2002 Lotus Esprit on 2040-cars
Dateland, Arizona, United States
If you have any questions feel free to email: natishanccaso@rumpypumpy.net .
This is car #002 of 100 anniversary edition cars brought to North America in 2002 and 1 of 7 in Spice Yellow. This
particular car made its debut at the 2002 L.A. car show. You'll find various pictures of it on the internet
including those taken at the L.A. show. Edmunds, in fact, uses these same pictures in its profile of the car. It's
also pictured on the Lotus Esprit World site.
It was originally sold by Symbolic Motors in La Jolla and then went to a buyer in Salt Lake City. I purchased this
car in 2011 in Salt Lake City, shipped it to Phoenix, and it has been kept out of the blazing sun in my garage
there since. It has been babied ever since, including never having been driven in the rain (not that it rains often
in Phoenix). The previous owner neglected some of the maintenance like a leaky rear axle seal and front oil cooler
lines that were taken care of by the then Lotus/Ferrari/Maserati dealer in SLC. It also received fresh rubber at
that time. I have put approximately 4500 miles on the car. It already had the high torque upgrade to the ECU.
Being my first British sports car, I expected to be spending a lot of time at the shop. That has not at all been
the case. It's had usual maintenance items like a thermostat, battery, and brakes under my ownership but it's
otherwise been absolutely trouble free. The car needs nothing. Absolutely everything works. It was serviced by the
Phoenix Lotus/Ferrari/Maserati dealer until they dropped the Lotus franchise. It has since received servicing from
former Lotus certified techs who worked at the dealership and moved on to start their own tuning shop when the
dealer dropped the Lotus franchise.
It handles incredibly tightly, the soundtrack of the turbo wastegate dump and the after-market cats is intoxicating
but, to be clear, this is not a GT car. This is essentially a track car clad in street clothes. I haven't tracked,
raced, or abused this car in any way.I am a collector and a car aficionado and take meticulous care of my cars.
This car isn't perfect as it came to me with a few blemishes that can't be seen from 10ft away but do exist as
shown in the pictures:
1. The front bumper has some stone pitting;
2. There's a small piece of hard wax/gum-like debris stuck to the lower passenger door that I've been reluctant to
put elbow grease into but which the service shop has repeatedly said their detailer could get off;
3. There's a small rub patch on the passenger side floor carpeting;
4. A bit of the driver seat piping heated up in the sun one day and, as I got in, it separated;
5. Each of the mirror necks has had a flake of paint chip off. These cars are sprayed by hand, as you know;
6. The driver's seat pan has a scratch in the leather. It looks like a tear in the picture but it's not.
Other than the fourth item, I purchased the car with those other items.
There's an after-market DVD player/satellite radio installed by the PO. I don't use it; the car is enough of an
assault on the senses! I have the original factory stereo. It's not shown in the pictures but I also have the
threaded antenna extender that was removed while under a car cover.
Lotus Esprit for Sale
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Auto blog
Former CEO Bahar files $10.6M suit against Lotus
Mon, 27 Aug 2012File this one under "not surprising in the least." Fired Lotus CEO Dany Bahar is reportedly suing his former employers for some $10.6 million, claiming that the automaker and its Malaysian owner, DRB, broke the law when they dismissed him. According to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek, DRB and Lotus will defend themselves in court rather than settling, including filing a countersuit against the former top executive.
Bahar, 40, was canned on June 7, about two weeks after Lotus suspended him pending an investigation into his conduct. The report cites a Kuala Lumpur stock exchange filing as its source of the information; the filing also indicates that DRB has decided against selling Lotus, despite continuing losses.
Top Gear caught filming Best of British near Buckingham Palace
Mon, 24 Jun 2013YouTuber and car-fan extraordinaire Shmee probably had very little trouble tracking down the Top Gear film crew recently, as the group was putting together an episode that could accurately be described as "excessive." With its flag-waving (literally) Best of British theme, the TG guys gathered a jaw-dropping array of British cars, and parked them all right in front of Buckingham Palace to make extra sure that the point was driven home.
Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were outfitted with a trio of Jaguar F-Types festooned with gigantic Union Jacks, with which to survey the landscape of British motoring glory. In the video below, you'll see that this includes any number of Mini, Aston Martin, Lotus, McLaren, Land Rover, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models (just to name a few), as well as a healthy dose of weird stuff that most people would never guess at being built in the UK. The lawnmowers and military vehicles are especially cool.
James Bond Lotus Esprit submarine car headed to auction [w/video]
Fri, 28 Jun 2013We've covered many cars from the movies and TV that have made their way to auction (the original Batmobile, good old General Lee and even Bond's iconic Aston Martin DB5), but this one ranks up there among the rarest and coolest. RM Auctions has just announced that the Lotus Esprit submarine car used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me has been added to the docket for its upcoming auction in London, September 8-9.
Of course, there are dozens of Bond cars floating around out there in collections, but none as unique as this Lotus, which ended a chase scene in the movie by taking a long walk off a short pier and transforming itself into a submersible. Since CGI was a meaningless collection of letters back then, the producers of the film actually built a fully functional Lotus Esprit submarine for the shoot. They hired Perry Oceangraphic in Florida to turn one of their six Esprit body shells into a fully functioning submarine, and former US Navy Seal Don Griffin was tapped for piloting duties. RM Auctions claims the Esprit submarine cost over $100,000 to build at the time, which is about $400,000 in today's dollars.
The submarine car comes with a incredible story, too. After filming in the '70s, it was shipped to Long Island, NY where it was kept in a storage unit that was paid in advance for ten years. When the storage contract ended in 1989 and no one claimed the contents, they were sold off in a blind auction to an area couple who had no idea what they were getting. The car has been shown occasionally in the years since, but its value remained purely speculative, until now. To date, the most valuable Bond car we know of is the original Aston Martin DB5 used in Goldfinger and Thunderball that sold for $4.6 million in 2010, but when the gavel falls at RM Auctions' London sale in September, we'll find out if the car nicknamed "Wet Nellie" on set can beat it.