- Encor reveals its carbon-bodied tribute to the 1975 Esprit S1.
- Based on later Esprit V8, non-turbo engine boosted to 400 hp.
- Production is limited to 50 cars starting at £430k ($574,000).
It’s 50 years since the original Lotus Esprit glided onto the stage at the 1975 Paris Motor Show and almost as long since James Bond’s underwater exploits made it one of the most famous cars in the world. But the S1 Esprit has never received the full carbon-fiber, Singer-style reimagining it deserves. Until now.
A new British outfit called Encor has pulled the covers off its Series 1, a carbon-bodied and modernized, but spiritually old-school, remastering of the original Giugiaro-designed wedge. Encor teased the project a few weeks ago, but now we get the whole story, and it’s clear the guys are not messing around.
Related: Lotus Swore Off Gas Engines, Now It’s Building Its Most Powerful Yet
The team behind the Series 1 – whose resumés list time at Lotus, Aston, and Koenigsegg – has resurrected the profile of the ’75 car, but with surfaces tightened, lines sharpened, and the old two-piece fiberglass mold seam banished in favor of a single autoclaved carbon shell.
Reimagined pop-ups
Lighting is handled by ultra-compact LEDs tucked into slim pop-up housings, because Encor understands that a tribute to the Esprit without pop-ups just wouldn’t cut it. The wheels blend the S1’s slot-mag vibe with the five-spokes from the later Sport 350, continuing the era-blending theme.
Underneath, the engineering is equally serious. Each Series 1 begins life as a late 1990s donor Esprit V8, which Encor strips to molecular levels and rebuilds with forged pistons, upsized injectors, renewed turbos, modern cooling, and a stainless exhaust.
Twice as fast to 60 mph
The result: around 400 hp (406 PS), 350 lb-ft (478 Nm), and a target weight under 1,200 kg (2,650 lbs). That means zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) in about 4 seconds and a top speed near 175 mph (282 kmh). In short, it performs like the S1 looked like it should have performed, but never did.
The Quaife-tuned five-speed manual gains revised ratios, a stronger shaft, a twin-plate clutch, and a limited-slip differential, essentially turning the famously fragile original tranny into something you can shift without praying first.
Suspension gets the Sport 350 treatment, AP Racing handles the braking, and the steering remains hydraulically assisted, Encor knowing full well that any Esprit without steering feel is just pointless.
1970s tartan meets 2020s digital
Inside, it is part museum, part sci-fi. The sloped dash, tartan accents, and deep seating position remain, but everything is rebuilt with modern materials and obsessive detail.
The floating instrument binnacle is machined from a single billet of aluminium, wrapping a digital display that the S1 could only have dreamed of between breakdowns.
Only 50 will be built, each starting at £430,000 ($574,000) plus taxes and the required donor Esprit. Deliveries begin in 2026. Would you take this over a 911 restomod?
Encor
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