Hi All

[MarkT]

Just thought I'd register, have a look around and say hello :wave:

Name' Mark and been a big Lotus fan for years and a recovering '84 Turbo Esprit owner... Still not cured, so when life gets back to normal, or a close approximation thereof, I'll be looking for a nice G car again...

See a lot of familiar names on here, so Hi to all the current and ex 'LEF'fers as well, and look forward to learning a thing or two.

Cheers for now - Mark

[WayneB]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum:001_smile:

Auckland New Zealand eh?

You met Kylie yet.:flowers:

Are you the Mark T who used to live in South Africa?

Feel bad for you having sold your Turbo Esprit, I enjoy every minute I am around mine, hopefully you can get another one soon.

Got any photos or stories about your old one?

Is it still around your area?

Sorry about all the questions, Im a bit of a nosey bugger this morning!
,

[MarkT]

Hey Wayne :)

Yep - same MarkT now ex South Africa thankfully. Trust you're keeping well my friend! - See you are nice and comfy in here with a prolific post count & a Super Mod as well. Took me forever to find your last email, so I could find this place...

With all the cars I gave up last year, the Esprit did bring a bit of a lump to the throat to be honest. It did have to go so I could move over here to NZ, so all for the greater good and all that... It will be replaced at some stage, so I'll have to suffer the MR2 Turbo I bought a few weeks back for a while... at least it still has the proper amount of doors, cylinders and the engine's in the right place. Boring as hell as it hasn't found new and interesting ways to break down or scare the sh!t out of me yet.

Haven't met any of the local Lotus crew either yet, so I'll do some digging and see when they are having meetings / trackdays etc...

Nice site by the lookings, and hope to stick around for a while and really make me pine for another Esprit :) Mate of mine in SA has an orange Exige, so I'll point him here as well.

Cheers - Mark

[WayneB]

Good to hear from you again Mark.:001_smile:

From what I have read that Kylie has written, the Lotus fratenity in Auckland are a friendly bunch, and that place sure looks nice!

Did you find a buyer for the Lola T70?

I shopped it about over here , but with no luck I'm afraid.

Regards,Wayne

[Brian Skeoch]

welcome Mark.

[MarkT]

Hey Mods - Ta for the welcome :)

Did manage to flog the Lola Wayne... Dumped a Chev 350 and Porsche G50 tranny in it at the end and got it to drive - OMG that thing was frightening! Stunning when it was finished. Really proud with what I managed to achieve from a box of bits...
Enough confidence to tackle an esprit restoration now :)

[Kylie]

Hi Mark........... Welcome!! I think we were in touch on LEF. Yes you should join the club http://www.clublotus.org.nz/ and come along and do the fun runs, track days etc. We are a super friendly bunch and one of our committee members is also South African, so you dont get super home sick :ohmy: We would look after you :thumbup:

What part of Auckland do you live in ?? There is a fun run I think on the 16th March which starts out at North Harbour Stadium and ends up at Murawhai beach (west coast beach). I think I might do this one. We do runs all over the the place and next one is out on the south side.
On the 30th March I will be prepping my car for a club track day. See the website, there are forms and regulations there for the type of racing you choose. Club members will get priorty though if all slots are filling fast.

You dont need to own a Lotus to be part of the club, but just an enthusiast is all thats required.

There are quite a few Esprits here in Auckland and wont take you long to start networking with people and see whos car will be selling or currently for sale. There are some nice G-cars here.

[dpr59]

Hi Mark,

Once exchanged a few emails with a Mark in South Africa who had an Excel.
Now this couldn't be you as well, could it?

If the Excel was yours, it's resurfaced on excel.co.uk.

Dave

[BCST]

Hi Mark,
Welcome!

[Martin]

Just thought I'd register, have a look around and say hello :wave:

Name' Mark and been a big Lotus fan for years and a recovering '84 Turbo Esprit owner... Still not cured, so when life gets back to normal, or a close approximation thereof, I'll be looking for a nice G car again...

See a lot of familiar names on here, so Hi to all the current and ex 'LEF'fers as well, and look forward to learning a thing or two.

Cheers for now - Mark

Hi Mark and welcome!
Show us some pics or your old Esprit when you get a chance, would love to see it.

