Lotus Esprit Parts and Spares

esprit-gt3-1996-1999-fr The Lotus Esprit debuted at the Turin Auto Show in 1972, sporting a body penned by famed auto designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. Keeping with Chapman's "add lightness" philosophy, the car weighed less than 2,000 lbs. (900kg.)

Production began in late 1975 with the S1. The Esprit used Lotus's 907 slant-four engine. When Lotus was developing this motor, Vauxhall debuted their own slant-four with identical dimensions; Lotus brokered a deal with Vauxhall to provide engine blocks, which were fitted with heads designed by Lotus.

While the Esprit was well received, many complained that it didn't have enough power, especially American versions which made twenty fewer horsepower to meet emissions regulations. In 1980, Lotus addressed these issued with the release of the Esprit Turbo. Power jumped from 140hp to 210hp, with racing versions eventually reaching 300hp.

The Esprit was redesigned in 1987, with a more rounded design that was still very close to the original. The Citroen trans-axle was replaced by one from Renault. 1996 would see the Esprit get a small Lotus-designed twin-turbo V8 producing 350hp. Three years later, Lotus made fifty Sport 350 models, the best performing version in the car's history. By this time weight had gone up to almost 3,050 lbs. (1,380 kg,) but the Sport could reach 0-60mph in under five seconds - three seconds faster than the original S1.

Like the DeLorean, most people know about the Esprit from its role in the movies: James Bond drove them in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "For Your Eyes Only." In "The Spy Who Loved Me," one chase scene had Bond's white S1 convert into a submarine. "For Your Eyes Only" used prototypes of the then-new Esprit Turbo. These cars were originally painted white, but the film makers decided to repaint them copper to stand out against the snowy backgrounds in the chase scenes. One of these cars was sold on eBay in 2006 for $210,000, making it the most valuable Esprit manufactured.

Lotus ended production of the Esprit in 2004 because they had run out of transmissions: the Renault units hadn't been used in other production cars for years, and manufacture of new transmissions had ceased long ago. Over 10,000 Esprits had been produced over its twenty-nine year history. An all-new Espirit is in development, and should be in production by 2010 or 2011.