My Lotus Esprit S4 Blog - Forward

Ever since 1977 when I watched 007 drove a beautiful sports car under water and turned into a submarine as a little elementary school boy who just starting to get interested in cars and mechanical things, I have a big crush on the Lotus Esprit. The love was reconfirmed 4 years later when Bond drove the Turbo Esprit. Even today, I still think it is the most handsome automobile in the world. Not any Ferrari or Lamborghini or Corvette, but Lotus Esprit. I majored in Engineering in college, and I love the efficiency (smaller engine, lighter weight, lower cost) the Esprit presented compared to the other Super Cars. I went into the Library to look for all articles about the Esprit and made copies on most of them (which I still have some of them). One of my graduation gifts I requested was a poster of the Turbo Esprit (which is still hanging in my home office). One of the first gifts I asked my mother-in-Law to give me was a Lotus Esprit, a plastic model of it. I always dream of one day I will have a real one in my garage one day.

However, the reality of life set in after college and all my car purchase were 4 doors sedans and minivans. I live with my wife, parents, mother-in-law, and a young daughter (very Asian like) and these cars were very practical and even necessary. I still enjoys fine automobiles, my current other cars are 2006 BMW 525i and 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan. On the rare occasions when I saw an Esprit on the road, I always wanted to get closer to have a better look, wishing I am inside driving one. On all the driving sims games I always picked the Esprit if it is available, dreaming how it actually handles on the real road.

Dream no more. 33 years later, I am finally a proud owner of a Lotus Esprit S4. To celebrate this ownership, I am trying to document my Esprit experience on the internet to share it with all the people who own, owned, or want to own a Lotus Esprit (in another words, Esprit nuts like me). My angle will be very different from many others as I am not good with automobile mechanic at all. I changed my own oil once and made a big mess, burned my arm, and never tried to do it myself again. I am working as a sales person in international trade these days. I will try to present it as an everyday Joe point of view for the experience.

Since I actually bought the car in May 24, 2010, I will have to do some back tracking on the posts. I will try to present it in chronological orders and release them as it is written. Hopefully, it will catch up to the present day soon.

Now sit tight and enjoy the ride with me.
Howard J Chen
Rialto, Southern California, USA

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