Description
1984 Lotus Active Suspension Esprit
To many, this car needs no introduction. The Active Suspension Esprit as driven and tested by Nigel Mansell. This car started life as 001 pre production Lotus Essex Esprit dry sump car . The car was lent to The Delorean Motor companies Managing Director before being returned to Lotus to be registered and used by Lotus Engineering to become The Active Suspension Esprit. The development was for Active Suspension for the Lotus F1 Team. This makes this car very unique for a couple of reasons. Not only was the cars the first pre production sought after Essex Esprit (with Essex Cam Covers) it is also the very well documented and only Active Suspension Esprit Development car.
All the above information verified by a certificate of provenance and a letter from Lotus Cars.
Essex cars have been trading hands for over £100, 000 in recent years without the history and low mileage of this car.
The Story…
After engineering had finished with the development of this car it was left at the grounds of Lotus behind Hanger 4 to be ignored and walked by every day. A member of staff was instructed to have the car crushed but thankfully a senior engineer moved the car around and hid it from view. Knuckles wrapped each time it was found, but on continued the game of hide and seek. Eventually the management thought it would be a good idea to put the car on display at Lotus. After pulling it into the engineering work shop, new fuel lines and battery were installed and miraculously it started. The car was promptly cleaned up and put on display in the white building at Lotus cars. Lotus carried on building around where the car was stored and it seemed it was forever locked inside Lotus at the bottom of circular stairwell.
Fast forward many years and the fate of Lotus and its finances were once again in the balance. After pestering the factory and the powers that be I was contacted on a Friday afternoon asking if I would be interested in purchasing the car. This was on the proviso that I paid for it that afternoon on a debit card. Car duly paid for , it was then I was presented with the prospect of removing the car through a set of double pedestrian doors. Risk assessment written to please the H&S guys and the tasks started on a Saturday morning to move it all of 25 ft. A rotisserie trolly was bolted to the hubs and the car was moved through the doors on its side and safely onto a truck the other side of the doors. A job that took 8 hours. Photos included as part of the history of a new chapter in the Esprits life.
The car was acquired at the time (2016) to become part of a larger collection of Lotus road and race cars being privately stored and admired. As time passed I put some real thought into what to do with the car next. Enquiries where made into re activating the suspension with one of the original engineers. This was met with a very enthusiastic response that it could be done after photos where sent back and forth. It was agreed first of all that the car needed to running and working to achieve this. Subsequently I started removing bits from the car but it was soon apparent it was a job to big for me and I certainly wasn’t going to achieve much with the free time I had. It was sent to a Lotus specialist who agreed to take on sympathetically restoring the car while keeping the originality.
Like most old cars it presented better than what it actually was. The cold winters when it was outside had not been kind to the wooden bulk heads and many other components on the car. So it was decided to do the car properly but keep the original paint with original sign writing still showing the brush strokes of the artist brush and re- connollise the interior where Colin Chapman and Nigel Mansell would have once sat. Remember this car has only covered 6500 miles so it needed to be saved and kept original as possible as it can only be original once.
Engine and gearbox were removed and rebuilt. Carbs rebuilt. New stainless steel fuel tank , new bulkheads, lights , wiring was fixed as this was cut about at the factory (Lotus just had to get things done), new alternator, tyres, windscreen, carpets, brakes , disc etc etc etc.
Having got this far it is now time for a change of direction in my Lotus journey. Still lucky enough to own some Lotus cars but my interest now has changed from road cars to race cars. Having started racing a Lotus 18 a couple of seasons ago, this is where my interest and my funds lie. I love the road cars but racing has truly taken over and I have another race car to restore. There is only so much money to go round and that is where my priority is. That brings along to why this car is for sale and the truth about the car. With the car being arguably one of the most important Esprits built hopefully this write up will put straight a lot of the comments I have read on the internet.
Supplied with the car are:
Photos of Extraction from Lotus
Certificate of Provence and Letter from Lotus
V5 Log Book showing Lotus as the previous owner plus me
Emails from the engineers who saved it confirming the story and history
Marketing building sheet from factory
Numerous different press articles
Car Magazine article
Video available of on YouTube when the car was on Top Gear with John Miles (ex F1 Lotus).
The car is available to view for sale in Norwich and I would welcome part exchanges.
Any questions then please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart on the details below
Thanks for looking.
I have had some problems receiving calls from the Car & Classic number. If you cant get hold of me on the phone , please email me and I will call you back.
