At $75,000, Is This '90 Percent Restored' 1977 Lotus Esprit 100 Percent A Deal?

The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice project Esprit claims they won’t sell the car to just anybody. Instead, they demand the new owner be a “Lotus Esprit Builder.” Let’s see just how much cash that builder will need to bring.

The 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R Is Here

There was seemingly nothing needed to enjoy yesterday’s 1997 Chevy K1500 Silverado pickup other than an appreciation for the Step-Side lifestyle and a cool $12,500 to undertake its purchase. Unfortunately for the seller, the truck’s relatively high mileage (186K) cooled much interest in either. That resulted in a 59 percent No Dice loss despite some solid appreciation for the truck that was expressed in the comments.

Do you have a good bit of affection for plastic model car kits? When I was a kid, I put together a ton of them. In fact, it was my primary hobby for a good bit of my pre-teen years. My interest only cooled once the plastic model glue was changed from one that kids apparently got high by sniffing to one that smelled like lemons but wouldn’t set worth a damn. Stupid tweakers, always ruining shit for the rest of us.

If you have as fond of memories as I do of hours spent assembling plastic models, then today’s 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 will be right up our collective alley. It is, as you may have noticed, in need of some assembly.

The seller claims the car to be 90 percent restored, but I’d suggest that’s a generous assessment. According to the description, it has been 100 percent disassembled, with almost all of its sub-assemblies and individual components so far refurbished and/or improved. Nothing, save for the engine seems to be completely back together, however.

The seller expresses an unwillingness to sell this now jigsaw puzzle project to anyone other than a Lotus Esprit assembly expert. That, of course, limits the available audience to a few dedicated Lotus enthusiasts or, perhaps retired Hethel employees with time on their hands.

The work already done on the car is extensive and seemingly thorough. The steel spine chassis has been completely stripped and cleaned before reinforcements were applied to the suspension mounts and the whole thing was rustproofed and powder coated.

Both the 2.2-liter Lotus 907 four and its companion C35 five-speed manual sourced from Citroën have been rebuilt using modern componentry. For the engine, the update includes bigger exhaust valves and the removal of the emissions control air injectors. Along with those changes come higher compression 104 camshafts and matched Green Dot cam pulleys. All-in-all, it seems like a lot of care went into the build.

The rest of the car shows that same kind of care, although the assembly isn’t anywhere near as complete. All of the braking components have been tossed in favor of a system that matches a Honda S2000 master and booster with Brembo calipers for each corner. The suspension has been updated and seems to be (at least temporarily) installed on the backbone. Shifting and steering are also at least partially done.

Yet to be placed on top of all that—literally, as the Esprit’s fiberglass body rests on the backbone frame in saddle fashion—is the disassembled and repainted bodywork. The cabin has been Dynomatted and the upholstery refreshed, but, at present, none of the latter has been installed.

The ad goes into extensive detail on what has been done to bring the car to its present state. It also notes the reason for the sale of the only partially-completed project as due to “personal circumstances. The title is clean and the mileage is listed as 36,000 which sounds about the right number for a Lotus to be in need of a full refresh. Could this crazy opportunity be worth $75,000 for a new owner?

That’s the amount the seller is asking to take on this pile of parts that someday could be combined into a very cool car. What’s your take on that eventuality and the cost to get it over the goal line? Does $75K seem like a fair deal considering all the work that has already gone into the project? Or, is that way too much to take on someone else’s half-baked Lotus?

You decide!

Alhambra, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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