Lotus Esprit

Click image for a gallery of the Lotus Esprit S1

Last August, we brought you the story we dubbed Inspirational Vehicle: Mark's 7, in which a group of enthusiasts and forum members rallied together to complete an RX-7 build for one of their friends stricken with ALS whose condition prevented him from seeing his project through to its completion. If you missed it the first time around, Alex Nunez

For many of us in our 30s, the white Lotus Esprit S1 driven by Roger Moore as James Bond in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me represents our first exposure to Lotus and the beginning of a long love affair with the British marque. After all, the Esprit was one of the most exotic and different-looking cars those young eyes had ever set on at the time ( and the S1still looks fantastic today). What made the Bond car special, however, was its incredibly cool alternate mode, which we were introduce

The new CEO of Lotus Cars, Mike Kimberley, has ambitious plans for the British marque, including doubling production in the next five years.