Lotus Ownership

[WayneB]

I was wondering how long all of you had owned your current Lotus car(s)?:huh:

It occured to me this morning that I have now owned my 1983 TurboEsprit for 11 years!

Bought it as a restoration project for my 40th birthday, and just about rebuilt and restored everything on it myself (except the oddly the transaxle, which "experts" tell me is the Esprits weak point)

Its been (is still) a fun car to own, and to be honest costs me next to nothing to keep now that all the big money has been spent( I just change the oil/filter once a year and do the cambelt every 2 years now really)

Yearly millage is around 1500 kms so I hardly use it as a daily driver.

$25,000 over 11 years = $2,272 a year and it still must be worth at least $15 to $20 grand! which factoring that in = just over $900 a year!!!!!

Who says exotics are cripplingly expensive to own?:confused:

[Autocross7]

I bought my 88' Esprit 7 years ago I think... WOW! I would have to look to accurate! But I am pretty sure that is correct year wise. I do my own work and as far as running... I guess cost wise I am at or below average? Maybe 5K USD in 7 years. I have no idea how to factor the time that I took doing various things that came up or needed doing. While I prefer to drive it, I cannot say I hate working on it...

I drive it to the office at least once a week and of course nearly every Saturday.

I know this for sure. Every day I see it in the garage it still makes me happy. I love the car. The Porsche and Ferrari never really grabbed me like that. I liked them and would have them again given the funds for a stable full.

But then, it is the Esprit that I have wanted since the 5th grade... :yes::yes:

[Brian Skeoch]

I have owned my 88 for 11 years. its run like a watch and has never left me stranded..

knock on wood.

new T belt, new radiator, new wiper motor, new pads, new coolant hoses, new fans " off X180 R "

new seat " OEM leather " , new center console : OEM, new head liner " OEM " . new steering wheel OEM, new fuel pumps, fuel distributor, frequency valve, door seals, roof seal, rear deck hydraulic struts, new tires twice.. new head light motors..

front luggage compartment front wheel well autographs.

Andy Pilgrim # 12, David Murry # 14, Doc Bundy # 10 .

and last, Dan Gurney autograph on the fire wall just above the fuse panel... ....

I love this car.

[Brian Skeoch]

oh, and I drive mine about 500 - 600 miles a year,, thats it.

annual cost has been nearly nothing..

[Autocross7]

I had to look at the records... I took delivery on June 4th, 2003. So, 7 awesome years!:thumbup:

[escondidoron]

I bought the S1 in 2003 so that's 7 years.

I bought the '84s, both of them at different times in 2005 so that's 5 +5 = 10 years.

I bought the Seven in '09 = 1 year.

Total: 18 years :yes:

I have bought all of them over the internet in some form of distress or another:

The S1 was in a shop and held captive by the shop owner for non-payment of bills. The engine and gearbox were completely disassembled...but all there. So I put it all back together myself. The original paint and upholstery were perfect.

The 1st '84 came to me by way of the Yahoo turboesprit group. I had been attempting to help a list member get his car smoked. But he kept taking it to different shops for service and each time it came back worse than before emissions wise. He stopped by my house one day and said that he was on his way to wholesale the car. After looking the car over we made a deal on the spot. I got it smoked on the 1st try after going though all of the systems one at a time at home in the garage.

The 2nd '84 came along about 6 weeks later, again via the Yahoo turboesprit group. A guy in northern California (I live in SoCal) posted a 1-owner car with a blown engine for a very reasonable price. I responded and happened to be the first to get in touch with him. After getting some pictures via email my wife asked me what I was waiting for. The engine came home in boxes. A simple rebuild later and she is a thing of beauty. This car took 1st in class at the LOG 27 concours.

The Seven came by way of Craigslist. It belonged to a lady in one of the Los Angeles suburbs. It was her track car back in the day. She and her husband put their track toys away in the early 70s to raise their kids....And never took them out of the garage again. I'm in the process of getting it running at the moment. Hopefully it'll make some noise by Labor Day. :steeringwheel:

[Mark B.]

