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LEW's 1984
Lotus Esprit World from Bedford, England, has a 1984 Turbo Esprit in White with a Red Half-Leather Interior and is a
Model:
Turbo Esprit Year: 1984 Colour: White Interior: Red Half-Leather Driving Style: Fast(ish) Miles per year: 1,000 - 2,000
(limited mileage of 5,000 on insurance by ClassicLine)
Currently paying £352 per year, for both SE and Turbo)Owned Since: May 2006 Purchase from: Private Sale Serviced at: SWLC Other Cars: 1992 Esprit SE Highwing Previous Lotus': 1988 Esprit NA in Silver with gray leather. Brought from Kent Sportscars, who are linked with UK Sportscars. Not recommended by LEW. Lucky escape and sold within a year back to Kent SCs. Why an Esprit: See here Upgrades: braided clutch hose, greenstuff brake pads Problems: New clutch was fitted October 2004 Info: More info on LEW's new member coming soon!
This white Turbo Esprit was built by Lotus at Hethel in November and December 1983. The PDI (inspection) was done on 18/1/1984, then registered as a Lotus company sales demonstrator and sold on 13/6/1985. It was a production build turbo without extras.
We've done a few miles in the Giugiaro Turbo now and are enjoying the experience. It's more laid back than LEW's SE and generally a nice relaxed drive. The boost comes on very smooth and is very quick. The handling is good, but not as tight as the later cars on the lower profile tyres. The brakes are very good, especially against the standard SE's horrible ABS system. The gearchange is good, if not better than a Steven's Esprit, which suffers quickly from wear and tear to the linkages. The G Turbo is a great drive and with the 80s coming back into fashion turns as many heads at more modern supercars.
In fact the only thing we really miss from our SE is central locking on the alarm, as we are lazy and haven't used a key forever!
Service History
The service history on this Esprit is pretty good. It has a full service history, with stamps from Lotus, SJ and SWLC. It's now had four 36,000 mile C-Services in it's 50,000 miles. Although it is now 22 years-old. It has bills and receipts right from new, all the MoTs (17 plus the current one) and plenty of old Tax Discs. There is a log of mileage of it's journey's between 9th February 1997 to 16th August 2004, which includes over 300 entries (see below centre).It also has a book recording its Parts and Labour Information (see below right). This records the date, item and cost of items on one page, then date, Description of Work and Time on the next. This covers from 30th March 1996 to 21st February 1998. Somebody was really anal about keeping records on this Esprit. Which is great for us!
It also has the manuals for both the alarm system and stereo and the tools to pull out the stereo, which is always good. We have Footman James vehicle condition forms from 2000, 2002 and 2004. We will be doing a valuation form for 2006. It has receipts for Re-dying leather, fuel pump, battery isolator, handbrake cable, tyres, spark plugs, leather cream, sidelight bulbs, spare key, pivot pin, fuel pressure regulator, oil filter, wiper blade, brake pads, hub nuts, drive belts, rear wheel bearings, filter, bolts, nuts, washers, starter motor overhaul, locking wheel nuts, steering joint, brake pads, brake discs, fuel pump and a few other bits and bobs! And that doesn't include any service items!
We also have the bill for a new clutch from October 2004, which included Clutch master cylinder, braided steel clutch pipe, slave cylinder, clutch pressure plate, clutch driven plate, release bearing assy, thrust washer, spigot bearing and a rear set of pads and reverse light switch!
