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I have an update to send you, Dave. Including details of that blue car from Castle Combe, which is particularly interesting.

The car for sale at Castle Combe is a 2010 model, registered in July '10. I was surprised at the price, which seems a bargain as a trade sale with warranty.

Seb, I think it was mistakenly listed as "development" due to its factory registration. The VIN puts it into regular series production; Lotus archives should be able to tell you what it was used for or who it was assigned to if it was a company car. August registration would mean a dealer demonstrator. The first customer cars were on 59 plates from 1st September.

I am sure that you will regret not collecting from the factory: being one of the first to do so should be be rather special.

That's a Type 1 watch, not many about and sell for a few hundred quid when they appear. Presumably that one is unworn so would be worth a bit more; decent provenance helps, too. Minimum 750, I would have thought. I almost bought one when they were new, because of what they were, but found something else that I preferred instead. I don't think my opinion has changed, although it is still a nice piece.

I don't go with the cam belt change every two year thing on my 900-series engines. Four years, more like.

That will have been a dealer demonstrator. There might be some clues in the service record book as to first owner.

Serial numbers of the press cars were in the 600s, first production cars from 721 on (dealer demonstrators) then customer cars started at 868. Bear in mind that serial numbers covered all cars, so an Elise might sit between two Evoras; there was not a continual sequence of all early Evoras.

I think it is a question for Lotus to answer. I think we already have the numbers and can place it in sequence sitting very early in production, after the press cars and before customer cars.

That's just Alastair Clements' choice rather than the magazine's, surely? Well done, though.

That's interesting Jon - this identifies where the demo cars sit in the VIN series but why do you think it is not an LE? From the figures provided by Andy Graham I would say that LEs include the press and dealer demo cars. (Your car is not on the last-posted register, by the way, hence me mentioning it in my list.)

A few more cars that do not seem to be on the register: AU09 CYV. 05/06/2009. Grey/Oyster. GX09 KRZ. 08/07/2009. Black/Oyster. SN59 JYO. 01/09/2009. Burnt Orange/Charcoal. AU59 AFZ. 01/10/2009. Grey/Paprika. DK59 AXX. 13/10/2009. AU59 AGY. n/a. Black/Red. (Not on DVLA.) AU59 AHF. n/a. Blue/Oyster. (Not on DVLA.) AU59 AHZ. 22.10.09. White/Black. AU59 AZR. 07.12.09. Pale Blue. AU59 DSY. 22.10.09. Grey. AU59 DSZ. 22.10.09. Blue/Oyster. AU59 DRO. 11.11.09. Blue. AU59 DUA. n/a. Red. (Not on DVLA.) Dates of registration suggest that they all might be LEs. Also: AU59 DTZ and AU59 DRV appear on the Dev list but their VINs put them in among main production. AU59 DTY also on the Dev list does not appear on searches under that registration. If anyone can confirm registration numbers of any of the dealer demonstrator cars, that would be useful.

That's not one of the original press cars but there was lots of AU59 cars registered (at least 23 by my reckoning) and quite a few of those appeared in articles (particularly in the Lotus Club International mag). All of the colours that I have stated have come from DVLA data and in nearly every case checked against photos. I think I have at least another 15 cars that are not on the LE register but I can't verify yet if every one is a launch edition. AU59 DSZ is still registered on that plate. By the way, all of the registrations that I have listed are also still valid (other than the two that I mentioned that weren't).

Here are some cars that pre-date the first deliveries serial number of 0721, including the press cars: AU09 AZR. Silver. LHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 AHY. Canyon Red. LHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 AKK. White. RHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 AKJ. Grey. RHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. Scrapped. AU09 AKZ. Red. RHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 AKY. White. LHD. 01/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. Scrapped. AU09 AOG. Light Blue. RHD. 21/04/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 EJZ. Orange. RHD. 01/06/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. AU09 EKC. White. LHD. 17/06/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. Scrapped. AU09 EJY. Yellow. RHD. 10/06/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. These are in serial number order. There is also AU09 AHZ, LHD in pale blue that doesn't appear on DVLA records - possibly had a registration change, same for AU09 AKN that is on the register but I have no photo of that one. Most of these cars were sold on by Lotus.

Some more info: VP01 = AU58 EWR. White. RHD. 01/12/2008. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. VP02 = AU58 EWF. Black. RHD. 01/12/2008. LOTUS EVORA 2 V6 VP05 = AU58 EWE. Red. LHD. 01/12/2008. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. VP07 = AU58 EWD. Silver. LHD. 01/12/2008. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. VP09 = AU58 EXP. Orange. LHD. 01/01/2009. LOTUS EVORA 4 V6. All of these have engine size given as 3498cc. The Evo article of Jan 2009 stated that 15 running validation prototypes were being made (the Tippler book gives 23 as the total, accounting for crash test cars, etc.); they featured the first one coming off the line but said that VP02 would be the yellow car shown in the pictures, although that didn't turn out to be the case (it might have been the second car finished but was not given the VP02 VIN).