Saleofcar.com :Lotus

Lotus Esprit (1977)
for sale

Price: US $15,000.00

Description:

I have owned this 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 for approximately 2 years now and originally purchased the car as a driving project. Being said, I now have two children so time is at a premium, my other cars are more interesting to me at this point and I’m ready to move on to something else.
During my ownership I have actually done very little to the car and driven it less than 150 miles over the past two years. The timing belt appears to be in pretty good condition though I do not have any documentation as to when it was last changed. I have little information available on the car as no service records were available when I purchased the vehicle. I have attached a link to this ad that details the work done on this car as it was brought to the condition it is in from being a complete basket case:
here
Pictures of the work they completed:
here
From what I can tell the car was a California car that was found in an EXTREMELY poor state of repair and an amateur restoration attempted. Being said, its current condition should not be confused with a restored car.
BODY
While the paint on the car looks decent from a distance, upon closer inspection there are significant waves in the paint. I have tried to have the car wet sanded and buffed. While this did help somewhat I would recommend having the car sanded and repainted. Apparently, the car is a rare color and one of only a handful brought into the U.S. in “Regency Red”.
INTERIOR
The interior of the car is really not too bad compared to what I have seen on other Series 1 cars. Being said, some of the adhesive used on the panels has a tendency to come “unstuck” in hot weather. It shouldn’t be hard to take these panels off and use a good adhesive to solve that problem. The Instrument Binnacle front plate has been painted over. The battery voltmeter just started not working but that is a recent development. A new one from SJ Sportcars ( here would run about 99.00 pounds and really help the presentation of the car. The interior rear view mirror is not attached and in poor condition but is included with the sale of the car. There is no radio as the previous owner but a radio faceplate over the opening. The choke cable has been removed or covered up. The car does start without it if you give a little gas but it really should be replaced. Fit and finish is not great but from what I understand they weren’t that way from the factory.
MECHANICAL
As I mentioned the car does run and drive okay. Once the car gets to 5, 000 rpm it starts to have some “hesitation” and could probably benefit from a tune and service. The timing belt does appear in decent condition but I would recommend the next owner consider replacing it since there is no documentation indicating when it was done last. The car shifts well and doesn’t slip but there is a bushing missing for the linkage and so gear shift travel is too long and somewhat vague. The driver side rear shock and/or coil will need to be replaced. The muffler has a leak and I would consider replacing that as well.
The value of the Series 1 Esprits are on the move due to low production numbers and with this one being a rare color it should prove to be a decent investment over time. This would either make someone a great project car to drive around while they were in the process of restoring it or take care of the mechanical bits and just enjoy the car without worrying about the paint.
I have tried my best to accurately represent the car but please bear in mind that this is an antique vehicle. I encourage interested parties to view the car in person and thank you for your consideration.

_{update: 2016-07-21}