Scheduled Service Mileage Actual Mileage Date Company 500 to 1000 Free Service 500-1,000 N/A 03.02.1984 Lotus Cars Ltd A Service 6,000 5,597 02.07.1984 Lotus Cars Ltd B Service 12,000 10,957 14.12.1985 Norfolk Motor Company A Service 18,000 16,600 07.06.1987 Newmarket Engineering C Service 24,000 23,600 05.05.1989 Newmarket Engineering A Service 30,000 27,620 22.04.1991 Newmarket Engineering B Service 36,000 33,700 20.02.1993 Newmarket Engineering A Service 42,000 35,513 03.07.1995 Newmarket Engineering C Service 48,000 40,867 30.01.1997 Newmarket Engineering A Service 54,000 42,783 11.10.1997 SJ Sportscars B Service 60,000 45,548 08.07.1999 SJ Sportscars A Service 66,000 48,846 07.01.2002 SJ Sportscars C Service 72,000 49,711 26.04.2004 Segensworth Automobiles Ltd C Service 78,000 50,206 16.05.2006 South West Lotus Centre
There's also some details of the sale of the car to previous owners, which is interesting reading. Including an invoice from The Norfolk Motor Company from 5th December 1985 for £16,850. Not much depreciation from then, although I guess inflation would make a small difference! Then in July 1999 it was sold for £8,950 with 45,548 miles on, which is a steal! A 1990 Lotus Excel was part exchanged for it.
Interior
The interior on this turbo is in wonderful condition. To be honest we're not sure how it's in such good condition 22 years after leaving the factory and 50,000 miles later. There's a few bills for leather stuff and somebody has been looking after it obviously. The seats are only half leather, but as the Esprit doesn't have air conditioning, it's a plus. The rest of the interior is decked out in beautiful red leather.
All the dials work, the electric wing mirrors work, which is a surprise. The gearknob has been changed from standard and we have a bill for it! The stereo has been updated with a CD/Radio from Pioneer. The model is DEH-1600R and works pretty well! The arial has been fixed and is a pull up and pull down version. It is fitted with a Laserline alarm/immobiliser which we have an installation certificate for and user manual. Though to be honest, it needs replacing with something more up-to-date.
C-Service & Belts @ SWLC
As the Esprit hadn't done too many miles in the last few years and hadn't been serviced for 2 years (only doing 6,000 miles), we decide it was safer to get another C-Service, even though it's last service was a C. We also opted for a belt change, which really should be done every couple of years anyway. We choose ClubLEW sponsors SWLC to do the work and get the Esprit into top condition.
The Esprit was given a good look over during the C-Service. Along with the usual engine & gearbox oil, anti-freeze, plugs, leads and stuff, it had the gearchange looked at, the brakes overhauled, original sized tyres replaced (see below), ariel fixed and passed it's MoT.
Here's a few pictures of the work being done. Quite a few hours went into making sure the Esprit was properly looked after. Considering it's history, it worth taking care of. This Esprit should be good for quite a few miles not. With hopefully another 36,000 miles until it's next major service it shouldn't cost too much either.
Brakes
During it's C-Service with SWLC in May 2006 (see above), it had it's brake calipers removed and overhauled with the service kits. The calipers were then painted in silver heat resistant paint. Greenstuff brake pads were fitted with new brake fluid. The hoses were checked and those found to be on their last legs where replaced.
The brakes are very impressive. Having driven an SE for the past 5 years with the wooden feel from the ABS system, this cars brakes are very good. The feel from the pedal is directly linked to the braking that's being done. Added to the lightness of the Turbo, the brakes are very reassuring.
Gearchange
The gearchange was looked at and adjusted by SWLC, as it was a little sticky. Now it is very nice. Quite chunkie and easy to change. We've not driven many Citreon fitted Esprits as Renault, but the change is good from our experience.
Tyres
We also had some 'part worn' tyres fitted for the MoT. Sizes for these alloys are hard to find and unfortunately we couldn't get a matching pair, but we did get the correct sizes. It is currently sitting on 195/60 R15 Goodyear NTC fronts and 235/60 R15 Pirelli P600's on the rears. All the tyres have plenty of tread left on them and should be good for a couple of years.Day out in Milton Keynes
LEW's G gets a trip out to a sunny Milton Keynes and hangs out near the point. The hot day revealed our fans weren't working suddenly! So the Otto Switch was cleaned up and we decided to check out the rest of the cooling system with the weather getting hotter. We are having a few pipes replaced that were starting to show 22 years of wear. With new hosing, the fans working and the system pressure checked, we should be in for a cool summer. It was noted however than the radiator will need replacing in the future, as it's starting to rust. But other than that we're got a great Esprit.
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