1980 Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit Development Car

Despite its current looks, Lotus have confirmed that this car is one of the planned 100 limited edition dry-sump Essex Turbo Esprits - although only 45 were in Essex Commemorative liveries because customers for the new “Essex Specification” turbocharged Esprit wanted theirs in other colours.

This car was built in May 1980 and was originally a left-hand-drive car in the full Essex livery and was used for power-train turbo development by Lotus engineering. They also welded box-section rails to the chassis underneath the car to allow it to be fitted with a camera rig for filming - whether this was for development testing or entertainment purposes isn’t known but the rails are still there.

The car was converted to RHD by Lotus themselves and when finally registered in March 1982 it became the company car for Lotus Factory Export Manager Mike “Bishie” Bishop. It later returned to development engineering duties.

Little is known of the car’s history over the last 40 years but it was recently bought from South West Lotus Centre who were selling it on behalf of one of their customers.

Our vendor owns several Esprits - mostly Giugiaro Turbos - and he and his daughter buy them to restore them as a joint hobby. They’ve changed the belts, sorted the brakes and fitted some matching footwell carpets as well as putting it through an MOT. But they have decided to let someone else have the pleasure of deciding what restoration route to take with such a special car.

It’s fair to say that although the Esprit starts, runs, has good oil pressure and comes with a full year’s MOT - it should still be regarded as something of a project - especially if you want it back in Essex Blue with the red and chrome decals… and why wouldn’t you?

The exterior paintwork is probably the aspect of this Esprit that lets it down the most - not least that it is Cherry Red metallic with gold decals rather than its original Essex Petroleum livery.

Added to that, the condition of the paintwork is very poor - there are numerous scratches, chips, cracks and scrapes all around the body - including two quite severe striations over the roof panel, a bad scrape under the rear bumper and a blanking grommet in the middle of the roof where presumably a carphone antenna was once located.

And don’t forget that the bodywork is fibreglass, so repairing and restoring it isn’t as straightforward as if it were steel and could be rubbed down, cut out, welded, filled and resprayed - to do things properly is a job for people with the right expertise.

The good news is that everything seems to be present in terms of exterior body kit and fittings - including the original 15-inch split-rim Compomotive wheels with polished rims and gold centres, which are shod with Goodyear NCTs on the front and Pirelli P600s at the rear.

Don’t think the mix of tyres front to back is a bad thing or accidental - Goodyear NCTs were OEM fit on both front and back but are now obsolete and the Pirellis are a popular alternative. Longstone Classic Tyres actually recommend a specific mix for better handling.

There is some more good news inside the car - the original blood red leather interior appears largely complete, intact and in reasonably good condition, save for some screw holes in the side of the centre console where we assume a carphone cradle was mounted.

The leather throughout looks in good order with some creasing and light wear on the seats but not a great deal - with an odometer reading of less than 33k the car hasn’t been used anywhere near as much as most of its type. Our vendor, who owns several later Turbo Esprits believes this leather to be of a higher quality than what followed. Certainly, we have discovered that build budgets were trimmed after the Essex-spec cars.

The leather-clad Momo steering wheel is showing some age but the crash pad and badge are still present. Behind the wheel the binnacle and instruments look in good order, as does the centrally located graphic panel for the air conditioning.

There are bad scuffs on the door window frames and the door seals are rather tatty - but if the whole car is going to be repainted, these would be addressed anyway.

The maroon carpets are clean and intact - although a section on the offside wheel arch appears to be missing. Up above, the headlining looks in good order with just a few marks.

According to the current Lotus archivist Andy Graham this Essex Turbo was originally fitted with the iconic Panasonic RM-610 roof-mounted stereo system, but its removal was requested in July 1981, whilst still in use by engineering. In its place, what looks like a standard Audioline Radio Cassette player is fitted into the centre console and connected to Pioneer speakers up front on the dash and behind the seats.

The vendor reports that all electrical equipment - radio, windows and mirrors - work as they should.

