Essex Random Images.......

[mayevora]

Not seen that last one before. Nice find Lyndon.

[wolflyn]

Lotus 81 Mario Andretti

Essex Oil's distinctive Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II 3A-MSX landing at Bern Belpmoos Airport in Switzerland in 1980 (Photo: Anton Heumann) owned by Essex Oil founder David Thieme

Colin Chapman had his own helicopter G-AYTF " GAY DANCER" which appeared in both Essex and JPS liveries

G-AYTF

Mario Andretti

gota love this pic = Lotus 88 Essex F1 car (Mansell - and the car was famously banned from competing, along with its 2-chassis construction!) in the reflection of a Lotus Essex Esprit (car no.100

Mario at Monacco 1980

apparently the photo of the helicopter on top on the team motor homes is outside the Albert hall,,, showy millionaire David Thieme - with a black hat and a goatlike beard - plastered his Essex logos all over Team Lotus. At the time Thieme's parties were stunning, simply because no-one had ever done such things before. For 2 years running he had a gala dinner in London's Albert Hall, with excellent food and gorgeous wines. The diners were then serenaded by singers Shirley Bassey in the first year and Ray Charles in the second.

The launch of Essex Team Lotus in December 1979 was at the Paradis du Latin cabaret in Paris, THE fashionable club of the era. The press were put up in a fancy hotel and ferried about in stretched limousines and then, after dinner and an exhibition of feathered ladies dancing around, a Lotus painted in Essex colors suddenly began to descend from the roof, with a terrified Mario Andretti, clad in a dinner jacket, clinging to the car as it floated gradually to earth. Those were the days before every F1 launch had dry ice and laser beams and people were rather stunned.

Edited February 19, 2012 by wolflyn

[jonwat]

That white Essex looks awesome

[CharlieCroker]

Very cool photos:)

[nello]

Nice to see you've come over all 'Essex' now Wolflyn I saw the white Essex years ago at a car bash at The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden. It came complete with Essex cam covers etc so was very much Essex old stock...

[cbclotus]

Brill pictures..........Thanks for posting.Mike

[rocket63]

[wolflyn]

lotus 88

[mayevora]

[wolflyn]

[Loose Cannon]

Liking the helicopter shot, is that a Lotus/Essex image or from a magazine?

[wolflyn]

is the the monaco heli air website

[cbclotus]

Can any one make out the registration number of the essex car in the helicopter shot.OPW67.....W. Great picture thanks for posting .Mike

[red vtec]

Looks like OPW674W

[cbclotus]

Thats what i thought it was.Just trying to rember the road test car.the factory named white heat,opw654 might be wrong. After owning opw679w .Ijust love any thing related to the early cars.Cheers all .Mike

[nello]

OPW 674W belonged to Essex Motorsport and resides in France. It was badged as LHD 002

[Loose Cannon]

Was it David Thiemes car or was that ROW 007?

[nello]

Correct Mark - Thieme had LHD numbered 007 - rumoured to still have somewhere in Paris......

These were the two cars originally registered to the Essex Petroleum Company.

LHD 002 SCCFC20A0AHH10302 (OPW 674W)

LHD 007 SCCFC20A2AHH10303 (Mr Thiemes')

....on the subject of which:

Edited February 24, 2012 by nello

[wolflyn]

lotus esprit essex model on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1e62b431bc

another ebay item http://www.ebay.co.u...=item256d269b94

another ebay model

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2c60b29cfc

Edited February 25, 2012 by wolflyn

[hedgerley]

Here's Bazza's Essex lined up with my V8 at the 60th Anniversary bash at Hethel, on what was then the Lotus Esprit Forum stand.

Edited February 25, 2012 by hedgerley

[wolflyn]

Andrew Mariot - Sponsorship and PR guru (CSS Promotions) recalls

Without any question the most spectacular Formula1 launches we were involved in were run for the eccentric boss of Essex Petroleum. David Thieme.The Zoro-hatted American had taken over primary sponsorship of Team Lotus back in 1980. Thieme was in the oil spot market business and was for a while spectacularly successful buying and selling tankerfuls of crude oil as they plied the high sea.

He wanted to impress his 30 or so big customers by not only sponsoring Lotus and but also putting on the biggest and most lavish launches ever. At CSS Promotions we came up with the concept of using the Albert Hall as the venue. In addition to the car launch we would put on an evening’s entertainment. Thieme liked the idea but had one worry: he didn’t want anyone to go hungry, and he wanted to feed them. The only problem – there aren’t any kitchens at the Albert Hall.

But with big bucks most problems can be solved and thus his guests , the media and a lot of hangers-on were treated to a lavish dinner cooked by legendary South of France Chef Roger Verge and brought in by heated wagons from the kitchens of the Dorchester. When the meal was over Shirley Bassey was the entertainment

A year later Thieme wanted it to be even bigger and it was probably our finest hour. Through Mark Thatcher, we managed to persuade his mother to turn up and press the flesh with all Mr Thieme’s key clients. Outside the Albert Hall we’d done a deal, via an ex-MI6 character we knew simply as, “Mac”. Mac oiled the wheels so we could park Mr Thieme’s double-decker hospitality bus in the bus lane opposite the Hall. Then we placed on top of the bus Mr Thieme’s helicopter and it looked pretty spectacular I can tell you. The helicopter, of course, didn’t actually land on this forerunner

to current uber-hospitality units, we craned it there. No-one was quite sure if the roof of the bus was strong enough to take the weight of the chopper – there were a few anxious moments – but sure enough the bus did not become a single-decker...

This time the entertainment was no less than the legendary blind R & B star Ray Charles with the Scottish singer Barbara Dickson as the warm-up act, Verge again provided the food, someone won an Essex-liveried Lotus Esprit in a free raffle, the Albert Hall was swathed in mimosa and quite a lot of people got drunk on Dom Perignon champagne. The only problem was that before he had settled a fairly substantial part of our bill Mr Thieme’s star had fallen to such a degree that he was sought by certain authorities – never to be seen at a race track again. Or wave a pen over a cheque book. Indeed everyone who had quaffed the champagne had actually done so at the expense of CSS Promotions rather than Essex Petroleum – and most of them weren’t even our friends

Extracts from the BRDC 2009 bulletin

Edited June 15, 2012 by wolflyn

[Bazza 907]

Lyndon

Amazing how people can blag an image of themselves when there's such little substance behind them.

BTW there are some nice pics of my car in Practical Classics this month

[nello]

Gulp.....OK.....so who paid the £312 for it on fleabay!!

 

Edited December 30, 2012 by nello

[Bazza 907]

A few years ago somebody paid £1000+ for one of those on fleabay..

[pete]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1-18TH-AUTO-ART-LOTUS-ESPRIT-TURBO-ESSEX-TAKE-A-LOOK-/110995222351?pt=UK_ToysGames_DiecastVehicles_DiecastVehicles_JN&hash=item19d7d4af4f