OV9

I feel like this about most restomods. Just do the mechanical stuff. New but discreet infotainment would be nice. LED bulbs inside the headlights and don’t fecking touch it any more. If you really need to improve high speed performance then flat floor. At least you don’t see it.

I really want to like it but
a) They have made it look worse
b) For half a million I would want it to turn into a submarine

Mito Man wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 1:12 pm I feel like this about most restomods. Just do the mechanical stuff. New but discreet infotainment would be nice. LED bulbs inside the headlights and don’t fecking touch it any more. If you really need to improve high speed performance then flat floor. At least you don’t see it.

Well, that, and actually pay attention to fitment of everything, use decent fixtures, rewire it from scratch to be fully modern so it's actually reliable, etc.

But otherwise, yeah, this feels overdone and looks a bit weird to me. What are those tail lights? The rear end of the Esprit always had vertically seperated sections didn't it? why are these horizontally orientated LED bars now?

I just don't get it.

Explosive Newt wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 2:26 pm I really want to like it but
a) They have made it look worse
b) For half a million I would want it to turn into a submarine

While I love the idea of an esprit that works, for half a million you could just buy 8 of them and work your way through them as they die.

I'd probably spend £65k on a sport 350 and get a bespoke gearbox that won't shit its biscuits at the first opportunity. I'm sure I could sling it at @dan and get him to make it all work.

I like the interior, but the outside looks awful. No ta.

Jimmy Choo wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 5:47 pm

Explosive Newt wrote: Sat Dec 06, 2025 2:26 pm I really want to like it but
a) They have made it look worse
b) For half a million I would want it to turn into a submarine

While I love the idea of an esprit that works, for half a million you could just buy 8 of them and work your way through them as they die.

I'd probably spend £65k on a sport 350 and get a bespoke gearbox that won't shit its biscuits at the first opportunity. I'm sure I could sling it at @dan and get him to make it all work.

Honestly that's the sort of thing I'd rather too. Buy a ratty Sport 350, chuck about half the cost of this thing at someone like Dan, and get the chassis stripped back and properly protected, the interior stripped out and rebuilt using modern adhesives and sound deadening, etc. Take the time over it that they didn't have at the factory, with materials they wouldn't have had access to for a variety of reasons (time period, money etc)

Maybe replace the drivetrain with something more modern, but still appropriate to the application - or just rebuild the existing one nicely.

Get all the electronics ripped out, burned in a bin, and replaced with something commercial off the shelf that is actually maintainable (same with things like brakes/ABS/TC - that tech has come a long way etc)

Have a car that's still very much mostly a classic Esprit in the majority of ways it should be, but never have to think about about putting the key in it in the morning and worrying if it's gonna start or stamping the brakes and hoping they work - actually make it usable daily, rather than something you stick in your glass walled garage to impress your investment banker and venture capitalist mates.

Park it on the street and use it to pick up kitkats and frozen chips

Hey Dan, how much to make a full carbon s1 esprit body and doors with a couple of very subtle alterations please?

About 50 grand