Haydn Bass's 1987

Haydn Bass from Bedford, UK owns a 1987 Turbo in Calypso Red, with a Raven Leather interior.

Model:	Turbo
Year:	1987
Colour:	Calypso Red
Interior:	Raven Grey Leather
Driving Style:	Normal
Miles per year:	1,000 – 2,000
Owned Since:	May 2002
Purchase from:	South West Lotus Centre
Serviced at:	Local British car specialist - Phoenix Restorations....
Other Cars:	Toyota Avensis
Previous Lotus':	None
Why an Esprit:	Its a sad cliche I know, but The Spy Who Loved Me is partly to blame... What an inspired piece of product placement... That and the fact that its arguably one of the most beautiful designs in British automotive history... For me, from S1 to V8, the look is just fantastic...
Upgrades:	I've tried to keep the car as original as possible... The paint on the cam covers and turbo housing was getting a bit flaky so I had them repainted at Colorcote in Norfolk, just across the road from the factory... I've also put a Pioneer CD player in, although I've kept the original Panasonic cassette unit... Other than that, I do little more than make sure its driven regularly, keep it cleaned and polished, the leather fed and get it serviced...
Problems:	So far so good... I had a radiator pipe leak after only having had it for for a couple of months... Fortunately it chose to spring the leak when I was parked up in the garden of a local pub... It left me stranded I admit, but it was cracking hot day, so I made a couple of quick phone calls arranging to recover it to the workshop and then supped a few beers whilst I waited for the trailer to turn up... The repair was cheap and straight forward... thanks to Phoenix... so all in all, it wasn't a bad day when all was said and done... ! Earlier this summer a corroded window motor, which had been threatening to go, eventually did... As the original parts are obselete and we couldn't recondition the original, the repair cost for that was a bit eye watering, considering what it was... But all in all its been a pleasure to own...
Info:	See Below

 I got the car in June 2002 from South West Lotus Centre... From speaking to the guys at SWLC and looking at the registration documentation it was sold by its first owner, after less than a year, into a private collection where it stayed until it became available in Spring 2002.

At the point I bought it, it had got just 8000 miles on the clock... It had clearly been well looked after as it showed no signs of some of the problems that can occur when a car hasn't been started or moved regularly... Phil at SWLC was right when he said I'd be lucky to find many more around in this sort of condition... Its also got some nice history... I did some research with the factory and its one of the very first (no 21 in fact) of the Stevens shape to come out of the factory... I've spotted a couple on the owners pages... but I wonder how many more of the early grey silled Stevens cars are still around...