Sold 1979 Lotus Esprit JPS, 16k original miles, designed by Giugiaro

A question to those who'd know.

This car is presently registered in a state outside of California. Is the model year 1979 Lotus Esprit easily registered in California when it comes to smog? Is it considered a US car or a Grey market car?

 

It’s a US car though I believe they had a special California compliant model. Do you know to what state it was originally delivered?

 

No history ...
No records ...
And that is why I asked. Back then, cars were not 50-states so taking a 49 state car into california may have consequences.

 

Heritage certificate says East Coast. I believe the ViN would also denote California designated car. There are several registries you can check including a JPS registry. From what I see I don’t believe this was CA delivered.

 

I had the same model year, built in 11/78. It was California Spec: Air pump and I think Rochester Carburetors (not sure on the carbs). It couldn’t get out of its own way, but the speed limit was 55, so it didn’t matter a whole lot.

In true Lotus fashion, a few years later, I bought a 1978 model year Lotus. I was Lotus America’s demo car. It was built in 1/79, VIN 780123S. (I’m very suspicious of the 0123 – Under US law, one can only build a model year car for twelve months. Unless they started building '78s in February '78, it was illegally built. Not that such things ever bothered Colin ;-) )

I still have it.

No Cats. Cats were not required in 1978; they were in 1979. Twin Dellortos. Amazingly, it passed Georgia emissions. In Georgia, at least, cars more than twenty-five years old are not emission tested.

 

And that is

This car is 79, and has Twin Dellortos carbs. And in California, it would have to pass Sniff test and visual test.

 

So it is not stock. Air pump gone also? Sounds like you won’t be able to get it registered there. I may have the manual for that car here. If I do, I can scan it for you.

 

yes, Zenith-Stromberg carbs. Air pump? Or am I misremembering?

 

That’s great info. I knew there was a separate VIN designation for the California cars, I just couldn’t remember exactly what it was, though there are plenty of places to find it. Hopefully this helps a lucky buyer. This is definitely one of the best out there - if I was in the market I wouldnt hesitate to take this one down.

 

Wasn't actually burgundy - it was Copper Fire Metallic (more of a burnt orange color) and that one didn't blow up - they blew up the white one, which was rebuilt as the Copper one. I know - because I bought one of the same year and am building a semi tribute car to that one now - will look similar but I am not trying to replicate it.

 

My Dad had an Esprit for a while.. 78 model year bought in 80. it was yellow, which was an ok color but showed the dirt a lot, and attracted bugs all the time. It was probably the least reliable car I've seen... he finally sold it in 83, after it stranded him in the pouring rain, coming back from Youngstown Oh, the guy who towed the car ripped part of the back bumper and scraped the spoiler in the front so bad we had to find a new one... Not a happy camper. the throttle cable literally came apart between the rear bulkhead and the engine ... he fixed it - and then traded in on a 930, which I wish he would have kept.

 

Was a gent in my town, and in my neighborhood when I was a kid, that had a JPS Europa. That was INCREDIBLY cool. A JPS Esprit? Oh, that's more than a bit more amazing.

Hope you best for your sale!

 

USGP 1972 JPS Lotus. Best of luck with the sale.
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The site I'm looking at confirms it's a California car, although it was originally #005 re-badged to #007 - seems there's another #007 out there, which is a Federal car, not California. But your VIN does check out as a California car.

 

Hi Jamie,

this page linked from the http://jpsesprit.com/ site says it was re-badged, and that VIN #0148S was also #007: http://www.v8vantage.com/jpsesprit/JPS%20Build.htm

Of course, it is the internet so take it with a grain of salt - interesting to see your documentation from Lotus though!

 

Perhaps Lotus officially re-badged it, not the owner or dealer per se, hence their records consider it to be #007?

 

It is indeed strange - I think Mario's car was re-badged #001, not #100, but perhaps that was the cause - they wanted him to have #001, and thus started shuffling badging numbers around to make it happen.

And perhaps customers could request a number they wanted, hence #026 was re-badged #100 per a customer request.