Brand New 1989 Esprit! (SOLD 38,600 $)

[Dave Eds]

TOSSPOT

Yes I'd rather have an Evora....

[Rambo]

I personally wouldn't touch it with Geoff's bargepole There is something about the write up that would put me off the seller. Anyway, why stick something like that on EBay ? The guy must be desperate

Stick to the Evora Doug and see if you can get there before Geoff

[lotos]

I wouldn't touch this car myself. What is an SS4? 1989 wasn't a particularly special year for the Esprit. And the myriad typos in the ad are concerning. I have a hard time believing that they've changed the oil 26 times on this car.

[GeoffSmith]

Maybe he was hoping to emulate Jake the Peg (my near neighbour in Leyhill) and turn £500 into £25,000.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231576274576? ... rmvSB=true

[CalElan]

That Cortina is very different to the Lotus in that you just don't see unrestored unmolested examples of these things anymore.
He's probably not waited quite long enough to put the Lotus on the market - maybe he should have let it bake for another 15 years?

[lotusflasherman]

That Cortina is very different to the Lotus in that you just don't see unrestored unmolested examples of these things anymore.
He's probably not waited quite long enough to put the Lotus on the market - maybe he should have let it bake for another 15 years?

But then it will be very old technology indeed and a bit of a dinosaur - the V8 Esprit is another matter of course.

I had/have an Eclat (Lots Of Trouble etc) and ordered an Elise as soon as they were announced (Oct '95) but then told I was 108 on order list and it would be 2 years before they built it. Decided Esprit Turbo would entertain me but found same size as Eclat, only seated 2, rear visibility awful and I couldn't 4 wheel drift it like the Eclat so went back from the test drive disappointed but parked next to an M100 Elan for sale and took that out for a drive. Scared the 'used food' out of the sales guy in the passenger seat finding out how quick they can be even on a wet road. Now on my 3rd Elan and can't understand why such a usable Lotus doesn't command much higher prices but glad it doesn't.

Now here's another old box with a silly price -
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-Ford-Lotus-Escort-RARE-/380450221690
was known as the Escort Twin Cam and built by Ford AVO at Boreham, near Chelmsford, who mated the Lotus supplied twin cam engines with a 2000E gearbox all fitted into a type 49 Escort shell. Lotus were too busy sorting themselves out after moving from Cheshunt to Hethel to continue with the Lotus Cortina Mk2 so Ford decided to build it in house as the Cortina Lotus and to my knowledge did the same for the Twin Cam Escort. Ford never mentioned Lotus and not a Lotus badge to be seen but Roger Clark won a few rallies in one and production was then continued at Halewood but not for long as the Cosworth FVC 16 valve engine soon replaced it & it became the RS1600 Escort, a vastly better car.

Just found this .... www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2094303 - 'turned down £55,000' for it before January 2012... ha ha . Idiot!

[GeoffSmith]

£3k in 1968 is a bit steep.... £1,162.78 is more like it: http://www.avoclub.com/avosite/twink.html

[lotusflasherman]

£3k in 1968 is a bit steep.... £1,162.78 is more like it: http://www.avoclub.com/avosite/twink.html

but if he said that he'd never get £65,000. Around that time a fully built Elan was £1853 including purchase tax, or in component form £1353 so they'd never have sold one at £3k!

Just thinking if I had £65k that I HAD to spend on a car what would I buy.... wouldn't be that for sure! That link said only 110bhp so not even the big valve twin cam that usually quoted 130bhp. The FVA / BDA 16V engines were a significant amount more than that and easily tweaked to over 200bhp for competition use.

[sideways]

Never mind the mileage. Who wants a car with a cassette player for heavens sake?

My Elite (Type 75) had a cassette player - and a microphone which allowed recording so I could dictate letters to my secretary as I was driving, "Mish Moneypenny, I need you take something down...no, not your underwear, how many times do I have to shay thish!".

Unfortunately, I never had a secretary...

Dunno if that was 'stock' on these cars but it certainly looked like it.