In 1970 Tony Rudd, who had arrived at Lotus the previous year, proposed two new model development projects.

The first, Project M50, resulted in the 1974 Elite.

The second, Project M70, meant to develop a successor to the Europa which, like the Europa, was to be a two-door fixed-head mid-engined coupé.

Work began on the new car in mid-1971 with production of a 1:4 scale model.

According to Italdesign, Chapman was disappointed with the wind-tunnel test results with the model and halted the project, but the Italian carrozzeria pressed on and built a full-size mock-up on a stretched, modified Europa chassis.

That nameless prototype, often simply called the Silver Car, appeared on the Italdesign stand at the 1972 Turin Auto Show and convinced Chapman to approve further development.

This Esprit S3 represents an example of the last of the line of the legendary Giugiaro designed classics, dating back to the legendary Esprit driven by Roger Moore as James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me, whe...