Is that an S3 I see?....

[ChrisJ]

Lotus Ghost in the Shell Facebook Contest

http://www.lotuscars.com/ghost-in-the-shell

 

[Escape]

Good to see Lotus is making (good) use of the exposure on the big screen!

[Andyww]

This is all very interesting.

I was under the impression that the movie used an Esprit simply because it made a good donor car rather than to feature an Esprit in the movie as such. This was the impression as it has been so heavily modofied. It seems Lotus have latched onto this and are now using it to their advantage. Is this the case, that they didnt know the Esprit was being used until the trailers appeared I wonder?

Its also unusual for Lotus to mention a "heritage" car, although maybe this is a trend with the Bond Evora they recently released. This does not fit in with their recent disposal of their remaining heritage road cars though.

[silverfrost]

I would think lotus had no idea as it was an old used esprit,  good for lotus using it to their advantage though    

[franjipane]

Maybe Lotus did not know at first, who knows.  But reading the competition print they've done a deal with Paramount pictures to use the GITS name and logos on some Evora's, so making the deal official as far as i care.

And the cars looks great, shame the competition isn't to win one!  If i was buying an Evora now I'd take a good look at these as i think the colour is superb, I'd have loved the light blue interior too.

[ramjet]

And we can't go in it from Australia.

Why not?

[markt]

Thought I'd chip in on this thread. I was speaking to the previous owner of the Esprit featured in Ghost in the Shell a few weeks ago at the New Zealand Classic Car Show in Auckland. Turns out, he's the president of Club Lotus NZ and he sold his Esprit Turbo to Weta Workshop in Wellington. They built the car and all the props used in the movie. A large part of the movie was also shot in downtown Wellington. The previous owner has a stunning V8 Esprit and I spent a bit of time talking to him about it as I've just made some room in my garage and giving a V8 some thought.

Hope this clears up the origin of the car somewhat.

[Escape]

Thanks for the info Mark! Does this mean the Esprit was standard when sold and the bodywork modifications were done especially for the movie? Seems like a lot of effort for little gain to change the doors etc...

[giorgetto]

Hey Mark,

Great info.  Thanks for sharing.  The chaps at Weta or the Director or Prop Master/Production Designer must be big Loti fans!

I guess they recognise good design when they see it.  Didn't someone once say, good design is timeless? 

The Weta guys would certainly seem to think so.

[markt]

A mate of a mate is one of the founding members of Weta. I'll see if I can out more. As far as the the Esprit goes, I don't think it would have been modified before Weta got hold of it, but will ask the previous owner when I get the opportunity.

[Instinct_NZ]

Just found this @markt so a bit late to this thread, but here are some photos of the car before Weta Workshop took ownership.  

[Loose Cannon]

Oh dear, it was a nice one

I didn't mind the thought of the studio chopping some old nail about.

Flipside is that increases the models visibility and the £worth of those that are left, just a bit of a shame to lose an apparently perfect xample to do it IMHO

[skiing]

That is a shame to cut up a good one. I was fine with it being the electric one which was already in poor condition but this one looks good in the photos.

[ramjet]

Was there an Excel in the movie as well? I am pretty sure that the Japanese boss of Section 9 hopped into one in the carpark before a shootup?

It didn't look like it had been touched.

[Vanya]

Yep. One of the cooler scenes in the movie IMHO "Don't send a Rabbit to kill a Fox."

[ramjet]

Except for the bullet holes that ended up in it.  

[giorgetto]

Anybody headed to L.A. this year?

Ghost in the Shell cars will be on display at The Petersen museum amongst some other beauties

https://petrolicious.com/articles/batmobiles-deloreans-and-more-in-new-peterson-automotive-museum-hollywood-cars-of-the-future-exhibit

Great shot of the police car from Blade Runner!