What Made You Choose Your Esprit

[rizla603104]

Hi everyone. I'm interested to know what drove you to choose the Esprit you have today. I love to hear the stories, as there normally is one!

[lotusespritse]

I had a 91 Jim Clark Esprit SE in the 90's, sold it because I was still young and needed to try out some other exotics. After owning a variety of sports cars, I just had to come back to the Esprit.

But I wanted to have a different, more evolved experience from the SE, so I needed a V8. I wanted the new style interior, and I found an unmolested 98 for sale, so I bought that. After researching the liner issue to death, I feel confident that since this car hasn't had the issue yet, I will be fine as long as I don't overheat it. So I upgraded the radiator and fans for some insurance against the Texas heat.

Because of the liner reputation, the 98 is about 1/2 the price of 2002+ models. Considering how similar the cars are, I feel like it's a great value and leaves lots of cash for maintenance and upgrades.

Edited July 24, 2012 by lotusespritse

[andydclements]

Mine was because it had the original (well, OK the s1 looks were the true original) looks and weight, combined with the mechanical strength and performance of the SE. Mine is the body of a Turbo Esprit with the chassis, drivetrain electrical etc of an SE .

[CharlieCroker]

Retro looks (always wanted a 1970's wedge), Italian design, British engineering, fantastic exhaust note and of course I'd be lying if I didn't mention the Bond film (I always remember the girl in the helicopter!). A car that has surprise and surpassed expectations, I really enjoy driving this car and dare I say working on it, even if I pull my hair out sometimes with all the grazed knuckles and burnt pockets. 1979 Lotus Esprit S2.

Edited July 24, 2012 by CharlieCroker

[Bibs]

I bought my NA when I'd lusted after it as a friend of the original owner for 8 years. My SE I bought as it was the closest thing I could have to a Sport300

[karmavore]

Cost vs. Rarity vs Style vs. Performance. The next closest thing is the NSX, at least here in the US where we have a much smaller variety of cars.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Luke Colorado

[s4simon]

SE didn't have colour coded door handles.

S4S onwards didn't fit in my garage.

So bought an S4.

[rizla603104]

I remember attending a sales training course when I was 20 and we were asked what we wanted to do by the time we were 30. I remember jumping up and saying "I'll own an Esprit by that time." It was another 8 years before that day would come.

We'd just moved house and I remember buying a copy of a classic car mag. The article was good and it pacified my fears about Esprit ownership. I started looking for one in my price range. After weeks of scouting I found an S3 in Loughton. It looked in good condition and had its engine rebuilt about a year before. I bought it and had it for around 6-7 years. My lasting memory is that every Sunday after taking my wife to work, my 2 year old son and I used to drive for around an hour in the morning - around the back roads, he used to fall asleep and I used to listen to Radio 2 (no wonder he fell asleep!). I also have video of him "helping" me wash the car. Although he is now nearly 14 - we still share a passion for cars (unfortunately he prefers the roar of an American V8) - but I think I can turn him back to the right side:)

My S3 still remains the car I owned for the longest time.

Because my mileage for work was building I couldn't keep her - but I did sell it for what I bought it for. I remember being very sad when I sold her. I also remember being very angry when - just after I sold her a traffic warden appears from nowhere and gave me a ticket - outside my own house. That has never happened before or since. It was all I could do to stop my wife from knocking her hat off. Happy days!

To this day I still miss that car - the experience - the pain (I remember the pain in my arms trying to contort into different positions to fix things), and the pain in the wallet from time to time - but also the friendships I've made along the way. I found the whole experience a way of life. Now as I stand on the edge of looking to join the fraternity again - I must say - I am looking forward to every second. Good and bad!

[jonwat]

ACBC

[rizla603104]

ACBC

what means?

what means?

Forget it - I know what you mean - anyone who says "add lightness" is a genius!

[Bazza 907]

The S3 because it was the car that I'd always promised myself.

The Essex simply because it is the ultimate Esprit, the rarest and most stunning.

[rizla603104]

So true - beautiful shape. Looks good from practically all angles!

[Bibs]

The Essex simply because it is the ultimate Esprit, the rarest and most stunning.

And the most valuable

[Bazza 907]

And the most valuable

And on the basis that it's not for sale and I don't need the money....for someone to get me to part with it probably would make it the most valuable

[Whirlybird]

Over 30 years ago a family friend came over from U.S.A. to buy and Esprit and take it back. I got a ride in it, then I was hooked.

Taken until now to do it.

And probably a bit of 007 also !

[hopo]

Just look at it:

thats why....

[Bibs]

Hopo, I thought your answer would be 'indecision'!

[ramjet]

TSWLM then I never saw one again until Pretty Woman, then in Perth when I was a lot younger. Once we paid our house off, I said I am now getting an Esprit. Took until 2008.