Under the bonnet, the front compartment isn’t especially accommodating for any luggage - instead it is home to the spare wheel - in this case what looks like a gold-painted Wolfrace Alloy fitted with a Firestone tyre. It also houses the mechanism for the characteristic pop-up headlamps, which we’re pleased to see work well, without “winking”.

At the rear, the louvred tailgate covers both the engine bay and the rear luggage area. The latter being correctly spartan in that there is no lining and would only typically have a PVC boot bag or cover over it.

Under the engine cover, the dry-sump engine and its ancillaries look in an honest condition - not detailed but we understand that all is running as it should. In its day, the 210bhp Turbo Esprit claimed a 0-60mph time of 5.55 seconds and a top speed of 152mph.

The engine has Lotus Essex embossed cam covers and the twin Dellorto carburettors sit downstream of the Garrett turbo feed. Unusually, it appears that a manual choke has been fitted in the engine bay rather than connected to the small lever in the cabin aft of the gearstick.

There are a few items obviously requiring attention. The fuel tank breather pipes look like they have hardened and are likely to disintegrate if they haven’t already - and the three quarter trims and seat belt reel covers appear to be missing.

Also no longer present are the undertrays below the engine and gearbox. In a turbo, these are important to ensure that the air ducted in via the side skirts is directed up into the engine bay to help cool the turbocharger.

Other observations underneath include damage to the glass fibre radiator housing at the front and the presence of the strips of box-section steel that formed part of the factory filming rig. Otherwise there doesn’t appear to be anything obviously untoward underneath the car.

The Essex has a current MOT valid until June 2024, which it passed with warnings on the front steering rack gaiters being damaged and an advisory on the nearside suspension.

The last MOT before this recent one was in September 2015 - in between only a couple of hundred miles were driven. Prior to that, it only averaged about 10 miles a year and there is nothing recorded before 2010 suggesting that the car was off the road or not in the UK.

There’s not a lot of paperwork with the car - a couple of invoices, a few MOT certificates, tax discs and a letter from Lotus Cars dated July 1989. But this letter is key - it is from Mike Pomfret, the then Lotus archivist, who confirms that the Esprit was one of their development cars and is a genuine Essex Commemorative Turbo.

More recent email correspondence with current archivist Andy Graham validates this information and also provides a little more in the way of the car’s use.

Lotus state that only 45 cars were built as Essex Commemorative Turbo Esprits in the following specifications:

● UK – 31 cars (4 development, 4 pre-production, 23 production)

● Export – 14 cars (3 development, 11 production)

● No USA specification cars were produced

This car then, was one of the three export spec development cars prior to factory RHD conversion.

We mentioned previously, that the car starts, runs and has good oil pressure but note that to get it back to its former glory is no light recommissioning project - it needs a complete restoration and renewal, so interested bidders should ensure that they know what is likely to be involved.

As always, we encourage a personal inspection of the car prior to bidding - and this can be arranged using the ‘Contact Seller’ option.

The Lotus Esprit was the UK’s home-grown supercar and in turbocharged form was at last able to take the fight to the likes of the Ferrari 308 and even the Porsche 930. Its endorsement by the world’s most famous secret agent (an oxymoron if ever there was one) ensured that the angular Giugiaro cars would forever attract attention and evoke desire.

There are very few genuine Essex Commemorative Turbo Esprits still on the road in the UK, so this car represents something of a rarity with an early factory history confirmed by Lotus Cars themselves.

We think that it will sell for between £30,000 and £40,000, which is about where decent condition “standard” Turbo Esprits come in. But this estimate acknowledges something of the amount of work required to fully restore this limited edition car to its original livery and mechanical condition. When finished to a high quality it could be worth at least double the upper end of that guide.

Essex Commemorative Turbo Esprits don’t come to market very often - and even less often do you get a chance to buy one of Hethel’s own development cars. Yes there is some work to do, but this is a great opportunity to become the new owner of one of 45 very special cars at an entry level price.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Nottinghamshire; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.