Making the Esprit US street legal

[tacoboy]

I know the Esprit had to get exemptions from the US government for safety and other things for Lotus to sell the Esprit in the U.S.
Can someone name what would have to be changed on the Esprit to make it
totally street legal for US roads.
I believe the V8 would not pass smog anymore
and there was something about the headlights
And the roof was too low for head clearance.
Anything else?

[Skerd]

Also Renault stopped making the gearboxes.

[lotusguy]

tacoboy said:

I know the Esprit had to get exemptions from the US government for safety and other things for Lotus to sell the Esprit in the U.S. Can someone name what would have to be changed on the Esprit to make it totally street legal for US roads. I believe the V8 would not pass smog anymore and there was something about the headlights And the roof was too low for head clearance. Anything else?

You pretty much named them all. The headlight issue had been dealt with. The front 'A' pillar to head clearance is the biggest remaining non-compliance issue.

But the truth is that the basic initial 28 y.o.design had been pushed about as far as it could go. Any quantum leaps in performance could not be had, or could only be had with extensive reworking, more work than (in Lotus estimation) than a clean 'White Sheet' design which would afford the manufacturer the ability to take advantage of new materials and production techniques. Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE