slade

...long time no see Don't know how many faces I'll still recognize (they may now have too many wrinkles ) or whether or not you all converted my bedroom into a sewing room for mom and sold off all my stuff, but it's good to be back nonetheless Believe me I WISH I could have spent the last year or so hanging around on Lotus forums all the time, for some reason this hasn't quite been an option The bad news is that very soon I think I'm probably going to have to divest myself of the Esprit After five or so wonderous, playboyish years enjoying the delightfully irresponsible state of Esprit ownership, adulthood has kicked in and my income and capital will have to be refocused to tasks more in line with... life in general as a starving college graduate. To that end I now can't responsibly afford to maintain or concern myself with the Lotus to the extent that the car deserves, so I think it's time to let it go. No regrets though on ever having it, one of the best experiences in my life. B) So I was looking on replacing it with a new Smart, or a Yaris, or something silly like that when my dad cued me in on one of these up in his area up north (I guess he knew that something a bit more sinister still appealed to me and took advantage of that ) ... ok, I'm sure that no one else would have willingly among all the choices picked the 280Z, but there really was no question in my mind after driving this particular example. 1975 was the first year for EFI, and with this car's 6 cylinder its ridiculously smooth and torquey, wonderful on the freeway. Plus it's nearly 100% original (old maaco paintjob with a few herpes in it excepted, as soon as income builds a bit it'll be yellow/orange/lime green because I'm a fairy that way). The gearchange is the best of any car I've ever driven, everything feels solid and precise, lots of little thoughtfully engineered things, rivaling my brother's 50s Benz in quality... It's amazingly solid, and a remarkably easy daily driver. Drives like a modern sports car, but feels rawer. ...It's a complete coincidence that the above things I've noted are in direct correlation with common Lotus complaints There's something to be said for the Lotus, but this is a much more relaxed car that offers more performance without going balls out and having to worry about something blowing, the Lotus might be ultimately faster, but it doesn't feel like it. Plus the Datsun doesn't inspire as much worry, or dent my wallet at all... Around town fuel economy has been pretty average, but if I get it on the freeway I get nearly 30 mpg (my first drive in it was actually 300 or so miles across the state). (yes, all the original interior is intact under all the pubic hair plush and velour) My dad owned at least four of these things (a couple 240s, a 260, and a 280ZX), as has nearly everyone else in my family at one point, so these cars have always had memories for me, and it's occured to me recently how not common they are anymore, especially in anything like good condition... Don't worry though. I can see myself somehow winding up with another Esprit in a few years Cheers, look forward with taking my current off-time to catch up for a bit

I'd drive the micra, but only in pink :laughing: (pink has crept its way onto my car, see sig)

...good!

Haha... honestly... I CAN imagine myself being Espritless quite easily, which scares me kinda (lol, and it's not a matter of only having bought the thing to attract women either... I found it was more offputting to most than anything because they assumed that my err... cojones were very small when I drove it :laughing: Not that I really cared what they thought at that point, I just enjoyed driving... (and all she noticed was that it was a very low car...) Maybe I'm too much of a cheapskate, because I find myself worrying about it, babying it, or wondering when the next thing is going to break than enjoying it... In large part I enjoy the car for both of its histories; the fact that it's a bit period piece and icon, and its history with me personally. Met a bunch of great people because of/in it I'm not really a good enough driver to appreciate it, nor are the conditions ever right to exploit its prowess (plus I don't want anything to break, so I'm gentle with it) I'd almost just as soon keep it as a sculpture sometimes I think. I'm glad that I have no ulitmatum on selling it (anyway, she wouldn't notice even if all of a sudden I was driving something else unless the color changed ) After nearly 5 years, I do have lots of fondness for the car. And I'm really not quite sure when or how I managed to slip out of car enthusiasm... Which might be at the root of the problem. I'm really back and forth with this. ...Maybe if I'm still interested when I hit my midlife crisis, I'll be rich enough to buy one back, if we're still driving cars at all at that point... hmm. I guess I do actually need convincing, despite all the arguments... (still, because I'm me, I don't think I could ever do anything the "normal" way, so SMARTs or a used Insight have intrigued me...)

hah... I've reached a strange point in my life where ugly isn't anywhere near as offensive as boring... Old Citroens, Multiplas, Peugots appeal. But pretty much any SUV is horribly ugly to my eyes :laughing: Offenders of boring: New Impreza thing Chevy Cobalt (god do I hate those headlights, windows look sooo sloppy) is an embarassment looks like korea could have made it in 1996 Rolls Royce Phantom works from about two angles, this isn't one of them Dodge Challenger (looks like a big dumb cartoon version of the first one) Honorable mentions: Chrysler 300/Charger, Dodge Caliber, all Audis (who can tell them apart, really)

HAH, stories of the New York Summer and Fall already scare the shit out of me... Well, technically I think this place is called the "North Country"... Not really upstate. Eff if I know geography over there :laughing: St. Lawrence County specifically... I'll probably do it ASAP, which means late June, and look to put my Business Administration degree to use... B) Honestly I'm looking for a change and and hopefully I can brave the snow and appreciate the place... My fiance type thing is finishing up college there for the next two or three years. If it turns out we both can't stand the place after that, I probably still won't want to come back to CA, barring a few places... Looking forward to a bit of travel actually. Hmm, another little factor (don't quite know if it's a phase or not) is that I've sort of lost a lot of enthusiasm for cars in general lately for whatever reason... After growing up surrounded by them and enthusiasm related to them... I suppose I could psychoanalyze myself... But I'd still like to keep the Esprit as it's just hard to imagine me without it :laughing: I drove in dandruff (in the Esprit) once for 20 mins, which is all of my experience dealing with snow... In my life. SORTA IRONY ALERT: My Esprit was originally bought in NY, haha. it made the trip once...

