Turbo Esprit HC

[PatHeald]

Does anyone out there know how many G shape Turbo HCs were made, with the 215hp high torque motor?

In addition, is there any way of finding out how far from the end of G production my car is?

I guess what I am looking for is a schedule of chassis numbers running to the shape change.

The car was registered on August 1st 1987.

Thanks chaps.

[oharedm]

Pat,

I have put together some production data on the Esprit build from 1990 onwards (US vs non US)

This can be found at:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/UKLotusEsprit/message/7682

I have asked Lotus directly a number of times and they were unable to help as they keep no electronic records on build number and in which markets they are sold.

Dermot
UK Egroup Moderator

[SwedishSurgeon]

This has been my side passion. So far I've found one car 18 above mine and recently one on ebay 11 under my vin. Yes records from Lotus cannot be retrieved. I've found different production numbers for the '87 year.
Check out the www.Espritfactfile.com registery for members posting Vins for the closests next to yours.
So far, of the Esprits I've seen, mine appears to be the only one with a bonnet not having the six holes in the fresh air vent.

[PatHeald]

Thanks.

Incidentally, my 1987 TurboHC has two long narrow fresh air vents in the bonnet.....

[SwedishSurgeon]

Pat,
Another thing I just remembered. In July I went to the factory and we stopped at Stratton Motor Cars and King Hussian of Jorden had his pearl white '87 Esprit on the showroom floor for sale. At LOG 22, my friend
Dave and I were looking through his photo album and he said " Look! " The Kings car had the two slots also!
I'm begining to think mine is a UK carbi bonnet as someone else said they have seen the same over in the UK.
Cheers,
Robert

[lotusguy]

PatHeald said:
Whether or not the two slot bonnet went on the export cars at the factory is a mystery to me. Has your car ever had the bonnet changed for any reason?

The last four digits of the VIN seem to follow different runs according to whether the car is domestic or export. My car is SCC082910HDD12544, which doesn't help me compare it to an export car such as yours....

By the way, was King Hussain's car as good as it was made out to be...? £26k seems a bit steep to me.

Pat,

The VIN number code from Lotus has two variations. One code is for Domestic (UK) and Export except the USA , While the other is for USA. This is to comply with different requirements of the EEC and US DOT.

In the Domestic/Export code, the 1st three characters are the Manufacturers Code, characters #4,5&6 indicate Vehicle type, characters # 7,8&9 indicate Engine type, character 10 is the Model Year code, character #11 is the Production Plant, character #12 is the Chassis Market, #13 is the Engine Market, #14-#17 are the actual serial number of the Vehicle.

In the USA code, the 1st 3 characters are the Manufacturers Code, #4 is the Model Code, #5 is the Series Code, #6 is the Option Code, #7 is the Engine Code, #8 is the Safety Equipt. Code, #9 is a check digit, #10 is the Model Year Code, #11 is the Production Plant Code, #12 is the Chassis Market Code, #13 is the Engine Market Code and #14-17 are the actual serial number of the vehicle.

The 14 characters of the Engine Number are broken down as follows: the first character is the Basic Engine Spec, #2 is the Engine Equipt. Variation, if any, the next 3 characters are the Engine Type, the next 2 are the year of manufacture, the next two are the month of manufacture while the final 5 characters are the actual Engine Serial #. Hope this helps..Jim '85TE

[PatHeald]

So....

If I understand this properly, the VIN does not really give me anything more accurate than the model year, in my case 1987. I have cross referenced this with my copy of the Service Notes for confirmation.

The engine number (assuming it is the original motor) will date the car to the month (assuming the motor was built at roughly the same time as the car).

So in my case, the motor can be dated as July 1987 and carries the serial number 24153. The Jeremy Walton book suggests that the G Esprit ceased production on 31 July 1987, so I guess that my car is pretty near the end of the run.

In the case of the serial numbers which make up the last 4 digits of the VIN, the US cars for 1987 seem to carry serial numbers round about 0900, whereas my UK car carries the serial 2544. There must be a different set of numbers for the export cars.

Do your export engine numbers also have a completely different set of serial numbers, or do export engines from 1987 also have serial numbers around 24153?

[lotusguy]

PatHeald said: So....

If I understand this properly, the VIN does not really give me anything more accurate than the model year, in my case 1987. I have cross referenced this with my copy of the Service Notes for confirmation.

The engine number (assuming it is the original motor) will date the car to the month (assuming the motor was built at roughly the same time as the car).

So in my case, the motor can be dated as July 1987 and carries the serial number 24153. The Jeremy Walton book suggests that the G Esprit ceased production on 31 July 1987, so I guess that my car is pretty near the end of the run.

In the case of the serial numbers which make up the last 4 digits of the VIN, the US cars for 1987 seem to carry serial numbers round about 0900, whereas my UK car carries the serial 2544. There must be a different set of numbers for the export cars.

Do your export engine numbers also have a completely different set of serial numbers, or do export engines from 1987 also have serial numbers around 24153?

Pat,

You are correct that the VIN codes are completely different between all UK domestic/export and USA export exclusively.
The USA VIN code seems to offer more detailed information as it carries a series code (Character #5) and an option code (Character #6). How much additional information these offer I do not know.
Presumably, the difference in serial numbers may result from the production run. That is, the line produces EEC cars on one run and USA cars on a separate run, this would account for the 'spacing' in the serial numbers, but is only speculation on my part. I think it's fairly good speculation however as it would be the most efficient way of managing parts inventories not to mention training the labor force to produce only one model at a time, instead of several models on the same line at once.
As far as engine serial numbers, I think you are correct that the engine serial numbers do seem to be consistent. I say this because my '85 Mid-Year Turbo(separate M.Y. model designation - 1 of 61 produced) which featured a revised cooling system, front suspension, brakes, transmission than previous carb'd Turbos. It has the original engine with the serial number 21,9XX. It would seem feasible that they would have reached 24,XXX by the 1987 model run. Hope this helps...Jim '85TE (Mid-Year)




>> Edited by lotusguy on Tuesday 31st December 07:58