S300 No. 25 Restoration resumed

[hopo]

MOAR!

[red vtec]

HI,

Firstly thanks to Dave for setting this up and also to his wife for the the tea and Coffee, Secondly I must get to the Gym!!

The weather was great and the settings were fantastic. I will get some pics up on the site once we have sorted through them, there are a lot to choose from.

The car is stunning in every aspect, the colour is beautiful and the metallic paint really pops in the sunlight, Everything about the car is just right. Dave kindly took me for a passenger ride. It rides so nicely, a really comfortable ride, not a hard as board ride bu that famous Lotus supple ride with amazing road holding, it corners as Julia Roberts says "on rails" the acceleration is awesome and the AP brakes are amazing.

Following the car from behind it really has a presence and you can see it's race car pedigree, its like a highly trained race horse, even with the wheel arches and the spoiler it looks muscular and lean. And the sound is lovely.

Thanks Dave, and I will get some taster pics on the site, hopefully before I go on Holiday.

Chris

[tcole6]

Just over six months ago I undertook the task of restoring # 25 sport 300 Esprit. After discussions with the customer it was decided to keep this particular Esprit original as possible. This was due to its history and the fact that it was unique amongst S300 with its slightly modified factory specification.

I was asked if it was possible to complete the project by May 2012, I said i would do my best and actually finished yesterday the 31st at 8 pm. If you have followed this thread you will have seen most of what has been done,

I now give you the finished.....

That is sooooo beautiful it makes me want to puke...because it's not in my garage.

That is spot on! Man you do nice, nice work. Congratulations to you and the owner.

[red vtec]

Here are a few pictures to wet the appetite, these have not been edited yet.

[jollyroger]

I would like to say a few words now that the restoration has been completed.

As some of you might know I do not live in Europe, therefore I had to commission the project and wait for results entrusting completely #25 to people I had never met before, and who I would not be able to see in person before the project would be completed.

From the very first time I had a chance to talk to David, I had the feeling he was the right person to take over the project and deliver my car in a condition that would match when it rolled off the line at Hethel.

As the time went by David kept me constantly up to date by sending me key pictures of the work as it was progressing, leaving me with a strong impression of professional attitude, meticulous attention to detail and excellent workmanship.

Having seen in person the results of the restoration I must say that the beautiful pictures don't give full justice to the quality of the work, which is even more impressive when inspected from up close and experienced by driving the Esprit.

People at Lotus were also very pleased to see one of their rare creatures restored to this level of perfection.

A big thank you then goes to David for his extraordinary work and his very kind hospitality, a true professional and a true gentleman.

Francesco

[fsrowsell]

A beautiful car you have there Francesco!! and yea Dave did an excellent job for sure.

Will you be importing the car to Canada?

I'm moving back to Canada in Sep and will be taking my Esprit back with me.

I'm moving to the East coast, but you never know I might make a trip up to TO one day...

Cheers

Felix

[jollyroger]

Hello Felix,

thank you very much for your comments!

Yes, I will import the Esprit to Canada, if you ever travel to Toronto you will be most welcome to visit us!

Cheers,

Francesco

[fsrowsell]

Cheers Francesco!

[CHANGES]

Thank you Francesco for all your comments, It was a pleasure eventually meeting

you and your wife and being able to share so much time enjoying #25.

As you stated , there was a lot of trust on this project between two people who had never met.

I thank you for taking that trust in me and giving me the opportunity to work on such a wonderful

piece of Lotus history.

It will be a pleasure looking after #25 until shipping and customs details are completed...

Thank you to everyone who has followed this thread, for their interest and comments , it has

been a pleasure to share the progress as it unfolded...

I am sure a few more photo's from Chris will appear on here as he creates the build book with the full

history of #25's restoration...

Thanks again

Dave ( in this case not to many 'CHANGES' )

[mr.oogieboogie]

pitty i missed this, bloody ice skating

[Mysterae]

Wow. This is the kind of restoration we would all do given the resources. Better than factory!

[MrDangerUS]

On 7/7/2012 at 04:20, CHANGES said:

 

 

Dave,

Does S300 have a separate (bolt-on) front bumper valance extension, or is the extension a part of the bumper?

Orange car below looks different... seems like one piece bumper/valance.

Is it a custom  made bumper or stock? What is the PN# ?

[CHANGES]

Hi John,

On the S300 bumper and front valance are one piece mold  (see disassembled pic. ).  Its also has different mounting arrangement to the Tub. This assembly is GRP and a lot lighter than the standard flex multi part set up.  The lower rubber apron is similar but not the same as the V8 version which does not contour with the arch extension built into the S300 fender/valance.  The rubber apron for the S300 is N/A as is the front fender/valance from Lotus .  However I am sure there is after market molds of the fender / valance ..

  

[Roberto Esprit]

Hey Dave I want you to know I read this front to back. It's informative to say the least. This is the kind of work I can do. It takes nothing more than time and patience. Like a big model. I am not in any way downing your work. I think it is a fantastic job. Much better than 97 percent of builders who always leave sags and rusty junk on the car. But I am much more interested in your car. I hope that we can meet some day. 4 days from this post I get my Turbo SE which is the same color as this car.

[Monza 1968]

Amazing!!!

Just spotted this car in the Lotus forums and recognised the Italian registration plates!!

This is the very car I nearly purchased in the early nineties in Ora (Bolzano) Italy  ( Dolomites area). 
I drove  from Monza (where I  still live today)  to go and  see it ( 7 hour return trip). I Remember not being utterly convinced of the condition of the car - didn’t buy it and spent the rest of the day skiing  as it was a wonderful sunny day. Needless to say have regretted the decision ever since and would still be interested in a Sport 300 should one come up for sale.

I still cherish a few  photos of the car that I took that very day if anybody is interested.

all the best 

Marc Burns- MONZA - Italy.
 

 

 

 

 

[drdoom]

Visited Bolzano, trotted about on the ski hills east of there one fine, late summer day several years ago. Beautiful locale and a nice trip putting the hired Giulia through the twisties on the hillside roads to and fro! Alpi di Siusi, as I recall.

Cheers

[Monza 1968]

Hi.
Yes , the whole of the Dolomites area is very beautiful and Alpe di Siusi is great for skiing in winter nice easy slopes- ( not this year due to lockdown). 
Best driving experience with breathtaking sceneries however is  over the various mountain passes of the area such as Passo Gardena, Passo Sella, Passo Pordoi  during the summertime.... Definitely worthwhile.

all the best 

 

[Monza 1968]

thinking back,

I believe the Sport 300 actually belonged to Mr. Romano Artioli who at the time owned Lotus Cars group. Mr Artioli was a wealthy, successful businessman in the automotive sector and he  established Autoexpo in Ora-Bolzano as the main distributor of Ferrari and Lamborghini cars for the whole of the  South Tyrol region of Italy but also serving southern Germany as well.

His great  dream and project was to build the Bugatti EB110  which he did but then  encountered all kinds of financial difficulties which eventually brought him to bankruptcy  I believe in 1995. Lotus cars was a sort of a side business which he bought to enhance the sports cars image  he was involved with.

I believe it was in 1994 that I actually went to see the Sport 300 and remember the person who showed me the car mentioning it actually belonged to the ‘Boss’ or some comment along those lines...I wasn’t at all impressed as I was only focusing on the car which I scrupulously inspected and then decided not to buy .

Interesting to note that the Lotus Elise was  given its model name  after Mr. Artioli’s daughter - Elisa Artioli.

So Sport 300 n.25 is a very interesting car ....

Below I enclose a few pics.of  Mr Artioli plus the pics I took of Sport 300 in 1994.

Cheers