Rolf

Tried to get the colour codes from Lotus for the silver paint on the factory wheels for the Sport 410 (2019) and the Exige S (2015) to get some touch up paint for stone chip repair. Answer from customer service: " Unfortunately, we are not able to advise on this as we do not paint the wheels and they come ready coloured by the supplier. I would suggest speaking with a paint specialist as they will be able to match the paint colour. I apologise that we cannot assist on this occasion.!" Not sure that any paint shop will make a colour matching for a bit of touch up paint for an economical price. What was your solution for that?

Had also strange behaviour of the DPM system, caused first by a minimal steering play from a bad u-joint. Symptom: Accelerating on the Autobahn for overtaking at 100 mph it went in limp mode on the left lane. No fun reaching for the breakdown lane while rolling out... After several restarts the yellow TC light followed by the yellow spanner symbol disappeared, car ran fine on the defensive 2 hours drive home. No codes in the system could be found! During the steering column lower u-joint exchange the garage misplaced the pin of the steering angle sensor which can be seen in the video. No problems on the 60miles drive home from the garage, but strange claq claq sound when steering at low speed into the garage. Claq-claq sound at certain steering angels can be heard in the linked video.

Even a small steering play may result in similar behaviour as the breaklight switch problem. Drove my 410 on the autobahn on a hot day in summer. During acceleration and overtaking at 100 mph car went into limp mode, quite scary. Display showed TC fault and CEL, but that disappeared after a few restarts. Drove home 2 hours with no further problems at this day, but problem randomly appeared again. Exchange of break light switch did not cure the problem. Final result: Lower U-joint in the steering column was the culprit for steering play and exchanged under warranty.

Lotus service partner did not exchange them on my 410 at the 2 yrs service during warranty time. Got the service stamp in the book for second service done, was good enough for me. Not sure if an exchange makes sense imho. Risk of sump deformation when removed was mentioned. Plastic film hinges as used for the sump baffles may last forever in this application. No load, only movement. If not, some plastic flaps are swimming in the sump. If not tracked, I would not bother.

Funny to see this Esprit after 17 years again. Had a look at it when for sale in 02 2006 and loved the colour combination. Good to see the car now mechanically sound.

Bought me a genuine Lotus one. A116V0228F £44.91 + VAT etc

Had a S for 3 years and after driving a 410 on track was impressed by the sound and extra performance. Went the upgrade path with no regrets...

Would be great if somebody who has a headlamp out of the car could measure the dome position marked in the picture including the height.

The carbon seats have less padding thickness in the lower back area than the standards I had in my former exige s. Tried gel pad from motorcycle supply, does help a bit.

@lotus-62 Love that hillclimb too! Drove the St Tropez three years there. The driving picture of the St Tropez is from "The Loser Hillclimb". Give me a note when you go next. Better buy a finished St Tropez. It may be cheaper and a lot faster finally.

That was a great experience with the St Tropez in the alps. Its half an hour drive from my home to reach the first pass Add ons as the Elise 111R and later the Exige 410 did help to overcome the separation pain.

Don´t see the point here. The roof is foldable and fits in the rear luggage space. Just fetch it out when rainclouds appear.

39.000€

I always loved the look because it is so 80s! Yep, that was mine for 9 years. Its the car in Jeremy Waltons book. A friend of mine had seen it in Donington 2007 for sale and sent me some pictures. Took a flight the next weekend and bought it. Dealer fixed a couple of small items and two weeks later we drove it in two days to south Bavaria. It is an awesome experience to drive an Esprit open in summertime. The chassis is very stiff and there were reinforcements inside, e.g. in the sills and the A pillars, no flex flex flex I can assure you. In the pictures above the white TurboEsprit with the red stripes is a one off made by Kollinger in Germany. The red GHB 550V above is shown in two pictures, found not long ago in a backyard, overgrown, curious if somebody will rescue that one. The other pictures represent the two blue cars made. Overall I would say 6 or 7 cars were made. If you are interested have a look on my website in the link below

It is the first St Tropez made by PBB. Last time seen it advertised for sale around 2007 in a very sorry state. Looks like a decent made frame off restoration to me from the pictures. Also interior looks well made. Softtop will need a refresh. Conversion to LHD executed now. Sills would be helpful for the overall appearance. Curious for how much it will sell.

Fuel consumption economy is better in the 410, needs 10% less fuel than my former Exige S in comparison. Maybe an excuse for an upgrade in the future

Finally found the rattle culprit, it was idler pulley 17. The outer bearing race was spinning inside the idler. Bearing itself is still fine and spinning freely by hand motion. Looks like somebody made a to big hole inside the pulley.

Started the car and had around 5 loud mettalic "Klacks" in the first 10 seconds. Then rattle as usual. Would say Klacks came from the downwards belt area. Maybe drive belt tensioner had a hard time from something blocking / loosening / blocking etc. and knocked. Definetly something on the way out soon. @Kristof: Actuator rod from the supercharger pressure relief valve is not moving on idle, no influence. Results from stethoscope check: The compressor on multiple places is without any intermittent rattle, constant bearing noise. Screws #21 from pulleys 18 and 19 pinpointed from the backside: Normal bearing sound. Number #16 bracket assembly transfers the intermittent rattle clearly. Had the car driven over an hour. The intermittent rattle has now a new friend, a metalic grinding sound. Next step could be ordering pulleys #17 and #23 and try to change them during the drive belt exchange. Not clear to me is if they can be changed with the bracket assembly only loosened. There is only a small gap to remove the belt after removing a lot of brackets and disconnectiong the right engine mount. The bracket assembly #16 can not be removed out of the engine bay according to service notes, only with rear clam removal. Still not sure if that is the rattle culprit... What a PITA.

Thanks for the hint Kristof. The experienced mechanic checked it a while ago with a big screw driver and said he cannot locate it. I have a stethoscope around from my Esprit times, will give it a try myself. Main problem is awful accesability, and it is quite scary / dangerous near to the running belt.

The Stratton car is missing the Race Pack, no manual exhaust flap opening, I would miss it. Otherwise grear colour, same as mine. As I started the search for a V6 I also preffered the clean look of the roadster. At a certain point it flipped and now I would miss it. The roadster now looks empty to me on the back.

The lock plate in the boot needs to be adjusted on yours, had the same problem on my 2015 V6 and after the dealer sorted it since 3 years no more problems

Try to find the culprit for a rattle. Started at roughly 18000 miles only once in a while, now clearly prominent with 19000 miles when engine cold, disappears during heating up, comes back intermittent when fully warmed up. We checked the pulleys by hand, only one showed very slight play, original Toyota part item 8 in 41.03 parts diagram, exchanged, no difference. Exchanged pulleys 18 and 19 after talking to Lotus mechanic for possible problem pulleys, no difference. Drive Belt tensioner is working without problems. When rattle is ongoing, tensioner is moving a bit, but normal according experienced mechanic. AC on and off has no difference. No failure codes, car runs fine otherwise Anybody got something similar?

Good luck with your search. It is good to see some interest arising about these rare beauties. Would be great to get a picture for the website at the end. On the website I can only show St Tropez convertibles seen in pictures or reported by readers. Evidence seen by me: 7 built. Neither Mr. PBB nor Mark Irwin were so kind to shed more light on numbers built. PM me If you think I can help.

Which car have you seen 20 years ago, one of the known ones? Color? Details?

Hurry up guys, after brexit shopping in europe will cost tax. Until now only some reg fees. The nice magnetic blue 2004 RHD 111R with only 22000 Miles in my garage is not for sale so.