UAE Esprit: Dumped in the Desert
by Shahzad Sheikh

Esprits are extremely rare in the UAE, where I edit the Middle East edition of CAR magazine, so when a reader finally sent in a pic of a local car, I couldn't contain my excitement. But it turns out this car appears to have been dumped at the side of the road in Sharjah (near Dubai). It has no plates, is unlocked, but has no registration documents inside and nobody in the area seems to know much about it.

  

The police have been no help, but Lotus in the UK have confirmed the colour and spec of the car (see their email below), but won't reveal the first owner. I've been chatting to people around here, and one story that has emerged is that it may have been a car that was stolen in Europe and then shipped out here. Looks like whoever drove it, had the turbo blow on them and just left it by the side of the road.

  

The VIN and engine numbers are as follows:

VIN: SCC082910EHH10522
Engine number: CD910831221252

 

We are interested in tracing who the car is registered to and some of the History of the vehicle. It's just so tragic to see the car like this – fundamentally the body seems straight and the interior is in reasonable condition, so it could be worth rescuing, if I could get hold of it legitimately maybe this Esprit could be back on the road in the UAE.

   

If you have any information on this Esprit, please contact me.

Many thanks and much appreciated.

Regards
Shahzad Sheikh
shahzad.sheikh@itp.com

Email for Lotus Cars Ltd, Hethel UK

Hi Shahzad
This car was built as an export LHD Turbo with engine number CD910831221252 and trans axle number 3195. Body colour was Calypso Red (L42), full black leather interior, nylon carpets, ACU and supplied to Len Street LTD who was the selling dealer in London. The production build date is listed as 13.01.84 with the Esprit being PDI'd on 29.06.84 by Len Street then finally being sold to the customer on 02.07.84.

We do have the name of the first purchaser but cannot release it yet - confidentiality etc

Speak soon

Alastair Florance
Group PR Manager
Group Lotus plc