Restomods have their place in the world, but most of them don’t excite me. Striving to differentiate the new car from the old one, small tuner shops and manufacturers often do too much when it comes to modification and modernization.
The results are usually restomods that stray too far from the original car’s design, and end up looking goofy or worse. These cars also almost always cost way more than a lot of new supercars, making them appealing only to a very small sect of rich people.
While this latest Lotus Esprit restomod will cost an arm and a leg, I have to admit I really like it. Instead of going over the top with a widebody kit and extra aero, Encor, the firm responsible for the car, uses a far simpler, cleaner design inspired by the 1975 Series 1 Esprit.
This Is How All Restomods Should Be
I think restomods should aim to be as subtle as possible. All modern underneath, but generally comparable to the original car. From a distance, I shouldn’t be able to tell whether the car I’m seeing is a restomod or not. And I think Encor nailed it here.
The only significant changes are to the lighting and the wheels. In place of turn signal lights embedded in the front bumper, there’s now a thin strip of daylight running lights. The pop-up headlights have been retained, fortunately, though the lights themselves are far smaller than the originals. The taillight area, meanwhile, has also been rewored to include a thinner set of blocker light pods.
The wheels are the biggest differentiator here. Instead of using the original S1 wheels for inspiration, the five-spoke wheels were inspired by the five-spokes found on the Esprit Sport 350, a rare, more hardcore version of the Esprit V8.
It’s Not Actually an S1 Esprit
Encor very creatively calls this restomod the Esprit Series 1, and while it might look like a Series 1 Esprit, its bones come from the opposite end of the Esprit family tree. The carbon fiber body panels hide a Series 4 Esprit from the 1990s, complete with that car’s 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8 engine.
Being a restomod, every inch of the powertrain’s been thoroughly gone through and upgraded. Encor says it’s added forged pistons, better injectors, and rebuilt turbochargers. The throttle body has been converted to an electronic unit, while the fueling and cooling systems have been replaced with more modern, higher-performing equivalents.
The result is an extra 50 horsepower, for a nice, even 400 horses in total. Torque is up about the same, from 295 pound-feet to 350. Encor says the Series 1 can sprint to 62 mph in four seconds, on to a top speed “close to” 175 mph, in case you care about performance numbers like that. I personally don’t, but more power and modernity are always nice when dealing with vintage sports cars.
What I’m really happy about are the changes Encor’s made to the transmission. The Renault-sourced five-speed is famous for its ability to fail, even at stock power levels. Chief engineer Will Ives told Autocar the firm wanted to replace the gearbox altogether, but the car’s packaging made that difficult. The press release mentions a stronger input shaft and revised ratios, but it goes deeper than that:
Ives said “it was always considered a limitation of the [original] car, but it’s pretty much impossible to package anything else within the space”, so the team had to find a way to “effectively recreate a new transmission out of the casings of the old”.
Keeping “just a few” pieces of the gearbox’s internals, the team created effectively a new unit. They also added a limited-slip differential to improve the drivetrain’s strength.
“We’re addressing that weakness and that enables us to then take the engine up to a slightly higher output, because we’re no longer limited by the original gearbox,” said Ives (pictured belowm, centre right).
A bunch of other stuff has been upgraded, too. The Series 1 gets the suspension from the Sport 350. The new brakes, meanwhile, come from AP Racing. Thankfully, the power steering has not been converted to electric assistance; Encor is keeping it hydraulically assisted to preserve the car’s “driver-focused character.”
Okay, Maybe I’m Not Completely Sold
I think I can forgive Encor for the wheels, but I don’t think I could live with this interior. While it retains the same general shape as the original Esprit’s cabin, it’s decidedly modern, with a carbon fiber center console and two big screens: one for the gauge cluster and another for the infotainment system.
The inside doesn’t look like a bad place to spend time. I greatly enjoy a plaid-trimmed cabin and the two-spoke wheel, after all. But if I’m paying £430,000 (around $574,000) plus the cost of a donor car, I feel like some nice, classy analog gauges and trim would probably be more appropriate here.
Encor is planning to build 50 of these Series 1 restomods, which feels like the right amount. There can’t be that many more people in the world who would want a car like this and have that kind of money to blow … right?
Top graphic image: Encor
I like it, but not as much as I’d like an Esprit GT3, and that would cost £430k less.
And the GT3 fixes the fragile gearbox issue by just having a 2.0 turbo four.
Are they going to make a resto-mod classic Europa next using the 2006 Europa as a donor?
No love here! They did way too much to the exterior. If you hadn’t told me, I’d never know this was a Lotus, let alone an Esprit. It’s chunky instead of sleek, and looks like they imported design cues from the latest Dodge Challenger.
Eesh. I understand that they must feel they have to do something to the exterior to justify whatever price. But the black panal in the nose is both pointless and ugly, and the black panel at the rear needs to have at least half its area replaced by taillights similar to the originals.
If you can’t improve something, don’t try.
I like the idea, the wheel choice is not great. The look aftermarket on the car – and not in a good way. The fit just isn’t right.
They are also Japanese tuner wheels so the styling doesn’t work either. I bet it would look better with mesh wheels or maybe some deep dish five spoke wheels.
The tail light situation is very Dodge, but it’s even worse that they look nothing like the original lights.
Personally, I’d prefer a later Esprit in stock condition to this car.
Why the big wheels and tires? This is surly the auto equivalent of lip fillers
With cheap ass-fillers out back
Industrial silicone injected in a hotel room in south florida.
So derpy though
Yeah, no, those rims look totally wrong.
Yeah no screens thanks, that’s the main benefit of not having a modern car, haha.
