SHO Powered Lotus Is All Go
Published: November 8th, 2012
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In honor of Skyfall‘s opening tomorrow, we bring you one of the better Frankensteins we’ve seen in some time; a white Lotus Esprit, in the same hue as Roger Moore’s own ride in The Spy Who Loved Me, with a heart transplant from a Taurus SHO.
The later era BBS wheels are a little incongruous, but the swap itself appears to be nicely executed, and the gleaming chrome intake plumbing is a lot more attractive than the turbo 4 previously in there. The downside? Whether you use the Esprit’s Renault gearbox or the MTX from the Taurus, both choices aren’t exactly the last word in refinement or shift quality. Check it out over at Bring A Trailer.
More by Derek Kreindler
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My favorite Lotus engine swaps usually involve the aluminum Buick/Rover V8, but I like this one. It's appropriate to use a Ford engine in a Lotus. The somewhat legendary Lotus Twin Cam engine was a Ford "Kent" block with an aluminum DOHC head designed by Harry Mundy (who also worked for Jaguar), and of course there was Jim Clark's Indy 500 winning Lotus 38, with a Ford V8.
A Delorean with a SHO swap would be very neat.
Skyfall's only started showing yesterday in the US? I saw it like a week ago. Great movie, BTW. Anyway, why the SHO engine? I would say any new, Japanese V6 engines, like Toyota Camry's or Nissan Altima's would be a better bet, likely more reliable (because it's a garden variety engine, not an exotic engine like SHO's Yamaha), parts are easier to get and probably cheaper too, far less likely to need those parts because it's more reliable, and more power to boot! SHO engines are awesome when they debuted decades ago, just like those awesome Motorola flip phone back then. Today? Not so much.
Beautiful car, Toyota Supra tail lights and all!