Evora GTE Registry

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

The advert says it's for track-use only, but it's one of the 20 re-worked road cars. Maybe they can't get it registered in Switzerland for some reason? Apart from the price, that would be another big reason why it's been hanging around so long.

[NW76]

Interesting... what would be a good price for that GTE? ... ;-) 

[TBD]

The GTE is not (yet?) a self seller. It was released as a reborn project, long after all public awareness had diminished. I think market appreciation will grow as these cars become a more intrinsic part of the Lotus heritage, which they undoubtedly will.

Certainly one reason not to sell early.

[C8RKH]

Hmmm. First off let me say I am a fan of the GTE and at the time, if I'd had that cash in the bank I would have bought one, for sure.

I'd buy one now if I could at £90-£100k, a good premium over what I think most owners paid and I'd expect it to have been used, not garaged.

What I am not sure about is the following:

"market appreciation will grow as these cars become a more intrinsic part of the Lotus heritage, which they undoubtedly will."

I'm just not sure how that will happen as the car was essentially an update to the Evora, it's not been raced, etc. If it had the 400bhp Cosworth tuned race engine then maybe, through close association to the racing GT cars I can see it being part of the heritage.

I'm not knocking the GTE or her owners here. I love that car, I really do, and anyone who has seen me near one will be used to lingering, longing stares at it!. But I just don't see where its future heritage rep will come from.

@adfer's car, being all carbon, Kimi's ex Company Car with his signature, oh yes, that car will become iconic imho because of its close F1 link of the time.

I'm no expert, so please take with a pinch of salt my comments. As I said I'm not trying to piss on anyone's parade here and would be happy to be put straight.

The GTE is special and its limited numbers make it exclusive, for sure, but an intrinsic part of Lotus Heritage?

[TheKevlarKid]

1 hour ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

The advert says it's for track-use only, but it's one of the 20 re-worked road cars. Maybe they can't get it registered in Switzerland for some reason? Apart from the price, that would be another big reason why it's been hanging around so long.

Didn't the liquid yellow one go off to Switzerland? Pretty sure that wasn't track use only, don't see why this one is either. Perhaps it need some sort of test like to IVA here to register it. TBD didn't you have to send yours for some sort if testing in Germany before you could register it?

[TheKevlarKid]

37 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Hmmm. First off let me say I am a fan of the GTE and at the time, if I'd had that cash in the bank I would have bought one, for sure.

I'd buy one now if I could at £90-£100k, a good premium over what I think most owners paid and I'd expect it to have been used, not garaged.

What I am not sure about is the following:

"market appreciation will grow as these cars become a more intrinsic part of the Lotus heritage, which they undoubtedly will."

I'm just not sure how that will happen as the car was essentially an update to the Evora, it's not been raced, etc. If it had the 400bhp Cosworth tuned race engine then maybe, through close association to the racing GT cars I can see it being part of the heritage.

I'm not knocking the GTE or her owners here. I love that car, I really do, and anyone who has seen me near one will be used to lingering, longing stares at it!. But I just don't see where its future heritage rep will come from.

@adfer's car, being all carbon, Kimi's ex Company Car with his signature, oh yes, that car will become iconic imho because of its close F1 link of the time.

I'm no expert, so please take with a pinch of salt my comments. As I said I'm not trying to piss on anyone's parade here and would be happy to be put straight.

The GTE is special and its limited numbers make it exclusive, for sure, but an intrinsic part of Lotus Heritage?

??

They were built alongside the lemans GTE race cars as a road going version/tribute to them. The two Lemans cars competed in the 24hr and one of them finished the race on their first ever attempt. One of those cars is still racing now in the GT Cup championship. So to say there is no heritage behind them is like saying the old Lotus Europa JPS specials have no heritage to them from the F1 cars that shared the same colours or to any 'heritage edition' car lotus have produced on a road going car platform.

If anything i'd argue they are more true to their 'heritage, having the full bespoke bodywork on them than any heritage edition that has gone before...

