Ah nope. Lotus have made several engines, and Lotus Engineering have designed many more for other manufacturers.
I don't think you will see electrics from the Lord of Darkness in Italian cars, mostly Bosch and Magneti Marelli with Veglia dash instruments
The V8 in the Esprit? Surely best forgotten. I'm aware of cylinder heads they did for GM but please enlighten me on any others.
A much underrated engine, detuned for the weak gearbox, but easily capable of 500+bhp. The 907-912 engines were all Lotus, and had the highest specific power output for a 4 cylinder at the time. It also powered the Sunbeam-Lotus to the Championship of Makes in the 1981 rally season. And the Turbo Esprit could easily dispatch the Ferrari 308. Lotus Engineering has done consultancy work for just about every major manufacturer.
Well that can be your elitest point of view but Morgan has been producing handbuilt cars and from the only continuous family owned company left,for over 100 years...I give that a bucket load of credit.
More to your 'if they don't make there own engines then they're kitcar makers' you are precluding:Rover/RangeRover,AC,Jensen,Sunbeam,Bristol,Austin Healey,DeTomaso,Porsche,MG,SAAB and a raft of others who've used proprietary engines sometime in their history. I reckon you'll end up with a bloody eye if you told that bloke with the $2.2 mill Cobra he's only got a kitcar.
The LT5 engine used in the 1989 - 1994 Corvette ZR-1 was a masterpiece engine designed by Lotus ( or more specifically Tony Rudd - recruited by Lotus from BRM in the late sixties to help Lotus become an engine manufacturer). Its a shame this engine never went into the Esprit as it was extremely reliable and powerful. Probably the reason it was so reliable was because it was built by Mercury Marine rather than Lotus or some regular GM factory. After spending a decade working in Japan, mainly in the automotive sector and going to Toyota/Lexus factories on a daily basis all around Aichi, I truly believe alot of reliability stems from the tools/equipmet, materials and workers used on the production line.
There are a few “kit cars” that I’d love to own and seem to be considered fairly desirable, including the McLaren F1, Pagani Zonda…
I often thought about the idea of getting rid of the Lotus 918 twin turbo V8 and putting in the LT5 with a porsche transaxle in a V8 Esprit. The LT5 is 40kg heavier though.
I’m just humouring him. I have less the 0 interest in an electric motorcycle. Silly signature here to annoy KIAI
The sooner all Harleys go electric the better imo!! They should be like kids..........seen and not heard
