Lotus Esprit Turbo 1988 - World Of Classic Cars -

Lotus Esprit Turbo 1988

The Lotus Esprit built between 1976 and 2004 was unveiled in 1972 as a concept car and was a development of a stretched Lotus Europa chassis. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal 'folded paper' designs. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed but, in keeping with the Lotus tradition of having all car model names start with the letter 'E', the name became Esprit.
Introduced in April 1981, the Turbo Esprit and Series III Esprits marked a necessary consolidation; both new models had a common chassis, inheriting much of the configuration of the Essex cars whilst body production was based on a single common set of moulds. The SIII continued to use the 2.2 litre, type 912 engine, whilst the Turbo Esprit reverted to a less complex wet-sump lubrication system, retaining the power and torque outputs of its dry-sump predecessor. The interior for both cars was revised and featured new trim; combined with changes to the body moulds this resulted in more headroom and an enlarged footwell. Externally, the Turbo Esprit retained the full aerodynamic body kit of the Essex cars and featured prominent 'Turbo Esprit' decals on the nose and sides.