Kickstart your fever dreams. Buy this 1983 Lotus Esprit rolling chassis that comes complete with an engine and transmission. You just need to supply… well, you need to supply a lot here. But the current bid of $560 means you may snag this setup for a song.
Reader P161911 sent this glory rider in to our tips line (Tips@Hooniverse.com), and we’re smitten. In fact, this could be the building block for an outrageous LeMons build. Sure, it sounds cheater at first but realize how much work would be required to pull it all off. Factor in the weight of a modern roll cage paired with an aged Lotus engine that was good for maybe 210 horsepower when new, and we think we could get this one past the judges.
But what sort of theme works best here?
Perhaps an oversized vintage Lotus racing theme should be called into play. If you have someone decent enough at bending body panels, then they could construct an oversized Lotus 77. Paint it black and gold, and call it the John Lamm Special livery.
What would you do?
Really the world is your oyster here. This is the type of platform that can allow for some truly wild thoughts. The Type 910 engine looks like it’s pretty much all there, even if it hasn’t been run in at least five years. The seller does say that last time it did run, it ran well. So there’s that.
This chassis has been in storage for more than a decade. The seller says that the plan was to build a custom sports car on its bones. That never happened, and now the chassis is for sale. There’s no title and California doesn’t have a record of the VIN in its system. Hence why this is probably best served as a LeMons machine… or some other manner of non-street-legal use.
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