For Auction - The Esprit Limited Collection

[Barrykearley]

3 hours ago, Mark Blanchard said:

I remember the car for sale when it was green.  The crash was mentioned in the ad at the time and was sold at a discounted price because of it.  No mention of it here though.

Can’t even get the bhp correct

[C8RKH]

3 hours ago, Mark Blanchard said:

Yes it was paid for privately.  Looks like the car would have been a Cat B with structural and chassis damage.

Always makes me laugh when I see this. Some people will NOT touch a CAT car, and yet could unknowingly be buying a car that had been all but written off but not recorded. My view is that at least with a CAT marked car you KNOW something had happened and so can check out what repair was done etc. With a non marked car, well, if nothing is disclosed then how do you really know?

[Mark Blanchard]

I wouldn't want to buy a car not knowing it's history and I'd be well pissed off if I found out the car had been totalled.

I'm sure that Sport 300 is a good car now, but I've informed The Market of the cars previous history.  The previous seller was honest enough.  It will be interesting to see if they disclose the information or hide it to get maximum money.  Let's see how honest they are.

 

[Senior]

so far 2 out of the 6 not what they seem!! Not great is it.

[Barrykearley]

Sadly - the reality of cars like this - most have a back story. If current owners know about the past is a completely different thing.

[jimichanga]

Question is where the heck are the other S300s? Aside from this formerly scandal green car I’ve only seen one other come up for sale in the last decade. 

[Viper]

Pictures are loaded on the S300. 

suspenders looks like it’s lived in the bottom of the Atlantic. 
 

Signs of green too. 
 

great shame. 

Edited August 12, 2021 by Viper

[Barrykearley]

That looks awful

[Mark Blanchard]

1 hour ago, Viper said:

Signs of green too.

 

[Viper]

1 hour ago, Barrykearley said:

That looks awful

It’s not that good 😂

[Barrykearley]

I’ve definitely cut off and skipped worse - but only just.

[Bazza 907]

5 hours ago, Viper said:

Signs of green too. 
 

That's Scandalous 

[stephenwhyte]

Somebody clearly got a new sewing machine for their Christmas😳……the quilted alcantara in there is hurrendous!🤦🏻‍♂️

[Barrykearley]

4 minutes ago, stephenwhyte said:

Somebody clearly got a new sewing machine for their Christmas😳……the quilted alcantara in there is hurrendous!🤦🏻‍♂️

I expect geely have removed said machine

[Giniw]

@stephenwhyte> well I suspect they will do what the customer asks even if it's not according to their own taste? (or at least they used to do as the retrim service is NLA as far as I know)

[ramjet]

On 31/07/2021 at 15:50, Gln.co said:

I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the Sport 350. A few crawling out of the woodwork at the moment!

I must admit, I hope for the owners sake they do a much better job at ‘selling’ the car via the description and detail, because if you didn’t know your Lotus is certainly wouldn’t entice you as it stands right now (other than looking glorious - of course).

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[stephenwhyte]

14 hours ago, Giniw said:

@stephenwhyte> well I suspect they will do what the customer asks even if it's not according to their own taste? (or at least they used to do as the retrim service is NLA as far as I know)

I personally think the retrim was done at the (SW) Lotus Centre not Hethel……looks to be lost in translation. There’s no way a Sport 300 left Hethel like that!🤢

[Giniw]

Oh, maybe indeed, thanks!

[Paul Coleman]

There is a glaring omission in the collection so Dave Noble and I are going to enter our S1 into the auction as well...

 

[Djs44]

On the jps car , why are the cantrail trims not gold ? 

[LOTUSMAN33]

SJ no longer sell the gold cant rail trims unfortunately. When I spoke to Steve he said a new run wasn’t economical to produce as he had to buy so many.

[v8vantage]

55 minutes ago, Djs44 said:

On the jps car , why are the cantrail trims not gold ? 

For a supposedly unmolested original car it has a lot of non original pieces on it. Buyer beware.

[madmax]

I think they are actually gold - just not as gold as they were when the car was new. I’m pretty sure there are a pair of new old stock ones in a stash of spares with this car, so very rare indeed.

For a group of supposed enthusiasts there’s an awful lot of negativity thrown in the direction of this particular owner. If I were faced with trying to dispose of my own collection I might be horrified at the collective vitriol. There’s little or no mention of how incredible some of the cars look - that S4S looks like new!

I’m really surprised as I’ve always found you guys really supportive. 

Even the comments on the Essex appear derogatory and as far as I know it wasn’t bought via eBay and the very comprehensive restoration will have totalled probably £40K. I think it’s probably a fitting tribute to the previous owners memory rather than deteriorating under a sheet, blistering paint and seizing rare mechanicals.

A disappointing perspective from a collection of Lotus guys viewing a rare Lotus collection.....................

[Barrykearley]

Whilst I agree to some of your points @madmax - the Sport300 is a complete dog of a car. The auction posting forgets to mention the huge writeoff the car was - shows loads of photos of shiney paint - yet when you finally get to the underside pics - you can see it’s hanging and requiring a full suspension rebuild. I can only guess how bad the brake lines are.

im sure there’s some unwarranted criticism - but cars are there to see for their own merits and folks to bid accordingly. Let’s face it we’ve not seen a sport300 come up for sale for a very long time so who knows what it will fetch.

[Escape]

I'd say we all appreciate these cars for what they are and would love to see them in a show or even better, on the road. But when advertising as a 'collection', we'd expect every detail to be correct and perfect. Maybe that is why in general Lotus do not fetch the price they often deserve, with the upside being many of us enthusiasts can afford to own and run one or more (myself including) as they are great value for money. I for one think the toxic green Sport 300 looks awesome, and I would consider putting in a bid had I not just committed to another project starring a similar Esprit. 

Also, we're not the P-crowd who thinks every slight modification or new decal on a flattened beetle warrants an increase in price. 😁

Regardless of price, I hope they all find a good home and will bring their future owner much joy!

Filip