ESPRIT PRODUCTION NUMBERS AND DATES

[pomoz]

This had got me going

As i am colating my cars history ... it was first registered 1/8/87 ..

Gcars ceased production October 1987

I had wondered how far off the end of production my car was.
I have emailed Lotus ... as per normal no response .

Any thoughts there ?
Maybe this is one for you PatH to chew over as yours is a 87 ......and maybe wanting to have a complete history of it.
Who else wants to have a bark at this

Alex

[Skerd]

Go to www.espritfactfile.com then click on "General Info" third from the top, then click on "VIN Numbers". It also has total production numbers somewhere else.

[PatHeald]

Snap! Mine was also registered on 01.08.87.

I don't know exactly when production changed over, but the Jeremy Walton book suggests that 31.07.87 was the last day of G shape production.

In the absence of any factory information, you can get a rough idea of your date of manufacture from the engine number.

You will find that your engine number runs as follows:

C - Europe
A (or P)- HC (or HC with Aircon)
912 - Non Turbo
87 - Year of manufacture
01-12 - Month of manufacture
00000 - Serial number

Eg: CP912870724000

In my case, the engine was manufactured in July 1987.

The VIN Number is less precise as it only identifies the model year.

Your VIN Number will run as follows:

SCC - Lotus
085 - S3
912 - N/A
H - 1987 model year
H - Plant (Hethel)
D - Domestic Chassis
1 - Domestic Engine
4 digits - Serial Number


Eg: SCC085912HHD12500

The export cars run a different Serial Number series, so you can't tell whether an export car was manufactured before or after yours simply by looking at the serial number.

As your car and mine are both domestic, we can work out when they were made relative to each other.

Have a look at the last 4 digits of the VIN. Mine is 2544.

Regards, Pat