Updated 6/10/05

Welcome to my Lotus Esprit Page. Going to see the seller tomorrow. He is the original owner of a 1977 Lotus Esprit and has kept it running all these years. Should be interesting. Stay tuned for better images and more details and I buy and run this beast.

Want to link to my original Lotus Elite Page, go to My Original Page I sold this one last year in July to prepare for my new challenge.

4/13/14
Got a call from the seller that the car is ready to test drive. Didn't sleep much that night. Been looking at this car for over 1 year and the owner insisted on repairing every thing possible on the car before he'd sell it. So things should go smooth right? NOT!

4/14/05
I arrive at 1PM and we look over the engine and discuss the details.

We spent a hour going over the details of the car. they included:
-Rebuilt Engine 5000 Miles prior (all new pistons, rings, liners, main bearings, new belts and tensioner, rebuilt head (Dave Bean Engineering) and new seals.
-Replaced points with Lumenition electronic Ignition system
-Stock exhaust manifold but Stainless steel exhaust and muffler.
-New Clutch and Throwout bearing
-All hoses replaced with braded lines with aircraft grade "AN" fittings
-New Master Cylinder and brake rotors and pads all around
-New bearings and bushings at all four wheels
-Koni non-adjustable shocks at all 4 wheels
-Rear Lower links replaced with adjustable ones
-Front upper links modified to facilitate camber adjustments
-Tires - good all around - Dunlop 205/70 VR-14 in front, 205/60 VR-14 in rear
-Stock gauges replaced with VDO gauges and sender units
-Industrial grade relays used in the lighting system
-Halogin headlights replace the stock sealed beams
-Wiring harness replaced for reliability
-Aftermarket rear Louvers over glass hatch
-Aftermarket fog lamps
-Aftermarket removable glass sunroof
-Interior reskinned in Collolly leather (shipped from the UK source
-New Stereo and amp as well as speakers
-Integrated Passport radar detector
-New battery and battery charger

Sounded great.

Car exterior needed some help. the paint (Lagoon Blue) was badly oxidized and a few chips existed here and there. However, in general the Fiberglass body was in good shape for a 28 year old car. I'll have to factor that condition in.

The interior leather was fantastic and in great shape. All items worked

And so after the chat we were off for a test drive. Had a bit of difficulty getting into first gear reliably. Got a loud "crunch" about half the time. Humm, interesting.

Was flying around a bend when we came up upon a big old truck. Brakes worked well and the Owner kept it cool. A few more miles and we were at a stop sign on a slight incline and I was having trouble with first again. With a big old truck (different one) behind me now and no desire to have the car roll into it....I sort of lit up the tires. Appoligized to Owner and continued the drive.

Suddenly the car lost power and I could hardly keep it running. A couple of feet later she died. We drifted to the side of the road and waited a while. Talking abount what could be wrong. Clogged filter, stuck carb, bad ignition wires. Well, we repeated this process of starting, driving then stalling several times.

At one point we were traveling downhill for about half a mile coasting. Intersting. Well, she quit again about half a mile from the owner's home and we decided to get out and try some stuff. Got my friends Jim and Atwell on the phone and went though a variety of check until we concluded that it was likely a bad fuel pump.

And so I watched as the owner rang up a flatbed to take us back to his house. A quarter mile, $100 and 2 beers later we were standing on his portch and the price droped a bit. He agreed to check out the fuel pump and I agreed to check my sources on the first gear crunch. No money exchanged hands. But I was hooked if I could work out the issues and the price was right. After all this was a 1977 Lotus Esprit, just like the one Roger Moore as James Bond drove in the Spy who Loved Me. However, it did not have the submarine option.

More later