oh another one of these again I love these threads because I'm pretty damn old now, but I'm the youngest yet again, somehow still. I remember we had more younglings last time we did this type of thread! :laughing: 22, though I feel (like) a 9 year old... Bought the Esprit when I was... err, 17 in January 2003...

haha, sorry, ditching her isn't an option :laughing: (the girl or the car... it doesn't have to be a choice) Think I'll at least try to stretch keeping it out as long as I can, thanks to the predictable advice here Even if I do leave it under the custody of a family member... (or maybe Paul, if he butters me up enough if I can make it to Cars and Coffee one of these days, lol)

hah... never been too enamored with any of the non-exotic designs, especially the whole "tall car" thing... But the Grande Punto (that we don't get here) does look nice... Like a mini maserati. Though I never liked that particular maserati, hmm. (Giugiaro's English is worse than I remembered :laughing:)

Hah, the jacket is polyesther thank you very much! I'll make sure to cover up the reasons dealing with younger women, hah. Not like I'm being made to sell, but I just wonder if I'll be able to support a hungry Esprit mouth to feed... I'd rather not have it go to seed if it turns out I can't take care of it, or have it sit for a long while while I save up for a repair (and have to figure out at that point how to work out transportation... the Esprit IS my only car, for some reason). Hah. Of course she wouldn't be the sort to make me sell the car, or ask me to have less rippling abs or whatnot :laughing: ...One of the biggest things is that yes, it IS the "best" version of the G Esprit in the "best" color etc. etc... well, it's the one I wanted. (ok, maybe I want orange or lime green more at this point lol) And not like they make em anymore... One thing I WILL need to do before seeing whether it survives the 2000 however many mile trip to snowland is fix the heater, hah. ...Sometimes I think I'm TOO ok with the idea of parting with it I'll wait it out for a while, to graduation at least... no need to be hasty about things... EDIT: Whoa wait. Fish and Jussi are gone?

...All the smileys/layouts are different. Should I have posted this in the n00b room? :laughing: Anyway, yeah I've managed to wake up washed up on these shores again... Life's been... Interesting! To its credit, the Esprit has managed to endure all this with little complaint, maybe if it had effed up at all in recent days I'd have had a reason to crawl back here sooner, hah. But no... The AC even blows cold, with the tan interior and so little space to cool down things get cold quick, which is I'm afraid to say the most enjoyment I get out of the car aside from sitting in traffic at commutes I haven't had much time to actually take any nice trips or enjoy the car as anything more than a bus basically... But it's served fairly well at that. ...So why the hell would I want to sell it? Well with any luck in a few months, my college will be forced to graduate me, if not kick me out outright (took me long enough, yeah) And uhh. That part aside, I'm probably going to have moved FAR away from Riverside, and be uhh. Providing most of the support for a family type thing til my sweetheart gets out of school (that's college, not elementary!!! And no, I didn't knock anyone up So that's I'm afraid where most of my income will have to be going I'll assume... But then I really don't even know which job I'm going to have there, or my situation... hah. Just call it a rash case of responsibility on my part that tells me that if anything major goes wrong with the car, it's safe to say it'll be hard to justify spending the sort of money that'll keep the car in the condition to retain respectability. Having a Lotus is hardly justifiable when her (and it is a HER too, yes! ) car barely runs... On the other hand... The Lotus still does get remarkable fuel economy, and works well, when it works correctly, which isn't too infrequent... Up to 30mpg (I'm careful), which means it's hardly worth trading in for much else on that basis. But looking back at receipts it's needed about one expensive doing per year, and I know I'm just biding time til the next expensive servicing or thing breaking... So yeah. I'm halfway to selling the car, I'd love to keep it but it can't be a real priority... If I sell it I'll part ways pleasantly, and probably wind up proud owner of a new Smart or Yaris... (saw a Smart for the first time in Arizona, seemed to be keeping up with my mom's (dying) Blazer on the freeway... So I suppose my twofold point here is to ask you for reasons to keep the car, or recommending me something else that'll allow me to keep some semblance of style, while being relatively efficient etc... Oh yeah. Nearly forgot. The biggest plus to possibly keeping the Esprit: I'm most likely moving to upstate New York for a few years, about 20 minutes from the border to Canada... So I can always pull a HI WAYNE!!! if anything goes wrong Did I mention I own NO heavy coats of any sort I've never seen snow oh my god wtf am I doing... BTW. Missed you guys.

BEAUTIFUL. I'm totally glad you've left the sills body color Eprsplt had one exactly like that, and sold it

heh, I started something on the emotion in days of yore.. love the cheese wedge hubcaps on the IAD though

HAH... sorry to ressurect this, but I was informed of this thread by PM, and that's great ...yeah, I'm alive somehow, I'll say it before CourtTV or some tabloid does, hehe my next purchase on ebay: (I'd post an auction link, but I'm sure everyone would swipe them )

Whoa, I'm late to Fishy's birthday Don't tell me I missed all the gay strippers!!! Happy Birthday Both