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1986 Lotus Esprit S3 Coupe 2-door 2.2l on 2040-cars

Year:1986 Mileage:19253 Color: The paint is in excellent condition except for a few small blemishes that are captured in the pictures
Location:

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Advertising:

 Behold an amazing example of the beautiful Lotus Esprit S3. This car is arguably the ultimate Lotus Esprit, marrying the gorgeous Giugiario body with S3 galvanized chassis, 5-lug BBS wheels, bigger brakes, and more robust rear suspension than the earlier models. This car is one of only a few in the United States and may be the nicest example on Earth!

This car was purchased new at the factory by a Californian and shipped back to the United States when the gray market was alive and well. It has lived it's life in garages in California and Nevada and has zero rust and corrosion. I am the second owner of the car.

The original owner parked the car in his garage with a thick cover on it in 1991. There is sat for the next 20 years. When I purchased the car, it needed a little TLC to get it running again.

Exterior:
The paint is in excellent condition except for a few small blemishes that are captured in the pictures (some rock chips in the lower front valence area, 1 chip in the right rear bumper, and one craze mark in the rear hatch near the lower left corner of the window.) The red color is very deep and could be polished to new condition without much elbow grease. I polished a few sections with Zymol as a test and they turned out beautiful.
The BBS wheels are in perfect condition except for one small curb mark shown in the one picture of the front right wheel. The Goodyear Eagle GT tires are certainly period correct, and may be the original units. The tires are in very good condition with no cracks in the rubber.
The sunroof is one of the great features of the S3. I've seen many Esprits hacked to try to recreate this effect, but this car has the actual factory sunroof with all the required reinforcement that go with it. For taller drivers, this feature helps provide more head room. The sunroof mechanism works fine and there are no leaks.
All of the lights on the car are in good condition except for one crack in one of the front turn signals.
The underbody of the car is in excellent condition with no signs of damage or jacking at the wrong location.

Engine: I checked compression, rebuilt both carburetors, replaced the factory fuel line with modern braided stainless lines made by Dave Bean, replaced the fuel pump with a New Solid State Unit, replaced the spark plugs, changed the oil and filter, and rebuilt the clutch slave cylinder. It comes with a K&N air filter that has not been installed yet. The engine runs rough when cold but smooths out when warmed up. A tune up by a Lotus expert would help get the most from the engine, but it is driveable as it is. The engine has no oil leaks.

Drivetrain: The transmission shifts perfectly into all gears. The clutch works perfectly.
Brakes: The brakes do not pull to either side, indicating that all the calipers are functioning correctly.

Interior:
The interior is in excellent condition. The leather dash is like new and has had no chemicals put on it under my watch. The seats are in new condition, having been protected by custom sheep skins their entire life. The sheep skins are in excellent condition too.
The carpet is in perfect condition. There are slight signs of wear on wear points like door handles.

 
Electrical:
All electrical components that I have tried work including the dash lights, turn signals, headlights, power windows, and radio, except the horn.  I have not tried the air conditioning, but suspect it would need a recharge at a minimum. Note: the car will not be shipped with a battery.

Accessories:
The car comes with the original spare, manual, jack, and tool kit.
The car has an audiophile stereo from that era including Nakamichi TD-500 deck, Proton amplifier behind the passenger seat, and Blaupunkt speakers.
The car comes with service records dating back to the 1980s and all the receipts I have generated.
It also comes with a thick form-fitting car cover that protects the car well.

Things the car needs: The shocks for the rear hatch need replacing, I took the buckles for the engine cover off when I was replacing the fuel lines and have not put them back on. This is why the carpet looks like it is falling down off the engine cover in the boot area.

The Actual VIN number is SCC085912GHH10647. I had to change the check digit to 6 for Ebay to accept the VIN number. This is probably the result of the Gray Market entry into the US. You can decode the actual VIN at espritfactfile dot com to see the manufacturing details of the car.

Bottom line: If you have ever wanted a Giugiaro-bodied Lotus Esprit, this is your best shot of having a museum example. This car is amazingly correct with perfect seats and good original tires. It is currently located in Las Vegas, NV. I'd be happy to answer any other questions that you have. Happy Bidding!


On Oct-21-13 at 19:27:08 PDT, seller added the following information:

 


On Oct-22-13 at 17:26:50 PDT, seller added the following information:

 Additional Information..
Several people have asked about the paint. The paint is all original and there is no evidence of body damage and/or respray. This car will easily be a competitive concourse car.

