People will start to realize soon enough how great the fourth-generation of the Lotus Esprit is, so I suggest building one while you can afford a donor car. And please make it as awesome as this.
Lotus continued to use a non-intercooled turbo engine in the 1987 Esprit, but the chassis was upgraded using their patented Vacuum Assisted Resin Injection technology with Kevlar inserts, resulting in much higher torsional rigidity.
Spencer Canon, the founder of Ritte Cycles bought an absolute garbage example, only to turn it into one of the coolest Esprits I’ve ever seen. Peter Stevens’ design got a refreshing paint job inspired by those equally fast bikes, while more weight got thrown out to improve performance the Colin Chapman way.
The now reborn Lotus is sweet daily driver as well as an iconic eighties supercar. Petrolicious has the full story, with a complementary Knight Rider reference:
It will outrun your Trans Am, Mr. Knight.
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.