Restore it. Patina is doing nothing to improve this thing aesthetically or financially at this point.

The '84 was a very different car from the '85. Major elements of the front suspension were redesigned, the brakes were upgraded and the engine got a few more HP. The cars look almost identical (the only way to tell is by the side-view mirrors; they're painted in '85), but the '85 was a far better car.

As the owner of an actual 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo, I find this highly dubious. It's literally one of the best handling cars ever made, and that includes a lot of what's out there today.

As much as I'd like to say that if I had the money I'd buy it, the unfortunate reality is that I'd likely destroy the car the first time I took it out. Either that or I'd drive it below 40mph out of sheer terror.

True story: I bought my Lotus from a salesman named Faust. How's that for foreshadowing?

It's actually the gun from the M1, not the A1 or A2, which both got the 120mm. The 105 was only used on the original M1 very briefly before the fleet got upgraded to the A1 spec.

I'm going to be an optimist here and say that the illustration doesn't necessarily have to be an SUV. Maybe it's a shooting brake?

Edit... oops someone else already posted it.

Holy crap. And they didn't total the car?

Because the reality is that the people who buy these things don't need or use anything approaching true SUV functionality, but like the size and shape of them. They're just giving people what they actually need.

Keep dreaming. A diesel is at least a semi-remote possibility, but you'll never ever ever see a manual transmission on one of these things in America.

Looks like BBS CHR's to me.

Wait... forty grand? Seriously?

Clutch job on a Porsche 944. Seriously, don't even try it.

I don't know if he's being truthful, but as the owner of a Lotus I can tell you that Porsche guys do indeed have some kind of bug up their ass when it comes to Lotus, and tend to act even more douchetastic than usual in their presence.

I'm reading through that thread and it's awesome. Just when I'd lost all hope for young people.

How much for RWD?

I'm rarely a first-day purchaser, usually waiting a few weeks for the games to settle in with people and read the feedback before making a decision to buy. I didn't buy Black Ops because despite the hype leading up to it's release, three weeks afterwards people were bitching about the quality of the game.

It's the Cadillac of Jaguars.

I've had the same Xbox 360 for almost five years now. It's been through two moves and one drop from a low shelf. I leave it running nearly 24/7, only shutting it down when I leave town on business. Never one problem.