S1 on eBay . . . Sort of . .

[Tony K]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus-Espir...1QQcmdZViewItem

Ugh.

by the way, Slade, where are you? I stopped checking eBay because you were so religiously posting every G-car that came on!

[gpz900r]

1977 my ars*

Thats an s3 with s2 wheels on it, as for fully restored, what with? 5 quid and a jam butty..

[dglotusltd]

Vin says its an S1 but the look says its either an S3 or a horribly modified S1, inside and outside with S3 stuff (bumpers, sills, rear deck -not easy to do-, etc....)

Wow (and I don't mean that in a positive way...)

[gpz900r]

Vin says its an S1 but the look says its either an S3 or a horribly modified S1, inside and outside with S3 stuff (bumpers, sills, rear deck -not easy to do-, etc....)

Wow (and I don't mean that in a positive way...)

Sorry to sound mean but the thought of an S1 being slaughtered makes my blood boil. Would love to know what really happenned to the poor baby.

[Tony K]

Sorry to sound mean but the thought of an S1 being slaughtered makes my blood boil. Would love to know what really happenned to the poor baby.

If they took a scrap heap and totally redid it with whatever was available, thus saving one, then I commend them.

However, in the States, at least a couple dozen of S1s fell prey to owners who wanted a Turbo but couldn't afford one; there are unfortunately plenty of S1s in the States that have ground effects, tail lights, etc. from S3 Turbos, while otherwise remaining utterly stock S1s. The Veglia gauges, as in this very typical example, are always the giveaway.

When the S2s came out, a number of S1s were modified to look like S2s; such was the perception of the improvements of the S2 over the S1 that for a long time the S2 was worth more money. I remember reading old buyers guides and such 10-15 years ago; they always said to take the S2 over the S1; the S1 was considered unacceptable and the S2 was considered the still-flawed car that Lotus should have made in the first place. And there was always talk of how to verify whether an S2 was really an S2 or a fake, i.e. just an S1 that has been made to look like an S2, the owner trying to pawn it off in a sneaky way.

I suspect that this eBay car is part of the "wannabe turbo" group, given the year they say it was restored; or perhaps it had become ratty and they used that as an excuse to "update" it. . .

Edited August 3, 2006 by Tony K

[silverfrost]

it defo is not an s3 bodyshell due to the engine bay been sealed in, on s1 and s2 the engine bay has a completly fiberglassed in floor, on the s3 you can remove the whole boot floor and its a different shape! as for the rest iim not sure, the car looks nice though, each to there own

regards dan