Can you believe that the first Lotus Esprit was unveiled 40 years ago this year! Let’s take a look at the evolution of the much loved Esprit.
The first Esprit models were known as the S1 or Series 1 Esprits, these had a steel chassis, fibreglass body and were powered by the Lotus 907 engine which produced a respectable 160bhp. Any avid Bond fan will recognise the Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me where the car was transformed and given a submarine mode which is used for an epic undersea battle.
Did you know that the original car featured in the film sold at auction for £650,000 in 2013!
The second Lotus Esprit was brought to the market in 1978, two years after the original model. Differences between the S1 and S2 were subtle but included cooling ducts behind the rear window, integrated front spoiler and specially designed Speedline alloy wheels.
Fast forward to 1980 and you will meet the first factory turbocharged Esprit. In Essex Petroleum livery, the Essex Esprit as it was named, could reach 150mph and had 210bhp!
Lotus introduced the Esprit S3 and Turbo Esprit in 1981, both of the new models inherited much of the same configuration as the Essex Esprit. The interior was revised for both models and this included new trim, more headroom and an enlarged footwell.
In 1993, Julian Thomson was let loose on the exterior design of the Esprit, he made the shape rounder, gave it a smaller rear spoiler and much more. The standard S4 came packed with 264bhp, while the S4s which was released a year later, was upped to 300bhp!
1996 brought with it the Lotus Esprit V8 which used Lotus’ very own all-aluminium twin turbocharged V8 engine. The first V8 could reach 175mph and hit 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds.
Production of the Lotus Esprit ended in February 2004 after being in production for 28 years! Can you believe that a total of 10,675 were made? We hope that one day there will be more…
For more articles like this, receive our weekly e-newsletter, including partner deals and all things motoring, register your email below.
Please note: You cannot subscribe to Smart-Motoring unless you put a tick in the checkbox below to indicate have read and agreed to our privacy policy.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.