Esprit Turbo project car - part3 - the further continuation

[Lotusfab]

I haven’t been sleeping well since this number plate thing was pointed out!

I have completed another wheel decal. Really got the hang of it now!The writing fits perfectly on the Vredstein tyre. I have remade one front wheel and about to do the second. They now have the correct Essex one inch lips! Tomorrow the new tyres will be fitted and the Goodyear decals.

[Fridge]

@Lotusfab IMO the FYEO Turbo Esprit plates are a bit ramshackle and hardly attractive. Few will notice TBH. Your current ones look the biz.

I spoke with Peter, the graphic designer who  produced the burglar alarm stickers for you. I sent him the front and rear photos as reference and asked him if the font was familar. He's the go-to-chap on anything font related.

He said that it's not familiar, the '8' is indeed the standout character in the registration and the whole registration looks a custom design. We think they were probably hand made, and as many plates up to the late 1980's were a bit ad hoc. It's likely someone at Lotus made them up on the fly to ready the cars going out on location.

The 1900 style on the website that website that @ChrisJ mentioned has the similar '8', but the rest of the character set bears little relation really.

The other thing which no one seems to have picked up upon is that the front registration plate appears to have a black border. I'm unfamiliar with the Turbo Esprit, but I don't think the front number plate sites in a frame.

If you went down this route Peter agrees with me that you'd probably have to make them as a graphic, or swap fonts mid-registration to get a similar character set. You'd also have to order a plain number plate and one with a black border.

The result will be a 'design shocker' and you'll be forever explaining way the front and rear plates don't match.

Hope that helps.

[stephenwhyte]

Here’s the rear one @Fridge supplied above compared to the rear on the FYEO car - easier for comparison purposes. 

Miles out for someone with eyes like@Lotusfab 😉

[Fridge]

Here's the enhanced photo of the front of the car, which shows the black border.

I went with the the raised plates for my 1978 car. They're not cheap mind, but high quality. Well at least for tin and plastic!

 

[Lotusfab]

Interesting! Some American plates have an 8 like the one on the car.

So both front wheels now rebuilt. New tyres and decals tomorrow. Then its just the ski racks that are in primer as we speak!

[v8vantage]

The "8" was common to Lotus factory cars at the time, here it is on an Essex proto. 

[Fridge]

So, if the plate style were in fact common to Lot, and you're still keen, that's who'll you probably be best speaking to. However most folk from that period will have moved on.

Or, as I said before, try speaking with the outfit who did your tyre stickers to see if they can ID the fonts used, or make a facsimile graphic.

[Lotusfab]

Thanks chaps.

[Lotusfab]

All new tyres now fitted and Goodyear decals. More importantly Essex front lips!

[PhilW]

Excellent Fabian

 

[LOTUSMAN33]

Looks the dogs bo.....cks! 👍🏻👍🏻😁

[Lotusfab]

Ski racks in paint

[Lotusfab]

[LOTUSMAN33]

They are going to look so much better than the originals when fitted, you so have to get some professional pics done when finished with the S1.

Dave  

[Lotusfab]

Thanks Dave I will.

https://www.smartrefine.co.uk
This company sprayed them near Horsham if anyone needs work done.Great job!

2.5 years work in those! 

[LOTUSMAN33]

You will have to get another project soon, maybe a wetbike as something different but related?

You will get bored without something I’m pretty sure but will give you a year or so to play first 😁
 

[LOTUSMAN33]

You will have to get another project soon, maybe a wetbike as something different but related?

You will get bored without something I’m pretty sure but will give you a year or so to play first 😁

What ever happened to this recreation of wet Nellie?

Dave  

 

 

[Lotusfab]

Finally the racks are in my sticky mits, now to fix them to the car! Can’t believe how they turned out, much better finish than the ones I saw in Miami some years back! Really looking forward to fitting them but it will be a slow process.

[Andyww]

On the tailgate the usual adage of "measure twice cut once" needs to be "measure 93 times cut once" !

I hope I dont get to hear any loud screams from a roughly southwesterly direction.

[910Esprit]

Or done an 'on the road' proof of concept before investing 100's of hours effort?   But hopefully it will work out!

[Lotusfab]

Took all day to fit one rack and its not good enough yet. Heres the idea...

[LOTUSMAN33]

Epic, the colour match is bang on as well! You must be a happy chap Fabian?

Dave  

[Lotusfab]

20 minutes ago, LOTUSMAN33 said:

Epic, the colour match is bang on as well! You must be a happy chap Fabian?

Dave  

Getting there. They are taking a long time to fit. I have inserted metal collars into the top rack. It seems very well fixed I don’t think I need to use foam, but I am still considering it for best practice in my design. I am concerned I can’t measure the expansion very easily and it could push the tailgate apart if not done correctly.

I'm not happy with the sponge foam yet. i’ll get them all on, test the skis and then tweek the design.

[LOTUSMAN33]

I like the foam idea, we cushion all GRP parts during boat building although flexi compound is often used.

Being a show car i can’t see it getting abuse so you should be okay no matter what. The spacers were a good idea as well, they look so much better in paint.

A job in ‘Q’ branch could be on the cards... 😉

Dave  

[stephenwhyte]

Wow Fabian......caught me by surprise there - they look amazing!😎👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Dare I say it, they look like they’ll be better than the ones I’m the film!😳👏🏻👏🏻