It's nice there are a few other 88 Esprit's on here. Any pics? Brian I haven't seen yours yet.

I bought my 88 Esprit 8 years ago. I drive it every weekend and love it. Some times I go into the garage, get a nice comfy seat, crack open a bud and just look at it, perfect :).

[GregWO]

I think I've owned my 88 for 5 years. I can't believe its that long! I took it to a mechanic once.... and that was nothing but an EXPENSIVE disaster! From then on I do all my own work. All rubber hosing and weatherstripping were replaced, new steering column, 89 side mirrors, custom aluminum radiator, custom carpet, carbon fiber side pillars, soon to be installed Halon 5lb fire suppression system... I love her! Named her Serena... :mf_dribble:

[Brian Skeoch]

Serena.. cool.

[Autocross7]

The 88' is actually one of my favorites and thus what I have. I like the reverse curve line below the doors and I like the lack of little ducts in the front... Very clean. I think Peter Stevens did a great job...

I would like to have an 87' one day too. Same mechanicals with the G body... so it makes sense from a tools and parts point of view. Most of my photos are on FB...

[eurosport]

Bought my yellow '77 S1 in the fall of '91 as a runner needing some TLC. The pick up of which pretty much sealed the deal on my future matrimony. My then GF went with me the 170 mi away to pick it up on the one day we had free to get it. She was in med school at the time and post-call having been up 36 hr or so and dead tired. The few "minor" things (like working headlights, etc.) which were to have been done before I drove it home, of course, weren't. We worked into the night at one Paul Rego's shop to get everything sorted and took off, me in the Lotus and she in my truck, battling her exhaustion the whole way. Oh yeah, half the way was in driving rain... I knew then she could handle about any lunacy I could dish out and later became my betrothed. :001_tt1:

The car eventually became a non-runner and a slow-motion engine overhaul has become a full resto amongst all my changes of life. The tranny's done now, new rad and fans sitting in the shroud, and hopefully the engine will be coming together soon, but to prolong things further I'm toying with separating the chassis for a full refurb, having it stripped and powder coated and assemble the chassis and drivetrain bits before re-mating, the way it was born. It's apart this much, may as well... :yawn:

[Brian Skeoch]

neat story Eric.. I always loved the 77... the car ran the 170 miles w/o problem ???

[eurosport]

Well, other than having the throttle return spring break on the way out of town, it did. Rigged up a spring from a friend's lawn mower and took off. :thumbup: I gave it a good rain-x job before we left and it was cool driving through the pouring rain during the night, I could stop the wiper and it'd be like a jet flying through the rainstorm. Or maybe a certain white S1 with the sea flowing over the bow. The cars just have a magic about them. :yes:

[proracer]

Eurosport...

Got any photos to share?:thumbup:

Does the car have AC?

Jim

[eurosport]

Mostly just lots of pics of lots of pieces. :001_unsure: No AC, it's an April 77 build.

[proracer]

Thanks....

Jim

[Al B]

I purchased my 89 in 92. It had 1738 miles on the clock and was purchased for the owners wife. She found the car too difficult to negotiate in evening wear and decided she did not want it anymore.
I came upon it as I was leaving a Mazda dealership after looking at the 3rd generation RX-7. Wife spotted the car up on a display ramp at the Toyota used car lot across the highway. We had just seen Pretty Woman and she recognized the car.
The spotting was on a Saturday, I had the car by Monday lunch.
Now, 18 1/2 years and 108k additional miles later the car is still running fine and is my daiy driver.
Could use a bit of paint and some interior tidying up though.

[WayneB]

Looks like Al wins the award for longest ownership sofars with 18 years!

Amazing really how loyal we all seem to be towards our Lotus cars, I guess the longer you own them the more you appreciate their unique qualities.

My friend Norm has owned his 1970 series 3 Lotus 7 from 1973 when it was 3 years old, and has managed to hang on to it for 37 years from numerous changes of location, jobs, kids and how difficult he is finding getting in and out of it at this stage in his life.