Also, I was contacted by a fellow sports car enthusiast in Florida that recently sold a white S3. You can see how an S3 looks and sounds on his you tube video by searching for (Lotus Esprit S3 owner)


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Auto blog

Lotus wants to find its first car, built by Colin Chapman

Mon, Sep 24 2018

Lotus is looking for the first car its founder ever built. The Lotus Mark I, a trials special Colin Chapman built in a small garage in London in 1948, has been lost to history and the company has been trying to find it for ages. As Lotus is 70 this year, the first Lotus would be quite the icing on its birthday cake. Colin Chapman constructed the first Lotus in a garage that belonged to his girlfriend's parents, at the age of 20. The car was reportedly an instant competition success, but Chapman's competitive spirit meant he soon started on the car's successor, the Mark II, and sold the Mark I in November 1950 for GBP135 after advertising it in Motor Sport magazine. Both the Mark I and II were based on Austin 7 hardware, but the latter used different Ford engines while the Mark I retained an Austin 7 engine. Experiments with lightening the vehicle and developing a better suspension design were Lotus hallmarks from the very beginning, as the car needed to beat Britain's rough rally terrain and have enough grunt to climb hills. Lotus Engineering was set up in 1952, later spawning Team Lotus that started out in Formula 1 by the end of the 1950s — and the rest is history. But Lotus owes everything to the humble Mark I. "The Mark I is the holy grail of Lotus' history," Clive Chapman, Colin's son explains. "It's the first time that my father was able to put his theories for improved performance into practice when designing and building a car. To locate this landmark Lotus, as we celebrate the 70 th anniversary, would be a monumental achievement. "We want fans to take this opportunity to look in every garage, shed, barn and lock up they're allowed to," added Chapman. "It's even possible that the Mark I was shipped from the UK, and we'd love to know if it survives in another country." This means the first Lotus could even reside in the United States, if it is still in one piece. Related Video: Featured Gallery 1948 Lotus Mark I News Source: Lotus CarsImage Credit: Colin Chapman Foundation Lotus Automotive History Convertible Classics

China's Geely says it has no plan to buy Fiat Chrysler — as FCA stock leaps

Wed, Aug 16 2017

HONG KONG — Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile denied media speculation on Wednesday that it planned to make a takeover bid for Fiat Chryslerk Automobiles (FCA), the world's seventh-largest automaker. Geely was one of several Chinese carmakers cited in by Automotive News, which said representatives of "a well-known Chinese automaker" had made an offer this month for FCA, which has a market value of almost $20 billion. "We don't have such a plan at the moment," Geely executive director Gui Shengyue told reporters at an earnings briefing, when asked if Geely was interested in Fiat. He said a foreign acquisition would be complicated, but he did not elaborate. "But for other (Chinese) brands, it could be a fast track for their development," Gui added. However, a source close to the matter said FCA and Geely Automobile's parent firm, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, had held initial talks late last year, without disclosing their nature. The source confirmed Geely was no longer interested in FCA, noting that the parent company had only three months ago announced its first push into Southeast Asia with the purchase of 49.9 percent of struggling Malaysian carmaker Proton, a deal that also included a stake in Lotus. Geel's denial failed to dent FCA's stock. The price of its Milan-based shares has jumped more than 10 percent to a 19-year high since Automotive News first reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources, that FCA had rejected the Chinese offer as too low. FCA stock on the New York Stock Exchange rose sharply on Monday from $11.60 to $12.38 and on Wednesday was trading at $12.84. FCA declined to comment on Wednesday. FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has repeatedly called for mergers as a way of sharing the costs of making cleaner, more advanced cars, but he has repeatedly failed to find a partner and retreated from his search for in April, saying FCA would stick to its business plan. He has also spoken of spinning the successful Jeep and Ram divisions off from FCA. Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, and General Motors have both said they are not interested in talks with FCA. On Wednesday, Geely Automobile reported a doubling of first-half profit, above expectations, as cars designed with Sweden's Volvo won over domestic consumers. Volvo is a unit of the Zhejiang Geely group, and has recently announced it will share its technology with Geely.

Lotus hiring 100 after securing lb100m investment

Fri, 02 Aug 2013

Lotus is getting a shot in the arm courtesy of corporate parent DRB-Hicom, which has announced a 100-million pound ($152.3M USD at today's rates) investment in the Hethel, UK-based manufacturer. The troubled brand was also in the news last week, with DRB announcing a new, three-year plan that would see variants of existing models introduced.
The money will create 100 new jobs in Hethel, with 45 new engineers, 40 manufacturing operatives and 18 university grads joining the team. Lotus has already seen an uptick in sales this year, according to a Norfolk-based news site, with 40 to 45 cars being produced per week and 722 road cars and 45 race cars sold between January and May. Even sales in the UK have seen a big jump - Lotus only moved 70 units in 2012, but it's already sold 80 cars in the first half of 2013.
Better yet, Lotus is citing an increased demand for its cars around the globe as the motive behind the new hires. While still quite uncertain, Lotus looks like it might finally be on the right track.