By 1970, Lotus had won four Formula 1 manufacturer’s championships, a testament to how effective the company’s motorsport philosophy was. Although it was winning at the highest level in motorsport, its road cars were somewhat behind those of its on-track competitors such as Ferrari. Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, felt that their road cars should reflect the company’s racing success, and thus began the development of a series of three new Lotus road cars.
All three were powered by the first ever fully Lotus-designed engine, the type 907, a 16-valve twin-cam inline-4 displacing 2.0 liters. It was among the first 4-valve per cylinder road car engines and was a fitting centerpiece for the new cars. The flagship was the mid-engined car, which replaced the Europa and was called the Esprit. To give it mainstream appeal, Lotus understood that it needed world-class design, and to that end, they approached Giorgietto Giugiaro’s firm Italdesign in 1971. Within a year, Italdesign produced a concept car that ended up being surprisingly close to the production Esprit, bringing all of the striking 1970s wedginess that defined the era and led to the Esprit becoming an icon.
The car entered production in 1976 in its initial Series 1 form, with the Series 2 following a couple years later. Substantially unchanged mechanically, the car was modernized aesthetically and also offered more airflow to both the engine and rear hatch area to reduce condensation. A 2.2 liter evolution of hte engine followed in 1980, and shortly thereafter, the first ever turbocharged Esprit arrived.
Lotus engineers benchmarked other contemporary turbocharged cars including the Porsche 930, Saab 99, and BMW 2002, and came away firmly convinced that their system should try to minimize the massive turbo lag all three of those cars shared. To that end, they worked to minimize the volume of the intake and exhaust tracts between the turbocharger and the engine. This would reduce amount of air that needed to be accelerated in order for the turbocharger to respond and thus reduce lag. Thus, the runs between the turbocharger and cylinder head were shortened as much as possible, and relatively light boost pressure was used and the resulting system offered what was at the time unparalleled responsiveness. Nevertheless, the power was increased substantially by 50hp to 210hp, enough to give the car a 150mph top speed. Naturally, the brakes were upgraded as well.
The remainder of the car was substantially upgraded as well. The front of the chassis was redesigned to accomodate a dedicated Lotus designed front suspension rather than the previous arrangement which was borrowed from the Opel Ascona. At the rear, the driveshafts had previously acted as upper links for the rear suspension, but the Turbo chassis instead added a dedicated suspension link here which was stronger and also ensured that the movement of the engine and transaxle on their mounts did not alter the car’s suspension geometry. The upgraded chassis reportedly offered a 50% improvement in torsional rigidity.
Outside the car, Giugiaro designed a body update which included a new front and rear valences, side skirts, louvered rear hatch cover, a rear spoiler, and larger basketweave wheels, giving the turbocharged Esprit a thoroughly 1980s aesthetic. For 1983, the Esprit returned to the critical US market, just in time for the burgeoning exotic car craze.
This is the third of 9 1983 US Turbo Esprits finished in black with gold trim, according to the included Certificate of Vehicle Provenance from Lotus. The car’s current owner bought it in 2014 from a long-term keeper who had owned it since the mid 1980s. When he bought it, the gearbox was out of the car and the paint was showing age, so he set about refurbishing the car. He sent the gearbox to the Dutch Citroen SM transmission specialist HML (both the Esprit and Maserati Merak use an SM gearbox), who rebuilt the unit. The body was also repainted and the exterior trim replaced, including the rubber waistline trim, rubber bumpers, and badges. Various suspension parts were also repalced including dampers, spring seats, rubber bushes. The brake discs, soft rubber brake lines, and slave cylinder were also replaced.