Fantastic car , its an honour to work and drive it from time to time.:thumbup:

It was totally restored 10 years ago, I did the body / paint and chassis then using all of the original parts , its holding up well as you can see.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/PA100004-1.jpg?t=1282580910

[Brian Skeoch]

this is a fantastic thread...

[clockwork]

Had my current "Orange" for about ten years,used all year round I do about 4-5000 in it,at the moment it is unwell with a perforated stomach,(leaking pet.tk.) so I`m waiting for http://www.andywiltshire.com/ to make me a new one,in the meantime it is covered in leakfix etc but still smells like a refinery so take pity Andy,the Italian gent won`t mind his eleven looking like an Esprit ! The previous owner had it for over twenty years so I was more than happy to adopt it,Mr Hickman did try to prise it from my grasp but I was too selfish to part with it :yes: Congratulations to Al, and as for the rest of you,just admit your addicted,it`s the first step to becoming more addicted.:)

[Al B]

Had my current "Orange" for about ten years,used all year round I do about 4-5000 in it,at the moment it is unwell with a perforated stomach,(leaking pet.tk.) so I`m waiting for http://www.andywiltshire.com/ to make me a new one,in the meantime it is covered in leakfix etc but still smells like a refinery so take pity Andy,the Italian gent won`t mind his eleven looking like an Esprit ! The previous owner had it for over twenty years so I was more than happy to adopt it,Mr Hickman did try to prise it from my grasp but I was too selfish to part with it :yes: Congratulations to Al, and as for the rest of you,just admit your addicted,it`s the first step to becoming more addicted.:)

Thanks and allow me to offer a suggestion with regards to the tank re-install. Replace the original carpet foam pads with a polyurethane pad. The OEM pads hold water like a sponge and guarentee rot on the tanks. Also keep band-aides handy and small children or those easily offended well out of earshot.
While replacing my tanks the parishiners at the small Pentacostal church across the street were seriously considering performing an excorcism due to the sounds coming from within the garage.
After a particularly bad session I crawled out from inside the engine bay to find a couple of them standing at the garage door with bibles and holy water in hand.
Good luck with the effort.

[zipbyu]

I've had my S4 for 4 years now! Wow,time flies ! Imported from Hawaii and been a great car.I named her Liberty but my wife changed that to Libby Lotus shortly thereafter :)

[Andy B]

I've had my S4 for 4 years now! Wow,time flies ! Imported from Hawaii and been a great car.I named her Liberty but my wife changed that to Libby Lotus shortly thereafter :)

Did you get those brakes fixed and will we see you on the fall run?

[zipbyu]

Did you get those brakes fixed and will we see you on the fall run?


Yes Andy,I ended putting new factory rotors on the car.I had a heck of a time with the Brembo calipers leaking afterwards but figured out a great modification :)

Do you know the date yet for the fall run?

[clockwork]

Thanks for the warning Al,it will be an after the Goodwood Revival job,Andy`s tanks are works of art,click the link and have a look at some of his work,he is a craftsman and in a world of less than perfection he is a refreshing change. In the meantime I keep adding more goop and the Molatov effect is decreasing. :ohmy:

[WayneB]

Just to let you know the fuel tanks on old Lamborghinis and Maserati's rust out for the same reason, the jute isolator padding retains water and rusts them out (even when they are not winter driven.)

Back in the 60's and 70's car manufacturers were not too concerned with rust protection, I remember welding on coversills (rocker panels) on a 3 year old MGB back then.:crying:

[Andy B]

Yes Andy,I ended putting new factory rotors on the car.I had a heck of a time with the Brembo calipers leaking afterwards but figured out a great modification :)

Do you know the date yet for the fall run?

Not yet but the monthly meeting is on the 30th so perhaps more news then.

[billy fish]

I be ownings 1983 Turbos Esprit for 2 years nows, but thinkings Carlton by Lotus better bets for roomings put in 6 wives for journeys to in laws by jove.

Turbos Esprit goes whoosh faster but nots roomings enough anythemores.

[WayneB]

Yes I have been thinking about an Lotus Omega (LHD Carlton) as I need more room for my family.

The Esprits are nice but not that roomy.