Help needed please

[vario-rob]

Do excuse me but as a refugee from the Porsche forum I am looking for some advice on the very last Esprits

On the way back down the A11 on Saturday evening (having watched the Lotus sponsored East Anglian football team) I saw what I imagined was one of the very last Esprits heading off towards Hethel, no great surprise there. What really struck me was the fantastic colour which could best be described as acid green. Any way this got me thinking as the old ‘Nazi engine slot car’ is going to be changed before very much longer and would like some help on the following points

1) Are there any late models for sale anywhere because my initially trawl has revealed precious little?
2) What is the colour or was just a special one off?
3) What are values and where would the cognoscenti see them heading over the next few years
4) Likely annual running costs based on maybe no more than 5k pa


Hopefully some of you good folk can point the rookie in the right direction only having been overcome with a sense of patriotism and having been badly let down by TVR in the past suddenly Norfolk’s finest is wholly appetising

Many thanks

[paul c]

Think i know the exact car you mean Rob.
It was at the Donnington lotus show on saturday and i assume you must have seen it on the way home.

It is an Esprit sport 300 (a very rare variant) with custom paint,interior and a '02 rear light conversion making it look like a late car to you . Don't think it is original paint to that year,but i saw an Exige the same colour yesterday so it may be a lotus colour now.

I took some photos of the S300 and others on saturday and gave copies to this site,so you might see it soon on the donnington pages (in other stuff).

Do you want me to send you some images? (i don't know how to post pictures on here).

PAUL C

>> Edited by paul c on Monday 29th March 20:34

[vario-rob]

Many thanks Paul that would be good and fret not I’m afraid my own attempts to post pics on here have fallen flat. I imagine the PH e-mail thing should suffice?

[rob.e]

vario-rob said:

1) Are there any late models for sale anywhere because my initially trawl has revealed precious little?

Very low production numbers means there are never more than a handful of 02 (round light) cars for sale at any one time. These will normally be with dealers although occasionally there are some private sales. The two best places to look are autotrader.co.uk and lotusespritworld.com.

vario-rob said:

2) What is the colour or was just a special one off?

Can't help there, sorry

vario-rob said:

3) What are values and where would the cognoscenti see them heading over the next few years

Prices seem to have stabilised since end of production and some favorable press recently has helped.

For an 02 i'd say you're looking at mid thirties. A good five year old v8 is low twenties now, so you can draw your own conclusions regarding depreciation. It'll probably a bit more than the porsche i'd guess.

vario-rob said:

4) Likely annual running costs based on maybe no more than 5k pa

Very hard to guess.. my running costs have been high but thats for a high mileage car. Small service is 400ish, large is 800 or so, cambelt service (every 24k) is 1200 or thereabouts. Full set of tyres 700 but should last you 12k miles. Guess at maybe 2k per year?



Cheers
Rob

[rob.e]

Rob - from reading on the yahoo forum, i think the car you saw is actually a Sport 300 that has been fitted with an '02 rear light conversion.

[paul c]

Rob e, That was my post on yahoo,i told Rob the same on the first reply of this on this thread too!

Rob,could not work out how to attach pics on the pistonheads e-mail reply. I did send you a mail asking for your 'normal' e-mail so i could send you the pictures of this car. Any joy?

(anyone else,can i post pictures on here from my computers folders,or do i need a link to a host site?,answers in luddite text please!)

PAUL C

[vario-rob]

Many thanks for taking the time to reply, your comments are much appreciated. Seemingly at the moment the demand for anything either rare or ‘last of’ is as high as it has been since the late eighties trying to find anything from my current brand (Porsche, sorry boys) is neigh on impossible, good I hear you cry! A bit of a search may be in the offing but I see Nick Whale are now showing an 02 model in stock at £44,950, a little on the high side perhaps? Do excuse all the questions but from the cognoscenti’s perspective which would you consider to be the most coveted, 350 or a ‘02’ last of line model?

Paul when I return to base this evening I will deal with the old e-mail thing, the 300 in question do I take it that this is actually one of Lotus own vehicles? Being only about 25 minutes away from the factory it’s been too many years since my last factory visit, reconnaissance may be in order.

Maybe slightly ‘off topic’ but it seems that there is a very good chance of a new Lotus showroom being built in or around Norwich City FC as something of a ‘Flag Ship’ I expect you will already be aware of this but none the less it’s good to see the continued expansion.

[unity1]

I'll be interested in the pics myself. Will even host them for others to see.

You can always do the rear light conversion as I did. By acid green do you mean bright plain but almost dayglow green.

[mustard]

vario-rob said:

Many thanks for taking the time to reply, your comments are much appreciated. Seemingly at the moment the demand for anything either rare or ‘last of’ is as high as it has been since the late eighties trying to find anything from my current brand (Porsche, sorry boys) is neigh on impossible, good I hear you cry! A bit of a search may be in the offing but I see Nick Whale are now showing an 02 model in stock at £44,950, a little on the high side perhaps? Do excuse all the questions but from the cognoscenti’s perspective which would you consider to be the most coveted, 350 or a ‘02’ last of line model? Paul when I return to base this evening I will deal with the old e-mail thing, the 300 in question do I take it that this is actually one of Lotus own vehicles? Being only about 25 minutes away from the factory it’s been too many years since my last factory visit, reconnaissance may be in order. Maybe slightly ‘off topic’ but it seems that there is a very good chance of a new Lotus showroom being built in or around Norwich City FC as something of a ‘Flag Ship’ I expect you will already be aware of this but none the less it’s good to see the continued expansion.

Come and talk to us if the cars right for you, I'm sure we can reach a deal

[rob.e]

Paul - sorry, should pay more attention

Kato's just posted some pics on LEW:







www.lotusespritworld.com/EPictures/donington04_carpark.html

Colour is "scandal green" apparently..

[unity1]

I think an SE of that colour was in the film Rookie. IIR Clint Eastwood also made a suitable comment in it, just cannot remember what it was.