Veilside

Hi, Following on from the various comments on Essex Turbo's here's a few photo's of Essex 020. The fire was extinguished in a matter of a few minutes after returning from road testing to cure an engine oil leak. The engine cover had been left off therefore the fire went upwards broke the bulk head rear window and smoke damaged the interior melting the roof radio. Steve T

Bibs, My Essex is available along with myself without the expensive wax. Essex004

Hi, If I've done this correctly should be a photo of 011 outside in the sun today - Club Lotus Festival 2008 Steve 004 Hi, That worked ok so here's another photo - Steve 004

Hi Again, I've got the original photo's of 008 which would probable be the source for Grahams book ? It is probably the only Essex that has ever flown. Apparently on approaching a righthand bend the road went over a brigde, underneath was a stream. The car went straight on at the bend taking off and landing the opposite side of the stream. That car was a mess but no serious injuries, interestingly it was rebuilt and as far as we know is in Machida, Japan. We need someone there to give us hard evidence, my information came from the owner of pre-production chassis 10896 still in Essex colours which is also in Japan. When I look at the mess 008 was in and then look at the photo's of 020 (fire damage) raises a big question mark over why that car was given a Cat B, which was down to one man's decision. The upshot is if you have a classic car get it insured by a Classic Car Specialist. I'll bring the original photo's to Donnington next week. Cheers Steve

Hi, I asked the seller priestlands for the engine number to check it out, the reply was that he was away somewhere and wasn't able to get to the engine to read it's number. It might have been just anther dry sump engine with Essex cam covers there are quite a few permatations, without the number we'll never know.

Hi Clarke It should never have been given a Cat B it was very rebuildable. It was only on fire for a couple of minutes. At the time of the fire the engine cover wasn't in place so the fire went upwards into the tailgate, the heat broke the rear cabin window melted the back end of the Panasonic roof consul which in turn dripped onto the seats. The fire was either a result of a carb flooding or one of the braided fuel lines leaking. I keep telling people if they have an old Lotus to re-new the braided fuel lines as the rubber pipes inside crack with age.

Hi Neil, I think it's the photo of NHN 759W, spoke to Brian via email today about it he gave me this Vin no. SCCFC20A7AHD10897. David Theims Essex is 007 LHD on the data base. I know there are two down for Essex Motorsport but he only owns 007 as far as we know. Did you read my post about Essex 020 ? it was sold at Copart in Wiltshire today. Douglas Vallay bought it. The car had an engine fire earlier this year, classified as a Cat B (breaker) I have all the details. Will be at Donnington Saturday PM and most of Sunday. Steve

Hi Guys, Essex 020 was involved in an engine fire earlier this year it was sold as a Cat B (breaker) today, will post more details tonight. Steve

Hi Guys, While on the subject of the white Essex a bit of bck ground info. I've dug out some old notes "Notes from a Converstion with Fred Davis - Automobile Workshop". Fred originally owned a Lotus dealership ? and owned the white car from 9 months old brought from John French Associates. He later sold the car to a buyer in Wimbledon, later aquired by a trader then sold to a buyer in Woodford. Fred wanted to buy the car back but by this time it was in terrible condition and the seller wanted more then what he sold it for. Fred went on to tell me something that has always intrigued me, apparently he remembers servicing Essex 037 RHD, the owner lived in Monte Carlo but the car was always brought back to the UK for it's serving (one hell of a drive to get a service done bet it needed doing again by the time he got back) more likely he lived in Monte Carlo but the the was resident in the UK. He also remembers servicing Essex 044 RHD. When I challenged Fred that both these Essex didn't exist he was adamant that he was correct. If he was refering to chassis numbers and I'm sure he wasn't chassis 10937 = Essex 013 which still remains not found and 10944 = Essex 020 which we know. I'll let everyone deliberate this one. Cheers Steve

Hi Neil - Out of interest with the help of Brian we made an attempt a few years ago to track down David Thieme and identify which (if any) Essex Turbo he still owns. Although we are resonably sure as to which car he has we never got close enough to ask him. At one point I actually spoke to Francois Mazet but he didn't really want to talk and had been out of touch with David Thieme for many years, as he put it they had moved on, the Essex years were a long time ago. The best information came from Julian Rivett who worked for the Thieme organisation (you can find him in the back of the Essex promotion literature), gave me the impression he was in touch with him in Paris and remember him saying at the time "I spoke to him only a few days ago" but I never got the promised email address. From what I remember Julian was involved some years ago with Richard Branson and his balloons. Cheers Steve

Hi, Glad you found the info interesting. The california "Essex" are completely seperate as they were grey (gray) imports into the states something that Jim Loose specialised in and nothing to do with or included in official 11 LHD export Essex's that left the factory. Somewhere on the forum if I'm correct you can down load the Essex Data Base spreadsheet. If you have difficulty let me have your email address and I will send you a copy. Steve

Hello Clark, When you refer to the original owner of "Essex 037" are you refering to the first owner Michael DiNunzio of Souderton Pennsylvania ? Sold to him by Jim Loose August 28th 1981. Mikes Penna. registration number was ESSEX37, he purchased the car for $50,000 plus a further $15000 to have the car converted to ACI corp. in Harbour City California to comply with US regs. Information on "035 & 036" is not available. Old information suggests that Mike Bucala tel no. 313 554 6688 (the number will have probably changed) owns or did own "035 or 036". While on the subject of the 3 California cars the sellling dealer who supplied the cars to Jim Loose was Edgar Schuyn of Zurich. They are not part of the Essex sequence Lotus will not recognise them as genuine Essex Turbo's. They assumed 035, 036 & 037 from the last two digits of there respective Vin no's. For example SCC082910BHH10335. Our records confirm that there are only 22 genuine UK domestic RHD Essex built. We have no confirmation to confirm 009 as a numbered car and in fact has never been discovered so this is not included. 024 was returned to the factory and renumbered 100. Of the LHD Essex, information is not complete but factory records account for 11 cars built, but we have no Essex number for 3 of these cars. All the development/pre-production cars should not be included as they are not part of the genuine Essex numbered cars. As you probably know 001 and 002 do not exist ( we do have a LHD 002 which has now been converted to RHD which we believe was one of the original Albert Hall cars). Essex 004 is the earliest chassis no. 0899 UK RHD and 0386 Export LHD the last Essex chassis no. The original colour for 035, 036 and 037 was definately Monoco White. It would be interesting to ask Jim Loose why they were supplied in white and not essex blue. Cheers Steve Tryner (Essex Turbo Register)

Hi Guys, Looking for 1984 Esprit Turbo original reg. no. A253 YMR in light blue does anyone know where it is or have any information please ? Cheers Steve

Hi Bibs - If you can let me know where the gaps are then probably I might be able to help. The Essex Data Base published has a column missing with current owners, this was done to protect confidentiality. Although not a complete list and probably slightly out of date now it would be interesting to know if you have contact from some of the owners we failed to find for one reason or another. Regards Steve Tryner

Hello Bibs, Been reading your old post, how far did you get with the email replys. I know for sure I didn't reply wasn't a member but I do have contacts for some of the Essex owners. What were your intentions ? Some like to remain annonymous and probably wouldn't reply even if they had read your message. Regards Steve Tryner (Essex004)

Not seen 011 for a while let me have some details will update the Essex Data Base. Can you let me have Mark's reg no. please missing from Essex Data Base.