Central Valley Classic Cars

Its an interesting time as more and more cars age on into the classic status. We’re becoming faced with what to do with certain cars whose styles haven’t held up to the test of time quite as well as others.

True beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I’m sure there are people out there who think a DeLorean is a quite the looker. I am not one of them. I love hot rods, I love pre-war cars of all kinds, I love cars from the 40’s 50’s and 60’s. Even some 70’s cars I have described as stylish or otherwise good looking. But deep in the 70’s and into the 80’s something went terribly wrong (at least for my tastes). Maybe all that LSD and free love had the bulk of its negative effects on car design (well music didn’t make it through unscathed either). But none the less, these cars are passing the 25 year mark in their age and that is the beginning of the process of classic-fication.

A while back you may remember that I was looking for a new “fun” car that would be a blast to drive, mid-engined preferably and not so good looking (anywhere from just not an absolutely perfect paint job to ugly) that I wouldn’t worry about keeping it in pristine shape, and could just have fun with. Take a glance at the photo gallery and I think you’ll see that I found exactly what I was looking for.

While I’m sure a Boxster is a better all around car, the 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo you see here is cheaper, at least as fast, but more importantly, much more of a blast to drive.

Well let me qualify that statement. I don’t get to do a lot of highspeed, long distance freeway cruising anymore. I drive twice a week around small curvy roads which may or may not be traffic laden. What I decided I wanted then was a car that felt like you were blasting down the road even when you were doing 45mph. And let me tell you, I found one that feels like its going to explode when you’re doing 30. Boxsters are far too well engineered to act like that.

Sure the car will probably break down about every thousand miles (if I’m lucky) but what’s a toy car if you don’t get to work on it?

The answer to that question is fun, but lets forget about that for a moment.

For about the price of the cheapest new car you can buy on the market today, I picked up this silver Lotus and I have loved every moment of driving it. I was worried that the dated looking style would bother me (I think Peter Stevens did a much better job in his work on the later Esprits), that I wouldn’t want to be thought of as the gold medallion man (a phrase used inside Lotus itself) that drives the old Lotus. And the Esprit doesn’t have a rich racing history, and though Lotus does, I hardly see how their formula one success translates to this backbone-frame car.

But I don’t care. Two seconds behind the wheel and none of that matters. I’m too busy trying to massage my face from the pain of smiling too much.

The engine, its turbo whine and waste gate belching all happen right behind your head which at any speed is a satisfying bit of sensory input. And then there’s the steering and handling. With no power steering in sight, the feel for the road is more than you get in most cars and wiggling the wheel telegraphs to your hands that the car isn’t like a go-kart, it is a go-kart and is at least as responsive.

Then there’s the actual handling. While its amazingly composed on a mountain road, what I wanted was something that would be fun anywhere and this is. You can take 90 degree turns (which there are plenty of in any city) at several times the proper speed and the car doesn’t seem to care. It just does it. No lean, no understeer, no commotion of any kind. And the feel it gives is uncanny. Its like the moment before the tale breaks loose in any other car, but in this, no fishtailing, just this feeling of nothing keeping you from changing direction at any rate you’re brave enough to try.

So I have my new perfect toy. Well I did. Thing is the economy collapsed and we had some financial scares so I decided I better sell the car and wait for sunnier days to buy a mid engined British sports car. And unfortunately, the car is already sold.

I only had it a few weeks. But in that time its made a huge impression on my wife and I. She even likes its looks (no comment) but we both agree it is tremendous fun and we will get another one. . . someday.

In the mean time I should probably do some more growing up and saving money. But if you want to get a better idea of life with a Lotus check out this video we made before it went to its new owner:

Lotus Saturday Video

Oh and for the record: I’ve owned a Lotus that never broke down (while I owned it).