Gallery

Last updated 20th September 2004

Editor's waffle:

A slight change of direction for this page.  From now on it will be featuring all pictures submitted to me that stand on their own (i.e. are not directly associated with an event or whatever).  Please feel free to send in words and pictures about your own vehicles if you want though.

Photos submitted by John Chamberlain:

Possibly from this years Uxbridge Autoshow (or then again possibly not)

Photos submitted by Peter Howes:

Peter Howes is a professional car photographer and Lotus Enthusiast.  Below is some of his work.  Peter's photography business is called "Auto Graph" and can be contacted on 01494 873058 or at peter@autographphoto.co.uk.  Hover your cursor over each photo for a description of the car and then click a picture if you want to see a larger version (it will open in a new window).

Please note that I scanned these pictures in on a somewhat "inexpensive" scanner and although the quality of the pictures is good enough for web based viewing by enthusiasts like ourselves, I'd like to point out the the originals are much crisper and the colours more vivid - John.

And last but not least, a picture of Peter's own car (a rare Esprit S3 HC) at Silverstone.

A type 14 Elite - photo by John Chamberlain:

John's Hardy's 1984 Lotus Turbo Esprit

Ahhh, my old Esprit, how I miss her.  I bought the car from a chap down in Woking in Surrey.  He'd had the car for a good few years and had spent a lot of time and money returning her to her former glory.  When he bought the car, she was in a pretty good state - 60 or so thousand miles on the clock, with an engine rebuild having happened at 50k (why?).  The paint was good, as was the interior (except the carpets) and he spent the next few years steadily getting her back up to tip top condition, changing components where necessary  The big blue service history folder contained details on a healthy amount of expenditure for items like head rebuilds, wastegate replacements, wheel refurbishments, suspension overhauls, new carpets (of course) and he'd even studied and recorded fuel consumption figures!  It was this attention to detail and the fact that he'd always had the work carried out by his local specialist Lakeside Engineering (www.lakesideengineering.com) who I can personally thoroughly recommend, that sold me on this particular Esprit - even though I'd seen ones with lower mileages.

In my three (ish) years with the car I had a lot of fun with her - the performance was always phenomenal (although towards the end I was hungry for more), the grip and handling were superb and naturally she was a real head turner - I had people stop me as I drove past to say how lovely my car was and ask "Is it a Ferrari" (ahem).  For a lot of people LOTUS means Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious (ooooh how I hate that phrase), but my Esprit NEVER let me down in around 25,000 miles of motoring.  To be fair the lights did refuse to pop up once (the switch was to blame), but it was in mid-summer, so it was light enough to see until about 9.30 anyway, so that doesn't count.  I kept the car in good nick throughout my period of ownership (with the help of another excellent Lotus specialist, Steve Williams - www.swlotus.clublotus.com), but eventually decided I needed to let her go.  There were a number of reasons for this, partly the cost (a service every 6000 miles is not cheap on an Esprit, even at Steve's prices), partly because of my recent redundancy, but also the overall equation of "fun vs worry/hassle/expense" was starting to move towards the latter side - I was simply getting so used to the car that my focus was moving to the downsides of ownership and it was time to move on before the car became a millstone.

I was delighted, however, to sell the car to a fellow enthusiast - a member of another branch of Club Lotus, who seemed genuinely interested in the car and it's pedigree as a Lotus and not just some boy racer who wanted a supercar for under 8 grand.

It's now six or so months on from when I sold the car and I must confess I'm starting to feel the allure of the green and yellow badge again.  I guess I'll just have to let my natural thriftyness hold me back as long as I can or I'll have to return to this page with another essay.

Update 19th September 2004:  I recently got an e-mail from the new owner..... the car is still running fine and has had no problems whatsoever since the sale.

Update 20th September 2004: A quote from the second e-mail.....

John Hardy

5th February 2004

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