When straight lines and big 'turbo' badges were cool...
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What with all this talk of the impending arrival of the new Esprit, and Lotus's ambitious five-year plan, we felt that it was worth taking a moment to look at what was, with today's POTW, rather than what will be...
So, from an era when Giorgetto Giugiaro could create an arresting shape with apparently nothing more than a pencil and a ruler, we bring you the Esprit as it was in the early 80s. Yes, we know it's not the earliest evocation of Giugiaro's geometric wonder, but we thought the Esprit turbo was the appropriate choice, since it was the model that brought supercar punch to the Norfolk firm for the first time.
And for those who feel that Lotus is not a brand that can keep up with the likes of Ferrari in the mid-engined quasi-supercar market, think on this: the 1982 Ferrari 308 GTB Q4, with its 237bhp could muster a 0-60 mph sprint in 6.7secs and a top speed of 156mph. The Esprit turbo, with its 210bhp motor could hit 60mph from rest in 5.6secs, and topped out at 152mph...
They were the dogs nuts. Our family had four of them from 1982 through to 1994 two calypso red, one essex blue and one pearl white. In the early 90's on a dry day used to be able to worry those 4wd scooby doos.
They have got to go up in value over the next few years. A well looked after one is still a sweet handling reasonably quick car.
Love love love them. I am not so sure the new one will conjure up the soul as well as the guigaro cars.
Everyone seems to think that these cars were poor relations to the 308 Ferrari but when the car was launched in 1981 the Essex Esprit Turbo cost £20,950 at the same time a Ferrari 308gtb cost £21,800 so they were direct rivals. I think at the time a new basic 911 would have been just below £20,000.
