The V8 that was nearly mine!

[Rick Edwards]

About 4 years ago I got as far as putting a deposit on a lovely V8SE in Azure blue...it came to the collection day and the dealer could not get the car started.I was obviously concerned and after what turned into a VERY long delay and several trips to various Lotus experts who replaced everything from the ECU to plugs and everything in between, I gave up, got a refund and purchased the S4s I have now and have not regretted it for a second.

 

The dealer and I struck up a bit of a friendship after all the to and froing over the car and he stayed in touch and told me the car had gone back to Lotus to see if they could fix it. He had told them that the cost of fixing it was always going to be an issue so they could do it as and when they could fit it in to keep the price down. That was the last I heard, until.....

Earlier this year I visited Hethel for a factory visit and track event and lo and behold what was sitting next to the Driver Academy but "my" esprit still not fixed!! The Lotus guys said they had not got round to it. 3 and a half years of not getting round to it!

Today out of the blue the phone rang and it was the dealer again, but this time with news that the car was fixed! after all the searching and problem tracing that everyone including Lotus have done, the fault was traced to a short in the wiring loom. Total cost to fix about £30 in parts and £400 in labour.

 

The car is going to be given a £3k service plus belts and various pumps and bits that ned doing after its extended stay in the car park and then back on sale. It will be a lovely car for someone and if the economic climate were different I may be tempted to add a V8 to the collection. But it isnt and I cant.

[Kimbers]

What dealer Rick? And how much is he asking?

[Rick Edwards]

It was a chap called Simon Yaetes in Sutton Coldfield. He doesnt have it back yet as its going to have the big work done over the next week or so. I think he will be looking for about 18K. Its only done about 55k miles I think.I will digout his number if you are interested.

[lotusespritse]

Yikes!  A car that has sat for 3+ years without running sounds scary to me.  Did it sit outside in car park?

 

Crazy from a business perspective that someone sat on that car for so long without selling it.  Talk about cost of capital.

[Rick Edwards]

I assume it was sat in the placeI saw it at Hethel for mostof its time at Lotus. The reason for the big £3k work is to get it back to A1 as far as Lotus are concerned so I have to assume that anyone buying it can do so with confidence.