Mike's Yellow 85

[blackripley]

Hello all I've be larking on here for months now. This is a great site felled with invaluable information for the new Esprit owner.

A little in about my Esprit.

1985 Euro Turbo Esprit. The original owner got it in Norfolk (UK) and took it Austria and then here to California

I believe I'm the forth owner. The last two owners did not pay much attention to the details of owing a exotic car and let maintains and workmanship slide. I had seen it sitting on a consignment lot here in town hidden between a couple of Porsches. It had been sitting for about there for about 10 months. I had been keeping in eye on it when I went by, found out it did not run "blown head gasket". Then I got wind that that the lot was closing down and made a low ball offer. Well after 6 months and a full engine rebuild I'm now on the road. Next will be suspension and break work then interior and paint. But I'm trying to keep it as original as posable.

Once more thank you all for the great information and site.

Mike

Edited January 8, 2006 by blackripley

[Guest teigan]

nice car, and in the most complementary colour. is it right side drive?

[USAndretti42]

Nice car. Nice place to live.

I spent about 6 months living in the Riviera district of Santa Barbara at the start of 2004. Can't think which lot you saw it at.

one good thing I have found about working on the car is that, as it is not te car you need to use everyday, there is no rush to get the job done and you can just enjoy dicking about with it. That's why mie had taken so much longer to get on the road than I first expected.

And, of course, you've got good lod JAE just down the road by the airport. That's where I get nearly all my bits from.

[blackripley]

It is left hand drive with MPH speedo. The interior is 1/2 leather and the motor is Euro spec.

The lot was Scotts of SB on Hollester

[silverfrost]

Hi,

I must admit i have a soft spot for yellow coloured esprits, looks

very smart and very well looked after by the cleanliness of the engine bay! are the centre of the bbs wheels colour coded yellow aswell!

regards dan

[f1karting]

Dammit, thats a nice looking car.. yellow.. my second most favorite color for a Giugiaro..

How about some high res shots of it? The enlarged thumbs are still too small for my eyes.

J

[Simon350S]

Congrats

Very nice looking car. Fancied a yellow turbo myself, never seen one for sale over here while I was looking though.

Good luck with her.

[Jussi]

Hello Michael and welcome to forum

That is indeed nice colour of Esprit.

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

I don't think I've seen a yellow turbo before...

Very nice indeed.

PPPPLEEEASSSSE don't put the hideous and outdated side decals on it - it looks SO nice without them (I never replaced them on mine after a respray!)

As for suspension work - don't forget that Lotus themselves are due to release brand new, freshly developed suspension for our cars in the very near future

[blackripley]

silverfrost, yes the centre of the bbs wheels color are coded yellow. I love the look.

f1karting, Here are some higher rez copies of the same well shoot some more soon

evil_dr_fish, there will be no decals, I do like the pen striping. For now I'm having all the chips fixed and the lovers sprayed.

So far this baby has been one nutty impulse buy. I was going to get a Boxer this year until the Lotus bug got me. It's a kick to drive and Porsches they're a dime a dozen here in Santa Barbara. There will be a lot of bugs to work out and this Esprit is a hight mileage at 140,000. She is a beauty.

[slade]

hell yeah

the best color!

much like the decals myself

might have to repaint mine. that or lime green

nice and high mileage for an esprit!

slade

[bladerunner]

Blackripley

Congrats on your new baby.

(she is bound to give you some sleepless nights )

Like the colour very much.

Welcome to the forum. Sure you will find the guys here very knowledgeble and helpfull.

Nice having a awesome car in the garage, isn't it?

Duncan

[WayneB]

Thats an interesting car you have there Michael

So its a ROW spec car, with federal side markers fitted?

Did it have any emmissions equipment retrofitted?

(I cant make out in the photo whether it has the euro or the federal exhaust fitted.)

[blackripley]

I'm not sure what ROW is. I'm new to all things Louts. From the registration and the Vin I know that it is a gray market car. In looking in the owners manual it looks like it was bought for Austria. I'm still trying to figure out what the pervious owner messed with. As for emissions to get in registered in CA they added the federal standers. Right now there is no muffler on it just a new catalectic converter added to the back of the old one that was hollowed out.

Edited January 15, 2006 by blackripley

[WayneB]

ROW= rest of world specification on the Esprit

North American spec TurboEsprits are called Federal specification cars or S4

They are quite different from the UK/ROW cars

Bumpers(foam filled) 5MPH impact

Raised ride height (for bumpers)1.5 inches

Interior engine cover release(yours external)

Full leather Interior standard(recontoured seats for larger arses)

Different floor moulding and pedal area (Taller drivers w/bigger feet)

Air pump, cat converter(and sundry emmisions parts), distributor (vac advance/retard), Fan cooled engine cover, Different turbo outlet manifold with flap valve ,45 DHLA Delortos, low restriction stainless exhaust.

Side markers, Amber running lamps at front and sealed beam low wattage headlamps (Wagner).

A/C standard

My car is Canadian spec.(same as above except metric speedo)

This info might help you when obtaining parts for your car as some of the US stuff wont fit on yours

[slade]

That's it, I'm telling everyone I got an S4 from now on

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that US spec cars were sold in America, Canada, Austria and Sweden, which may explain the side markers on your car. Don't know for sure though

slade

[mayevora]

The only other yellow giugiaro esprit I have seen and taken pics of is one that has had its roof "chopped". Taken at Castle Coombe about 10 years ago.

[slade]

driestone and matkutub on here at least have one, both look really great as I recall

slade

Edited January 15, 2006 by slade

[WayneB]

You can tell from the 12th digit on your vin where your car was made for originally:-

A= Australia

B=49 States(USA)

C= California

D= Domestic(UK)

E=Europe(cold)

F=50 States(USA)

G=RoW(hot) RHD

H=R0W(hot)LHD

J=Japan

K=Canada and Peurto Rico

L=Saudi Arabia

S=Sweden