[Trevsked]

Hopo doesn't have a problem deciding whether to buy a car it just goes downhill from there.

Trevor.

[hopo]

Hopo, I thought your answer would be 'indecision'!

Ah true bibs... it used to be... but now im not so sure...

[Whirlybird]

"Once we paid our house off, I said I am now getting an Esprit. Took until 2008."

Bugger, now I remember what the wife said to me before I can get one !

[Moxie]

When I was 11, my parents bought me a book by the Automobile Club of Italy called World Cars 1976. It has a few color pages, but is mostly a reference book with three black and white photos per page of every car in the world, sorted by country and marque, with basic stats and specs for each. When I saw this photo…

...something snapped in my head. I was instantly obsessed and promised myself one day I’d have one. When the Bond film came out a few months later I practically levitated when I saw the car roll on to the dock, and that completely cemented the obsession. I know it’s a classic of British engineering--about which my appreciation increases by the day as my ignorance decreases--but what hooked me was what hooked Chapman--Giugiaro’s timeless design, which I could stare at all day. Rolling, transcendent artwork that you can pull Gs in.

Years went on, the Stevens styling sort of lost me, and I never had the money or knowledge to be a responsible owner.

Then a few years ago when my son was just starting to form sentences, he and I were visiting my mom, sitting on the same couch in the same room as when I first read the book, when my mom (seeing my son’s toy racecar) said “I wonder if Chet would like that car book you used to have?” She disappeared to the back of the house and came back with the book, which I thought was long lost. Chet sat on my lap and thumbed through every page without saying a word until he got to page 165--which had nothing to give it away like a dog-ear or even those pencil lines which my son has since drawn--and when he saw that same photo he jabbed his finger at it and yelled “I LOVE IT!” I have my mom as a witness.

Still my all-time favorite Lotus photo. At Mike Halker's after he finished the body of my S1.

I thought this was just too bizarre, so I pulled out my cell phone, called my dad--who I thought always considered the AC Cobra the sexiest car ever made--and asked him what he thought was the best looking car ever designed, to which he said “The Esprit.” So if you ever need a case for the relationship between genetics and aesthetics, that’s it. Three generations’ worth. Apparently there’s a G-Esprit gene.

So at that point I thought screw it, I’m getting one. I lurked for months, found Tony K, bought my S1 from him, and the next thing I know I’m sitting in MJK’s living room with Tony interviewing him about the S1 as well as Ollie Winterbottom, Colin Spooner, Brian Spooner, Nick Fulcher, and Brian Angus, have made some of the greatest friendships of my life, and been fortunate enough to hang with Bibs (and been terrorized by his driving), Kimbers, Gordon, Sparky, Internets, Petrol Driven Feet, etc., and TLF is one of the two centers of it all for me, the other being our little group over here.

Anyway, I still get juiced whenever I see a G-Esprit--and I love my Evora--but the cars are nothing compared to the people and culture that go with them.

[rizla603104]

Brilliant story Moxie. Thats what I mean - there is always a great story behind why we have them. You are also right about the people too. From the designers to the owners!

[Chris Southam]

Nice story Moxie.

Glad that someone else loves the G's but not he S's (and the Evora) - we'd get on just fine

I guess I should add my story.

I wanted a DeLorean originally (never dreaming I could own a James Bond car). Then I went searching for one last year and discovered not only are they rare, expensive but they are rubbish as well.

Then along came an Esprit S2 at the right price and I snapped it up.

Best decision I've ever made, currently it's being turned Monaco White and everything I want right now.

I love driving it, remember picking it up in Essex (last October) and driving it back along the M25 cowering at the size of everything else next to me!

It gets so many looks, beeps, waves and shouts. People can't believe it really exists and runs.

Best thing is seeing people wind their windows down to have a listen. Love that.

Also, unintentionally - the car rolled off the production line not only the year I was born but the month too. It's as old as me!

Edited July 25, 2012 by Chris Southam

[nic996]

I am afraid I had an obsession with the LP 400 Countach and the Lancia Stratos stradale. I decided I wanted a 70's wedgy supercar but without the astronomical costs (which I could never afford). After deciding to buy a Stratos kit from Lister Bell I did some research into the ins and outs of building a Kit car in Germany and the red tape seem to be a little prohibitive (the Environmental zones restricted the use of a kit car of which I live in) The Esprit, however, fitted the bill perfectly. It has the Italian looks with sensible British (affordable) underpinings. I wanted an NA late S3 with the updated chassis so that I could turn back the clock and get the look of the S2. Anyway I stumbled across my car whilst on the phone to a Lotus specialist and now I have it, in a thousand pieces...... It's getting there......

PS, I have since discovered through a friend that the kit car in Germany in the environmental zones is more than do-able. So I could have had the Stratos. I am definitely not kicking myself. I can't wait to get my Lotus on the road. I have never seen one in Munich and it's sure to turn heads