[MarkT]

Hi Everyone :wave:

Thanks for the nice warm welcome from everyone... Now I'm really feeling enthusiastic/nostalgic/slight case of insanity about getting into Lotus ownership again :crying:

Martin - Here's a pic of my old Esprit...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh1/Mark1275Tate/f3b6130a.jpg

Dave - Wasn't me with the Excel, but if it was a white one, I might have known the owner though... Come to think of it, there are a few Excel's I remember.

Hey Kylie - We did have a bit of a chat a while back. How's the new ride? I'm out East, in the other South African suburb (wasn't intentional honest :001_unsure: ) Would be nice to take a run out to the west coast, so long as a lowly MR2 can go, then great! I promise I'll park as far away from the Loti as possible...Wouldn't want to lower the tone or anything. Networking & finding who's selling what's probably not a great idea right now as I might just have to buy something - you know how it goes :lol:

[Kylie]

Hey mate, out East eh? Thats ok but it helps me figure out where or who you are near. Look up KW Historics in Lorien Place, the guy who owns that shop is also interesting to chat to hes one of the main service agents on that neck of the woods and also knows whats going down on the Selling and buying scheme of things. One of my best mates lives out East and owns a red 96 V8 Esprit, I always love those cars in red and his is a minter.

I got some mail today that fun run postponed till the following weekend 23rd and then Club sprints, always some nice machinery floating about if its a nice day.

My ride is going really good, cant believe how quick it is. Got a few niggles I have to sort like a broken heat sheild mount I have to try and find and a little stalling niggle happens every other outing, nothing major so I am thankful.

[Martin]

Good God Almighty, that is an awesome picture of your old Esprit. Quality, location, and a great car....nice mix!

Hi Everyone :wave:

Thanks for the nice warm welcome from everyone... Now I'm really feeling enthusiastic/nostalgic/slight case of insanity about getting into Lotus ownership again :crying:

Martin - Here's a pic of my old Esprit...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh1/Mark1275Tate/f3b6130a.jpg

Dave - Wasn't me with the Excel, but if it was a white one, I might have known the owner though... Come to think of it, there are a few Excel's I remember.

Hey Kylie - We did have a bit of a chat a while back. How's the new ride? I'm out East, in the other South African suburb (wasn't intentional honest :001_unsure: ) Would be nice to take a run out to the west coast, so long as a lowly MR2 can go, then great! I promise I'll park as far away from the Loti as possible...Wouldn't want to lower the tone or anything. Networking & finding who's selling what's probably not a great idea right now as I might just have to buy something - you know how it goes :lol:

[MarkT]

Thanks Martin!
Yep - I loved that car... Had big plans for it at one stage, spent a fortune and did a mountain of work on it when I had it. It really did need a re-spray though - AutoGlym can only do so much... Had a look at your in one of the threads here, and really nice looking car you got there :) - Titanium's one awesome colour in the 'flesh'.

Hi Kylie - There's been a red 1988 Esprit on TradeMe for ages in Manukau somewhere. Price seems to fluctuate weekly, so I 'might' go have a look see... Thanks for the workshop contact. I'll look 'em up and go say hello. Worryingly, I'm really crap at just window shopping :mf_dribble:

[WayneB]

Great to have you on the forum, Mark! :thumbup:

[Kylie]

Mark, heres Ken Woodburns website (KW Historics) http://www.lotus.co.nz/

Hes a really nice bloke to talk to, but always pretty busy. Oh yeah dont expect going into a Porsche workshop where jack lifts dissapear into the white tiled floor LOL, its far from that, quite the opposite!!! But he knows his stuff on anything Loti so you will be fine and been working on the things for donkys years. The only problem is he dosent hold a lot of parts in stock and does a monthly order as required, so if you need parts in a hurry its quicker to just order on line yourself like I have had to do most of the time.