 

 

 

And the original plaques from them -

 

[TBD]

37 minutes ago, TheKevlarKid said:

Didn't the liquid yellow one go off to Switzerland? Pretty sure that wasn't track use only, don't see why this one is either. Perhaps it need some sort of test like to IVA here to register it. TBD didn't you have to send yours for some sort if testing in Germany before you could register it?

The GTE is only type certified by Lotus as a UK individual build (IVA),  which is generally not accepted outside the UK.

Mine was previously registered as a "normal" Evora S by Lotus Cars in UK. So, it was a "used" EU-registered car, which makes it easier. The car and paperwork were inspected by the GTÜ testing center that always works with Komotec. 

If #19 wasn't registered previously it might be more difficult in Switzerland also. But generally just a question of money.

. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Makes sense. The liquid yellow one was originally UK registered AU12DCV wasn't it? So that probably got registered in Switzerland without issue.

[Trevsked]

I would have thought values would be above the original cost certainly in the current market and with many being LHD and the £ being very attractive to Europeans at the moment. With that in mind I think a LHD car in the UK would surely be circa £100k now as I'm not sure where else you can buy 1 of 20 limited run cars for that sort of money?

 

Trevor.

[TheKevlarKid]

That's what I insured mine for on an agreed value policy last year.  

Seeing that advert, and the only other one for sale being that of adfer's at 106k (is it still for sale even?), I may have to look at increasing that amount when I renew it at the end of this month. 

[Bravo73]

3 hours ago, Trevsked said:

 With that in mind I think a LHD car in the UK would surely be circa £100k now as I'm not sure where else you can buy 1 of 20 limited run cars for that sort of money?

Well, a GTS (one of 3 worldwide, the other being in your garage!) had just come up for sale @ Bell & Covill for £46k. 

http://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/lotus-evora-gts/

[Trevsked]

Very true apart from the fact that my car is now Bell & Colvills and the one for sale. Also i don't feel these are comparable as only one of the three is road registered and nne were intended to be road cars at all.

 

Trevor.

[TheKevlarKid]

Great car at a great price.  

The description is a little inaccurate though. It's had two owners, three if you want to count Lotus...

[Bravo73]

Ah, the 'only one owner' made me think that it wasn't your car. Do you mind me asking how come you're selling it so soon?

[Trevsked]

Don't mind at all. It's a great car and I would keep it but I can't track it until next year unfortunately. Keeping it meant it sitting in the garage with the money tied up there and I wanted something else to use in the meantime on the road. 

 

Trevor.

[Snoopy1969]

The second GTS is also for sale............(but far away...and NO road Registration ;-)

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/lotus/evora/1853817.html

(if I remember right this dealer had two GTS for sale and the green one must have been sold in 2016)

[NW76]

A pitty that I do not live in the US anymore ...

[Snoopy1969]

well even if you calculate the shipping and the VAT etc to be paid when importimg a car from the US into Germany I still think the Price for such a car (only 3 buildt) is attractive, if (and that is the big if) you can live without road reg.

[TheKevlarKid]

no way of getting trev's old car into germany what with it already having a UK reg? much cheaper… or buy it, leave it here and do a few driving holidays every year, wink, wink.

Edited July 12, 2016 by TheKevlarKid

[NW76]

16 minutes ago, TheKevlarKid said:

no way of getting trev's old car into germany what with it already having a UK reg? much cheaper… or buy it, leave it here and do a few driving holidays every year, wink, wink.

Are there any pics of Trevs car online? Couldnt find any at B&C... I like the GTS but I must say... the GTE is just a masterpiece... 

[TheKevlarKid]

@Trevsked has posted some on here somewhere I'm sure.

[internets]

These were taken at B&C a few years back when they had it for sale the first time.

 

[C8RKH]

On 11/07/2016 at 10:09, TheKevlarKid said:

??

They were built alongside the lemans GTE race cars as a road going version/tribute to them. The two Lemans cars competed in the 24hr and one of them finished the race on their first ever attempt. One of those cars is still racing now in the GT Cup championship. So to say there is no heritage behind them is like saying the old Lotus Europa JPS specials have no heritage to them from the F1 cars that shared the same colours or to any 'heritage edition' car lotus have produced on a road going car platform.

If anything i'd argue they are more true to their 'heritage, having the full bespoke bodywork on them than any heritage edition that has gone before...

 

 

 

And the original plaques from them -

 

Ooops, I may have offended unintentionally.

Yes they were built by Motorsports and yes they are special and my love for them is well known. If i could, I would. So I ain't knocking the car but do question the pedigree. Compare the pedigree to other Lotus Motorsport inspired specials and I think it is not as high. But this is my opinion and again I am not slagging off the car here.

BUT - they are not the original homage that was promised with regards to body (just how similar is the race car and GTE body? - looks quite different in that picture?), engine (not the Cosworth 400 but the std. S), performance and wheels (no centre locks etc) etc. so I do wonder re the long term value ceiling. The fact they were around £85k new, and around £110 -£120 now is something I am genuinely pleased about. Lotus needs Halo cars and I ain't going to knock it.

As I said I am no expert but when you look at the trajectory over the years of cars like the Essex Esprits, the Esprit 350's, Elan Sprints and even the original Elites etc. The GTE is bucking the trend already, but I just queried the ceiling and pedigree.

Yes the GTE is special, but is the heritage link that strong? Is the Evora an appreciated race car? (It's certainly accomplished and capable).

I'll bug out as I really don't want to piss off GTE owners, I might be in a place to buy one off them after all in the future. Who knows

 

[TheKevlarKid]

Not pissing me off.

The GTE race car and road car is part of lotus history/heritage full stop, it's not like it didn't happen. Okay, so it's time in the racing 'lime light' wasn't as long and as illustrious as what the F1 team accomplished, and the original GTE road car was a still born project, but they are still part of the companies history no matter how breif/ disappointing they ultimately were.

You are just nit picking minor detail with lack of centre locks and cosworth engines, etc. For starters you wouldn't want a race tuned cosworth engine in a road car, they like to live life at 5k+ revs, not pootling down the pub for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. They also like to cost money, lots of money, especially when they go wrong, and they do! Also, have you seen the size of the socket and torque wench you need to remove/re-tighten the centre locks?? Not something you want to carry around in the boot I can assure you, and not something they'll have down the tyre fitters when you have a puncture and need it fixed... it never was a race car, it was a road going car that was a tribute to one. 

Do the Essex Esprits look anything like the car they are modelled on other than the colour scheme they share? Same goes for the JPS special editions that have been done over the years on evrything from Europas to Exiges, do they have anything in common with the car they pay tribute to other than the paint scheme? At least the road going GTE's strike a good resemblance to the car they were trying to recreate. Please show me one other lotus car that gets anywhere near close to the actual car it is suppose to be paying tribute too. Scott walkers old 2-11 is about as good as you'll find and that still doesnt look anything like an f1 car ,no where near...

Besides all that, there is a much deeper personal reason for me owning one as I'm sure the other owners on here will pay testament too. I like having something unique, one-off,  especially cars. Okay, so it 's not quite 'one of one', but 'one of twenty' that has ever built by a mainstream manufacturer has its appeal, no matter what badge or heritage it has behind it. Certainly when it looks as good as the car does.

At the end of the day It's nice knowing that i'lll never see another one unless I arrange to do so through the likes of this forum. That is the main draw of for me, that and at the price they were asking for them new,please show me something else as unique as it is for 85k. The fact they are increasing in price is a bonus and not a reason to own it, for me anyway.

[NW76]

Very well written ... and very much along the line of what I think. I absolutely envy TBD for his GTE ... the only one in Germany ... who else can say that about his car? ... very few ...