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Alan Hammond's 1981
Alan Hammond from Ipswich, UK owns a 1981 S3 in Yellow, with a Black interior
Model:
Year: Colour: Interior: Driving Style: Miles per year: Owned Since: Purchase from: Serviced at: Other Cars: Previous Lotus': Why an Esprit:
plus very close to my De Lorean in design...Upgrades: Problems: Info: will be daily driver.....
Just for anyone interested i bought an S3 esprit in march 08 it has done 64,000 miles 1981, price was £1100... the interior seats were taken back to the Lotus factory for leather re-trim... the reg plate is BIG7 007 and next year it will get a white respray.. no slip of the finger it was £1100.. so cheap that I sold my other red esprit S3 for £6000...
It was a case of being there at the right place/right time... I know what you mean by expensive project cars... went to north London one time to look at a red S3.... it was £6000... I have never seen anything like it.. the brake discs were like the surface of the moon ... the engine had the largest oil leak i have ever seen and the cooling system was leaking too, the oil filler cap was covered in what was like black tar... which was also in the rocker covers ....the guy asked did i want to hear it run... i said don`t bother... i`d seen enough ...the interior was black velour.... well what was left of it .. (he told me it was black leather). i asked what he would go down to.. and said that i was a real project vehicle.. the answer was "its £6000 mate, and it`s worth every penny, i could keep it 5 years on and it would still be worth that mate "
"goodbye" I replied.. .
the £1100 Esprit I got is 1000 times better than that one.. i know that you must be very careful when getting a car that cheap but my bonus was that the owner had no interest in the Esprit at all.. he had no idea how much it was worth.. I found the bill of sale 12 years ago he paid £5700 for it ( oh dear)
it`s a yellow S3 N/A 1981, it had sat in a barn for 10 years... the guy who owned it had no interest in it at all .. (i found it by chance when I was doing a parts delivery one day). .
The Esprit had a complete interior but in need of a good clean (the seat was torn on the drivers side). The paint and gel coat on the body is crack free. the paintwork is yellow but for that money it could have been pink for all i care.. .........
Things that were not as good.......
the engine turned over but didn`t run .......(carbs needed rebuild gaskets etc.. it now runs . mice had taken charge of the interior but hadn`t touched the trim or wiring... lucky... very lucky.. one mouse had died in the centre chassis and stunk the thing out....every access panel taken off the car was jammed packed with leaves, nuts, mouse poo you name it...it was there!!The right angle speedo drive was missing.................... not an easy bit to find. The fuel pump had had it`s day..more fuel coming out of it than running through it..lol
since I took charge of this bargain.. the whole interior has been removed/cleaned and refitted.. the seats were sent back to Lotus.. for leather re-trim 27 years on..seats were £700 odd the pair if anyone was interested (the cars total now stands at £2300)
new tyres were fitted all round, the brake callipers were sent off to be re-ferbed... new anti roll bar bushes, suspension bushes, engine mounting bushes, new exhaust gaskets fitted and studs, new rocker cover gaskets fitted, timing belt changed (very important!!), new alternator belt fitted, BIG7 007 number plate bought for it (£849).... and the project continues.....
The rest of the interior is original, just removed, de-miced and cleaned with 1001 carpet cleaner( great stuff).
the car had new discs pads, clutch master cylinder/slave, stainless steel exhaust system,new steering rack, turbo BBS alloy wheels, new door handles, spark plugs and leads were new, some new cooling pipes, new S3 momo steering wheel, tool kit, spare wheel and a load of other bits and bobs..oh and the clutch was not seized.....
I got the Shocks from Paul matty sports cars.....they are made to order from a company called Pro Tech.. they were £130 the pair I think....Really nice shocks and a lot better than the original ones as you can see.
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