I don’t want to sound harsh, but I like the seats and everything about the exterior between the wheel wells. The wheels are a nice design, but way too large for the car. The lighting upgrades just don’t fit the styling of the car. I want to like it, but it doesn’t look better than the S4 they made it out of, so I guess it really isn’t for me.
I don’t have any attachment to the original. I’m not old enough. I think this looks pretty cool.
But, we need someone like Ineos to make a bunch of these in a lower spec so that us plebs might get to drive something like this someday. Heck, a new Corolla 1.6L turbo would be good for 300 hp and 295 ft-lbs.
Maybe Rivian could make a bunch of battery powered ones.
I wonder if this body would fit on a Fiero frame?
Also will be stealing some of that interior design for my restomod Fiero!
“There can’t be that many more people in the world who would want a car like this and have that kind of money for blow … right?”
FIFY
everything from the buttress/c-pillar back just loses me. Too thick, too wide, too heavy, too modern. Would never trick me. S1 Esprit was lithe and looked fragile. This at least needs a black bumper “pad” across it.
I could get behind some modern electronic instruments, maybe even including screen-based elements behind traditional panels. But giant flat tablet slabs? No, hard pass. That’s just (pun incoming…) phoned-in.
“What I’m really happy about are the changes Encor’s made to the transmission. The Renault-sourced five-speed is famous for its ability to fail, even at stock power levels. “
That was the first thing I thought. I recall when the V8 Esprit came out, I recall reading that the engine itself was capable of way more power, but the gearbox couldn’t handle it.
“They also added a limited-slip differential to improve the drivetrain’s strength.”
I don’t see how a limited slip improves drivetrain strength.
Now aside from that, this all looks good. The rear reminds me of the Dodge Challenger somewhat. I don’t mind it but I think the original rear looks slightly better.
Not the only Lotus with a glass gearbox. The original unit in the Elite/Eclat couldn’t cope with the stock power either.
If anything the increased traction from a LSD loads the gearbox up even more.
Why did they use TE37 knockoffs that belong on a Japanese car?
Why did they CTRL+C / CTRL+V the taillights from a Challenger (as others already have mentioned).
The Esprit was a pretty bland car to start with, but this is just bland plus LED lighting and digital screens. Pass.
As much as I love Giugiaro’s work, I think the Esprit is a rare car that got better looking as it went on. The Peter Stevens facelift made the car look far more interesting and like a real car instead of a kit car designed with straight edges. IMO, wedges are tough to get right as they require a bit of curvature and detail finesse to make them interesting and I think most of them left me feeling cold. Gandini was about the only one I really think got it. Except for an improvement to the gearbox (of what I find questionable certainty), this is a huge step backwards. Interior is terrible. Never got the love for plaid, but CF and digital displays really suck no matter how well they’ve incorporated them.
So they backdated the car from the V8 look to the original ’70s look, then re-updated it with a non-color, ugly minimalist LED lighting, and modern low-profile wheels that look like they were stolen from a NISMO R34 Z-Tune. At least when Singer backdates a 964 they use Fuchs-style wheels or 8-spokes, making the car look like the one it’s trying to emulate. This just looks like a 60-something in a flat-brim cap, “SpaceX” tee, and cargo pants. Kind of sad.
I don’t mind modifying old or exotic cars, but make an effort not to make it look like an iPhone.
I am anxious to see how those big rear wheels tuck up into the body when it goes into submarine mode.
Yeah, I was looking for the snorkel and rocket launchers too….
…but that gear knob looks like something best handled by a clever hooker off Sunset Boulevard.
I’m not touching that with a 10-foot shifter rod.
Or a Hitachi Magic Wand?
(which it resembles)
I’ve lusted after an Esprit since 1977. Drove a couple, briefly. So it’s been a lifetime obsession for me.
Even though I’ve never owned one I still consider myself qualified to say this looks like ass. And you tore up a perfectly good Esprit V8 to do it. And you could buy a real S1 and have it concours restored for less than what you’d spend on whatever this is.
Stop this madness. It’s not like there’s tens of thousands of originals out there.
For all that effort, they could’ve just cloned the original Esprit body panels and made a tube frame with a Toyota engine/transaxle to hang them on.
Oh, and a spot to weld a VIN plate from a wrecked Esprit onto.
Looks like shit. The Esprit was sold so long that it was facelifted twice, and the second facelift ones already looked like a pretty modern interpretation of a 1970s car; and it kinda pisses me off that they hacked up one of those to make something that looks worse.
The updated rear end looks remarkably like a 2008 Dodge Challenger. I like that car and that tail end just fine, but they don’t belong as a reference point for a vintage Lotus.
I love the use of that plaid on the interior though. Seats and door panels are gorgeous.
That back end screams late model Dodge Challenger to me
A kid on my pee wee baseball team would get driven to practice in his dad’s Lotus Esprit. They were both insufferable and nobody liked them.
I’m confused by the choice to keep the chassis and “upgrade” the transmission, which they still don’t seem very confident about. Seems to me like if I’m already paying $600k I’d rather pay a few $$$ extra for a new custom chassis and a truly modern transmission that would confidently hold 400hp.
Especially because period tests were legitimately impressed with what Lotus had been able to do to modernize what was essentially an enlarged Lotus Europa chassis from the mid 1960s when Peter Stevens redesigned the body in 1987; but when Julian Thomson gave it an even prettier facelift 7 years later underneath the bodywork it was pretty pointedly (despite Lotus’ best efforts) considered dated to drive compared to stuff like the NSX and F355 or the 996 or the C5 even if it was a fair bit faster than them.
The gearbox is the infamous weak link that basically mostly undermined all the work Lotus did to design the V8, but I’m sure you could have solved that just by dropping a 911 transaxle in it.
I was also thinking that for so much money they could source a manual that can both fit in the space and take the power of the V8.