? If it is I'd love to know the name. @frb that's the one, thanks!

I need to scratch and itch, I've become more and more interested in green Esprits. Factory green I mean [poet], Giugiaro era and specifically S1/S2. Photos of green S1/S2's are exceedingly rare. In fact the only one I've ever seen a picture of was on here and found by someone in a farm yard. @Paul Coleman was it you? That car was restored white, and I can't find the thread now. Have distinct memory of it having no rear running gear and being hoisted and towed by a tractor. That Altair green S3 that may or may not have been Chapman's car doesn't really work as a daydream muse because the S3's styling is different. I'd love to see any pictures of S1's or S2's in any factory green. I'll post a few pics that come up on Google to get the ball rolling. They're all terrible photos, and don't flatter the colour. Some have been colour corrected too, so aren't a true representation. The final photo of an Eclat demonstrates how nice Altair can be on a '70's body. George

Just piecing together final mods on a blast cabinet and the project will kick off again for a final push. the chassis work really took it out of me.

Nice to see this thread back, it's such an interesting read. I'm not a fan of electric parking brakes either, but realise that might just be old grump setting in. For me adding modern tech defeats the purpose of a classic. Maybe I'll recant later, but in the first instance I'd like to experience the Esprit as it was. I'm sorely tempted by the VW brakes, for the weight saving. That aspect makes the electric parking brake potential really interesting too. Not sure what extra components are needed, but the Esprit's twin parking brake cables are heavy, as is the lever. Plus not having to do the extra work to reinforce the body around where the lever mounts... 🤷🏻‍♂️ @910Esprit Steve, sorry for never acknowledging your request for brake dimensions. I either missed that or got sidetracked by my project. I'll be blasting all of my suspension/braking components in the coming weeks so if you [or anyone] still wants any measurements let me know.

Some scurrilous mofo has stolen my name and imagery, and the business details for a garage in NZ, and use them to try and pedal hifi resto videos! I've called the feds. Thanks for the heads up Neil The reason you haven't seen anything for a long while is it's been going on behind the scenes in patron videos. I'm scurrying around in the background trying not to be overwhelmed by too many projects. Work is slowly warming up on the Esprit [and Sprinter, and Hobie Cat, and Mercedes W211, and Mercedes W123]. It'd be funny if it was funny 🤣 The show will come back to Youtube proper soon!

On a flat directly to the right of the fuel pump take off, although I'd guess your mechanical fuel pump take off may be blanked. Look about 8" directly below the foremost spark plug, on the block. I've since been reading 'Coventry Climax Racing Engines: The Definitive Development History', by Des Hammill. It's interesting if halcyon day racing engine development swings your pants. It does detail the changes made to the FWP engine when it was developed for automotive use. The pump was the engine that sparked the interests of Chapman, Kieft et al, and it is the same base unit and a brilliant little engine, but there are a number of things that separate it from the FWA and FWE. There were a lot of simple changes made, displacement, porting, combustion chamber development, billet crank, higher compression, more bearings, distributor spark... nothing that couldn't be replicated, but the modern day problem is the availability and subsequent cost of the developed parts. A hand full of specialists hold all the cards. Making a pump engine sing is a project for the love of the project, rather than in the hope of saving money. But man, have you heard one go?

Saw that engine too just today, it's still for sale. There are a few for sale in fire pump frames with pumps in tact. If you scratch around online it seems it's not uncommon to find these FWP engines modified to close to FWA spec, if not past, for use in replicas and racers. The following text is found in a few places online; "In 1953 it (the FW) was adapted for automotive racing as the 1098 cc FWA retaining the cast crank, three main bearing construction of the FW but with a distributor ignition in place of a magneto, a different camshaft, and a higher, 9.8:1 compression ratio. With a bore of 2.85 inches and a stroke of 2.625 inches, it produced 71 hp (53 kW) and was first used at Le Mans in 1954 by Kieft Cars. After the FWA was introduced, the FW engine was renamed to FWP (Pump)." __ So it doesn't seem like you'd have to do anything more to an FWP, to get it to early FWA spec, than you would to say a BMC A-Series engine that you wanted to build for power. Considering a CC FW in fast road or race spec from a specialist is nearly £6k (and I'd be surprised if they weren't starting with a FWP donor given that there were less than 700* FWA engines produced), the prospect of £400-£600 for a base engine isn't to be sniffed at. I saw a post on a forum from the '00's that said a bulk number of pump engines turned up at Beaulieu back then, and were going for £100 each. *figure is from CC development engineer Walter Hassan's book.

Fine, I'll be Chairman

You're not alone, but we're a very very small club it seems. You're Chairman 🤣 I think it looks like a purposeful racing car that's been prepared for a press shoot. Could see the appeal in that context but not in the 'ultimate craftsmanship, luxury and driving pleasure' context it's being marketed in.

My little drill press was either made in Wolverhampton, or is a big Status Quo fan, because it's a wanderer Anyway, that aspect of the chassis is totally unoriginal, because of the even spacing between my welds lol. Haha "you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and you may ask yourself..." why did Mark walk away. Come on man, I doubt your car could be bettered, what a steller ground up job, and by professionals. Mine could never be better anyway... because your's is the right colour Anyway this is my route to a dream car. It's a slog but it'll be all the sweeter for it, and I'm not after perfection, just trying to make sure I'm not driving it thinking "coulda done that better", about something underneath me. It'd spoil it, y'know.

MY chassis

You have 28 mins to make popcorn, take a pit stop, secure the comfy chair from co-habitants and get naked... in whichever order makes you happiest lol