Early Esprit conversion
Discussion
Here's a couple of Esprit pix with a bit of history.
This car featured in various magazines and is pictured in Jeremy Walton's "Lotus Esprit" 1981 ed'n. It was the first turbo conversion done privately in 1978 for Bell & Colvill the long-time UK Lotus dealer. It had a single large SU carburettor upstream of the turbo in place of the usual twin Dell'Ortos. 210 bhp and 202 ft/lb very comparable with the later factory turbos, although probably much less driveable. Heat build-up must have been a problem as there's no sign of the exra 'ears' and other cooling additions added by the factory. It's based on the S1.
My Esprit S3. Having seen the Bell & Colvill car I was very taken by the LOT registration and determined to find one for my Esprit. This was well before the days when DVLA started selling plates. Eventually tracked one down and was delighted to get it on the car. LOT registrations are very rare having originally been issued for Hampshire County Council vehicles only, many of which quickly racked up high mileages and earned an early trip to the scrapyard.
This car featured in various magazines and is pictured in Jeremy Walton's "Lotus Esprit" 1981 ed'n. It was the first turbo conversion done privately in 1978 for Bell & Colvill the long-time UK Lotus dealer. It had a single large SU carburettor upstream of the turbo in place of the usual twin Dell'Ortos. 210 bhp and 202 ft/lb very comparable with the later factory turbos, although probably much less driveable. Heat build-up must have been a problem as there's no sign of the exra 'ears' and other cooling additions added by the factory. It's based on the S1.
My Esprit S3. Having seen the Bell & Colvill car I was very taken by the LOT registration and determined to find one for my Esprit. This was well before the days when DVLA started selling plates. Eventually tracked one down and was delighted to get it on the car. LOT registrations are very rare having originally been issued for Hampshire County Council vehicles only, many of which quickly racked up high mileages and earned an early trip to the scrapyard.
Edited by 5 USA on Wednesday 7th June 14:00
S2.2?
No, that looks like S1 wheels and spoiler to me.
Also, I have that book. The caption for the photo says it cost £11700 in 1978, which puts it well before the 2.2 was on sale.
The lack of 'ears' indicates an S1 also.
The car shown is the first one converted by Bell & Colvil. Production cars may well have been based on the S2, but did they make any based on the 2.2? There seems to be little or no info available.
And there is a B&W pic of an Essex car in the book. His later book shows the same pic in colour.
>> Edited by B16 RFF on Thursday 1st June 23:42
No, that looks like S1 wheels and spoiler to me.
Also, I have that book. The caption for the photo says it cost £11700 in 1978, which puts it well before the 2.2 was on sale.
The lack of 'ears' indicates an S1 also.
The car shown is the first one converted by Bell & Colvil. Production cars may well have been based on the S2, but did they make any based on the 2.2? There seems to be little or no info available.
And there is a B&W pic of an Essex car in the book. His later book shows the same pic in colour.
>> Edited by B16 RFF on Thursday 1st June 23:42
Yes, you're quite right. It's a couple of years before the first factory turbos. I thought at first it had a bigger front spoiler but it's standard S1.
I don't have any Essex pix better than the excellent photo already posted above. There are nice 1/18 scale Essex replicas available in shops.
I don't have any Essex pix better than the excellent photo already posted above. There are nice 1/18 scale Essex replicas available in shops.
I believe that Bell & Colvill are refurbishing that S1 for a mate of mine here, locally. IIRC it's #36 or so off the line. He bought it last year and is planning on bringing it back by early next year. He was lucky enough to find a roll of the original Tartan for the interior...
ErnestM
ErnestM
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