How 'runnable' are the early Esprits?

hmmm, im not so sure as a recall the elise is 6x times transitionally stiffer than the esprit backbone chassis according to becker.

 

Beautiful car, what size front and rear tires are you running??
thanks

 

Front 215 60R 14

Rear 245 60R 14


Beev

 

That may be true but in the Elise the body panels which are just bolted-on moldings, contribute nothing at all to stiffness so it needs to be.

 

Our 83 Esprit euro S3 with Essex blue/red and our 88 Esprit, burgundy/tan
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I took over 600 pictures of 134H (the orange car) for posterity/reference for restorations of other S1s. If you want to see that car in the flesh, go to the Celebration Exotic Car Festival in April -- it's Jeff's.

 

Just returned from a 330 km (200 mile) exotic car run and the S2 ran wonderfully with a slight clutch slave glitch toward the end..

.....i completed the run in excellent time and the driver engagement and mental focus required for this type of day was a memorable experience ...all those new F cars and Lambos haven't got a clue what they are missing...the driver involvement is so raw and visceral with an early Esprit...LUV IT!
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I like the Lotus cars , i had a 85 turbo , every car has problems , these cars have a few , there are gaskets on the carbs that dry out and leak , ( not safe ) , the exhaust manifold can warp and cause a exhaust leak , sometimes a new gasket helps sometimes the manifold needs to be changed , the hydraulic line that runs the clutch slave can swell + cause a problem , a braided steel line fixes that ,i really liked my car , it was quick and shifted very good , i heard a Ford SHO swap was a bolt in with the kit thats made , but i sold mine basically i got bored with the sound of the motor ( i get easily bored ) and bought a Ferrari GT4. the 308 had the motor sound i loved but also had a few problems that used to bother me . buy and enjoy whatever car you want and work on the bugs , its worth it .

 

Exactly. I have an E-Type, and I was told to steer clear given the British rep. I've had the car about 8 years with nary a problem. I drive it quite a bit too.

I can't imagine an Esprit is THAT much "worse" than any other period car. How many problems would a '77 Chevy Malibu have? I bet a ton...FWIW.

Beev - your car really looks great in that last set of pics. That's a keeper!

 

she was quite "runnable" yesterday afternoon






[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsXAaS3vBo[/ame]





beev

 

Sweet - with Vivaldi as the backdrop...lovely!

 

I forgot how great the early Espirt's look. I remember seeing the car as a kid in For Your Eyes Only, and will never forget how great they look.

 

I agree, the early Esprits are fantastic looking cars but I am unsure whether or not you forgot how great they look....

 

LOL. Sometimes I forget what I am writing.