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BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim New Reader
8/28/09 1:37 a.m.

... and the wife approves, too

It's a very early (first year) Lotus Elise, pretty much standard apart from a sports exhaust. One of the first 50 productions ones - the first production one was #17 IIRC and this one is #53.

Something with only 118bhp isn't supposed to be this quick, I've already realised why I always had problems keeping up with them in my various Miatas on trackdays...

Hasbro
Hasbro HalfDork
8/28/09 1:42 a.m.

Sweet. I prefer the earlier looks. Softer angles. Not street legal in the US.

ValuePack
ValuePack HalfDork
8/28/09 1:42 a.m.

I smell a canoe. Gorgeous car, though.

EvanB
EvanB Reader
8/28/09 1:45 a.m.

That is one busy canoe salesman with 12 posts.

I love the Elise as well. With that and a 911 you are getting close to my dream garage.

RedS13Coupe
RedS13Coupe Reader
8/28/09 2:53 a.m.

Damn. That car is a sex machine....

Kinda like those NYC Asian escorts...

Love the color, congrats on the purchase. How many mile on it?

Jay
Jay Dork
8/28/09 5:00 a.m.

Nice find! I like the early front end treatment better too - took a lot of cues from the a Europa.

J

aussiesmg
aussiesmg Dork
8/28/09 5:06 a.m.

The right color also

ddavidv
ddavidv SuperDork
8/28/09 5:48 a.m.

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
8/28/09 6:22 a.m.

I want to touch myself now.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
8/28/09 6:29 a.m.
Hasbro wrote: Sweet. I prefer the earlier looks. Softer angles. Not street legal in the US.

Hence the euro tags and the Ashford, Kent, England I guess.

mad_machine
mad_machine SuperDork
8/28/09 6:37 a.m.

I need things like that to follow me home.

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim New Reader
8/28/09 7:37 a.m.
John Brown wrote:
Hasbro wrote: Sweet. I prefer the earlier looks. Softer angles. Not street legal in the US.
Hence the euro tags and the Ashford, Kent, England I guess.

Yup. I figured I'll treat myself for a few months before moving - my wife's a US citizen and it looks like there's a move in the offing sometime next year. Got to get the paperwork through for me first, though.

Mind you, if she continues to like it I might be able to sneak an Elise S2 past her once we settled down .

As to the mileage, it's got 79k on it, has had a bunch of obsessive owners by the looks of it so it's got most of the right modifications on it already.

Problem with having things like that following you home is that you need to tempt them with cash so they don't stop following.

Rusty_Rabbit84
Rusty_Rabbit84 Dork
8/28/09 8:03 a.m.

ive always wanted to drive one of the early Elises, would make my life complete...

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim New Reader
8/28/09 8:10 a.m.

Think Mk1 MR2 with all knobs turned up to 11 and you're pretty close.

Luke
Luke Dork
8/28/09 8:15 a.m.

Awesome. Is that the perfect car? I think it might be.

And it's a Rover K-series, yeah? Did any of the early shape Elises get Toyota engines?

Carrera4
Carrera4 Reader
8/28/09 8:16 a.m.

There is a guy here in Manchester, NH with a 2000 that only has like 800 miles . . .

800 mile Elise

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim New Reader
8/28/09 8:22 a.m.
Luke wrote: Awesome. Is that the perfect car? I think it might be. And it's a Rover K-series, yeah?

It is. On its third head gasket...

Luke wrote: Did any of the early shape Elises get Toyota engines?

No, they introduced the Toyota engines a little while into the S2 production run. There are a couple of popular engine swaps into these here, mostly the Audi 1.8T turbo lump and the K20 Civic Type-R complete with 6 speed. The chassis can handle a lot more power than the 118bhp this has but I'm not sure if the driver can

Autolex
Autolex Reader
8/28/09 8:36 a.m.

That's a gorgeous car!

mistanfo
mistanfo Dork
8/28/09 8:43 a.m.
DrBoost wrote: I want to touch myself now.

Forget want, I'm just hoping that the web cam built into the Mac cannot be turned on remotely...

jikelly
jikelly Reader
8/28/09 9:28 a.m.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

That's a really good looking car you found and the wife approves. You are a lucky man.

Tim Baxter
Tim Baxter Online Editor
8/28/09 9:45 a.m.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/1813/

alex
alex HalfDork
8/28/09 2:02 p.m.

Lovely Elise. BRG looks especially good on the early ones. Not sure the S2's more aggressive look jives with a classic color like that.

My girlfriend's actually after one of these. I keep tempting her with the price drop, and she gets a little weak in the knees when she hears how cheap they're getting. I'm thinking they might be under $20k over the winter.

Maybe this is the year she succumbs. Fingers crossed.

Woody
Woody SuperDork
8/28/09 7:04 p.m.
alex wrote: Lovely Elise. BRG looks especially good on the early ones. Not sure the S2's more aggressive look jives with a classic color like that.

I looked at a 2005 that was BRG with Oxblood leather interior. Combined with the aluminum floor, it may have been the nicest color combo I've ever seen.

alex wrote: I'm thinking they might be under $20k over the winter.

And: ..........Shhhhhhhhh!.......

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
8/28/09 7:18 p.m.

I want

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
8/28/09 10:10 p.m.

It makes me happy in my pants. Nice car!

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