Anyway Ken will tell you all about that red 88 on trademe hes serviced it. From what I know its a good original example worth purchasing and a fair price to pay. All the Stevens four banger cars are selling for around 38-50K NZD, G cars expect to pay 20 - 30KNZD. V8's starting at 65 - 100K + depending on what model etc. My previous Black 89 Turbo was for sale two weeks ago on Trademe but for some reason its gone now. The guy only had it for 6 months, but wifey didnt like it (possibly couldnt dive it), both people were very very short which didnt help. :crying:

[MarkT]

Thanks for the link Kylie
The Stevens advertised does look good and has very low k's on it. As long as it's been regularly maintained, it could be a good buy. Just curious as to why it's been listed for so bloody long... Didn't see your old 89 for sale though, and believe me, I check the classifieds almost daily. We all know that particular examples been looked after don't we... :)

[Kylie]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Lotus/auction-142183225.htm

Hes copied my old auction details in his. For some reason the link to his listing dosent always appear. Best to ring his Number 021 352384 Hes a nice guy. My 89 is far from original on the exterior but engine is still bog std.
If you want more pics of this car let me know. He bought it from me for 39K its what its worth to be fair :)

[WayneB]

I just converted $39,000 Australian to Canadian money and got $35,000.:ohmy:

(My currency converter hasnt got NZ dollars and we all know New Zealand and Australia are the same place except New Zealand has all the sheep):sheep::p

Are you guys OK to bring in LHD cars?

If so, buy them from the States, cars are cheap there ATM, and you wont get any nasty rust like the UK cars seem to have.:no:

[Martin]

That IS expensive!

[Kylie]

XE.COM is what the world uses Wayney boy :yes:

OK heres some latest conversion rates on 39,000NZD

15,496 GBP
33,544 Australian
31,112 US
30,671 Canada :thumbup:

There could be several reasons why prices remain steady here in NZ, my thoughts are buyers here recognise that importers pay 12.5% tax on the cost of the vehicle purchased over seas, plus shipping and on road costs which will be added on to any vehicle price. Also Lotus is recognised as being very exclusive here by the massive ex pat British/Scott/Irish community we have here which makes up the majority of NZ. To find a slice of British motoring here must be like gold to them.

We are also very fortunate to have a few private dealers/personal importers importing used Loti all the time to sell to the used buyers market. Everyone wins here as a lot of these second hand cars end up getting traded for new ones locally when people are bitten by the bug. These used cars are always going to be cheaper than a new one despite being expensive to the rest of the world.

[WayneB]

errr, I do use XE .com, Miss Smith.:001_unsure:

I just didnt scroll down far enough to find New Zealand.:crying:

[Martin]

XE.COM is what the world uses Wayney boy :yes:

OK heres some latest conversion rates on 39,000NZD

15,496 GBP
33,544 Australian
31,112 US
30,671 Canada :thumbup:

There could be several reasons why prices remain steady here in NZ, my thoughts are buyers here recognise that importers pay 12.5% tax on the cost of the vehicle purchased over seas, plus shipping and on road costs which will be added on to any vehicle price. Also Lotus is recognised as being very exclusive here by the massive ex pat British/Scott/Irish community we have here which makes up the majority of NZ. To find a slice of British motoring here must be like gold to them.

We are also very fortunate to have a few private dealers/personal importers importing used Loti all the time to sell to the used buyers market. Everyone wins here as a lot of these second hand cars end up getting traded for new ones locally when people are bitten by the bug. These used cars are always going to be cheaper than a new one despite being expensive to the rest of the world.


Sounds like a nice little eutopia you have there! :yes:

[MarkT]

More like a little socialist state in my view Martin :) Okay, I've only been here in New Zealand for 8 weeks, but you very quickly learn how things work. Nice coming from a country where basic services like water & electricity are sporadic at best.

The secondhand cars I have looked at and bought are an absolute bargain compared to what I'm used to paying, and the 39K for Kylies old car ain't bad all things considered...I did dribble a bit there - I do like black cars.

Leave the sheep alone Wayne :sheep: - they're ours, and we ain't sharing. Importing LHD cars could be a big issue over here. I think the UK would be a better bet and probably cheaper as well - More choice and a better chance of getting exactly what you want. I must be honest, a black 84 turbo, gold trim, sunroof & gold tan interior is my ultimate first choice. Hmmm - White's nice...how about Jupiter Red?...British racing Green like my old one? Maybe yellow...

[Kylie]

Oh Mark you should buy it, the carbon fibre engine cover is a work of art and dot performance tyres means you can run rings around your equiv competition for club track days. Buy it mate, we will personally help you with it too. it would be so nice to see it up here again in Auckland. It is a stunning car to see in the flesh.

[MarkT]

Don't tempt me Kylie :sweatdrop:...
I am thinking about it... seriously.

[Martin]

Do it Mark, do it! :thumbup: