Vehicle Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present an absolutely exceptional
condition example of this 1989 Lotus Espirit SE Turbo 5spd Coupe in
the beautiful and highly desirable color combination of original
factory 'Calypso Red' exterior paint with a tan leather seats
interior with only 17K original miles! 1 of only 1,608 built
between it's 1987-93 production run. The Lotus Esprit is a sports
car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in the
United Kingdom between 1976 and 2004. It was to be the exciting
final legacy of the late Colin Chapman and began life as a show car
in Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italian studio from where it inherited it's
classic Italian design. It would retain a Lotus favored 'Backbone'
chassis and all independent suspension but with the added advantage
of a fiberglass body with an impregnated color achieved by a
closely guarded Lotus process. The first versions suffered from
marginal cooling and chassis mounted road noise but these issues
were addressed by 1980's new Turbo Espirit with a blown 2.2L
engine, stronger chassis, modified rear suspension, better brakes,
larger wheels, a deep front airdam and 'aero' rocker panels.
Results were 150 mph all out and even tighter handling and high
speed agility. The turbo switched from carburetors to Bosch fuel
injection in 1987. The following year brought new more rounded body
panels plus updated interiors and other improvements. All model
years were to be of very low production whilst remaining one of the
longest production run supercars ever built.In 1987, the Esprit was
restyled by British designer Peter Stevens. Stevens, who would
later go on to design the McLaren F1, produced a less angular, more
rounded Esprit which would be in keeping with the new era and just
two years later in 1989 the next upgrade came in the form of the
2.2 turbo with a 'Chargecooler' system. Lotus got rid of the Bosch
K-Jetronic and replaced it with a Delco developed multi point
injection system which would produce even more power from the 4
cylinder engine matched to a Lotus air-water-air intercooler called
a 'Chargecooler'. This revised engine was known as the Type 910S.
The result was over 264HP as standard with over 280HP available on
overboost. The 910S engine went into the new Special Equipment (SE)
model, which also received changes to the body, with side skirts
parallel to the body, five air ducts in the front air dam, wing
mirrors from the Citroen CX and the addition of a rear wing. With
it's stiffer springs, the 1989 Espirit Turbo SE (Special Equipment)
was the fastest road going Lotus ever, even faster than its
contemporary the V12 Ferrari Testarossa, reaching 60 mph in just
4.5 seconds and a top speed of over 160 mph.The fiberglass wedge
body with combined supercar exterior changes were accompanied by a
redesign of the interior that gave more space to the occupants. The
revised Esprit was not given a new 'Series' number but is often
called by its project code of X180. Panels for the body were
produced using a new process called VARI (Vacuum Assisted Resin
Injection). This method, which was patented by Lotus, offered
advantages over the previous hand lay-up process. Kevlar
reinforcement was added to the roof and sides for roll-over
protection. This also increased the Esprit's torsional rigidity.
This particular example with only 17K original miles is therefore a
very rare and collectible Lotus Espirit Special Equipment Turbo; 1
of only 1,608 total Espirit SE Turbo Coupes built during its
1987-93 production run and a car which was recently inspected prior
to sale at the renown Lotus dealership and specialists 'San Diego
European Motorcars' of San Diego, CA and has a brand new clutch and
shocks just recently fitted.The car was obviously always a
non-smoking owners car from new which has obviously always been
well maintained and the car will be sold with its original factory
tools, spare wheel and jack. Driven obviously only sparingly and
always garaged with absolutely no accidents and no rust whatsoever
and owned by only obviously very careful and owner/driver's since
new - never raced or abused. The original factory 'Calypso Red'
color paint is in absolutely beautiful condition and the tan
leather interior with its Lotus leather skins is also in beautiful
condition with virtually no signs of any wear apart from some very
small imperfections in the wood veneers. The cars original wheels
are uncurbed and unblemished and the original spare has not ever
been used. This particular example with only some 17,590 original
miles drives exactly like such a well maintained and serviced ultra
low mileage Lotus should and must be driven to be fully appreciated
and seen to be believed! You will surely look long and hard to find
a finer or lower mileage example of this exceptionally clean and
increasingly collectible supercar.
