Any one remember this turbo

[LOTUSMAN33]

Looks fantastic Tim, that chassis number looks odd as doesn’t follow the usual dry sump sequence.

Dave  

[Lot63]

Hi Dave,

Apologies Igfave you the wrong number, the last 5 digits are 11247

regards

Tim

[LOTUSMAN33]

That’s excellent and another added to the register.

What Colour is you interior, is it full or half leather?

Do you have a standard radio or roof radio?

This is a very late domestic dry sump, in fact third from last on the register 👍🏻
Dave  

[Lot63]

The interior is black leather with half leather seats and standard centre of dash radio, the car has plenty of history which you guys probably know, owned by Lotus and used as a press and exhibition car for its first year of ownership, it was then sold to a submarine commander in 1984,  he sold it to a property developer in Newcastle in ‘85, I bought it from him in ‘86 and have owned it ever since, the car has not been used since 1999 which is why it is not showing up as SORN, I have just retired so now have plenty of time to complete what I have started.

[stephenwhyte]

When are you hoping to have it finished @Lot63? Can’t wait to see this one done - it’s great when old press cars reappear😎 Odd that it never had the thick side stripes along the sides.....but was given a coachline - unusual anyway🤔

This is surely the same car......

 

[Lex Templar]

7 hours ago, Lot63 said:

Hi Dave,

Apologies Igfave you the wrong number, the last 5 digits are 11247

regards

Tim

Hi Tim,

Attached is a copy of the register now with your car added.

Cheers,

Lex.

Dry Sump Register 2020.pdf

[Lot63]

23 hours ago, stephenwhyte said:

When are you hoping to have it finished @Lot63? Can’t wait to see this one done - it’s great when old press cars reappear😎 Odd that it never had the thick side stripes along the sides.....but was given a coachline - unusual anyway🤔

This is surely the same car......

 

Spot on, when I bought the car I was very tempted to remove those pinstripes but that is what makes it unusual, so I never changed it, when I bought it it had a flip top sun roof fitted, so as part of the original restoration I am removing the sun roof and replacing the roof section to put it back to its original condition, all being well once I have removed all the panels for repainting it should be resprayed in the spring next year, new tanks,most of the cooling system and the suspension dampers/bushes still has to be replaced but hopefully will be completed by Autumn next year 

[stephenwhyte]

Sounds brilliant and will be well worth all the effort. Good move ref the sunroof as those aftermarket ones are horrible. What’s the mileage of the car now? Would be great to see some more photos of it.....exterior & interior👍

[Lot63]

I’ll be posting plenty more of the “pre-painted” bodywork and will be updating as the project progresses, the mileage is 42,000 so on the low side for its age.

[Lot63]

Time has come to remove the unwanted aftermarket sun roof from YAH868X,  the new section was supplied courtesy of SJ sports cars in Devon, they did very good quality job on the replacement roof section and took very little trimming to get right, next job is to replace the plywood bulkhead prior to bonding the roof back in to position, removal and trim took a day….so here are some pics of the before and after :-

[RichardJGC]

That’s looking better already! 👍

[910Esprit]

I'd assumed the new roof would simply be a section to replace the hole.   Hats off for having the confidence for that surgery!

[stephenwhyte]

My goodness that’s brave work - but definitely for the best!!👏👏

[Lot63]

Believe it or not it’s easier to replace the whole section rather than just plug the hole, when you come to the final spray there is always potential for the join to bleed through to the surface with time, plus when lotus made the sections for final wet assembly you are pretty much near to the original lay up joints when you replace the section😉

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Lot63 said:

Time has come to remove the unwanted aftermarket sun roof from YAH868X,  the new section was supplied courtesy of SJ sports cars in Devon, they did very good quality job on the replacement roof section and took very little trimming to get right, next job is to replace the plywood bulkhead prior to bonding the roof back in to position, removal and trim took a day….so here are some pics of the before and after :-

On hindsight (at the time it seemed ok) I have done some bold work on cars.. but even that I would have avoided, that is some proper no way back dedication

[Tocus]

this is how we did it a couple of years ago, only the hole,

used a piece of roof from a lotus Excel SE 1986. 😉

 

 

[Lot63]

I’ll be posting more info as regarding bonding the tailgate hinge bushes, transferring and  bonding up the wooden strut above the windshield which supports the sun visors laying up the fibreglass joints for the roof, replacement and remanufacture of the upper bulkhead.

[Lot63]

Fitting of tailgate hinge bearing bushes, I have reused the old bushes from the old roof assy, cleaned any corrosion from them and have potted them in using polyester paste, the original position was 50mm from the back of the roof edge and 16mm below the roof level and final drill size is 1/2 inch, the bush has 2 flanges one on the outer and one on the inner, I’ve used a small piece of wet or dry to key in the flange of the bush to help bond it to the gel coat surface, heres a couple of pics

[Lot63]

Body work is now stripped and the side skirts removed, all read for the paint shop.

[stephenwhyte]

Can’t wait to see this one all finished and back to its best again! Like this…..the actual same car, for those just looking in. No corner cutting @Lot63😉😎

[Lot63]

At last body is now looking  like new again.

[EuropaSman]

On 07/03/2017 at 12:21, Loose Cannon said:

Awesome! Wasn't this red car the one in the title sequence of Noel Edmond's Late Late Breakfast Show? Ive been hoping someone posts vthat up to Youtube one day.
 

Here it is from the first series - the red Edmonds Turbo Esprit. I came across it a couple of days ago so have popped on my YT channel. Until finding the title sequence again my only memory was of this red Esprit with LOTUS embossed on the rear bumper being diven by Noel.

Enjoy 🙂

 

[Andyww]

Thats a copper fire car though in the video?

[stephenwhyte]

Nah that’s red Andy……it’s just the film quality……and it’s the only one (as well as Tim’s clearly) that I’ve seen with the coach line & black interior (which was a less popular interior trim colour back in the day seemingly) which would lead me to thinking…….there’s a high possibility it’s actually Tim’s👍

[Andyww]

2 hours ago, stephenwhyte said:

Nah that’s red Andy……it’s just the film quality……

Yes you are right actually, as later there is a Routemaster bus which is the same colour! Its amazing how that has changed into exactly the copper fire colour by the film.