Guide: Lotus Esprit Turbo - For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only was the twelfth James Bond film and the fifth to feature Roger Moore as secret agent, 007.
Director, John Glen, replaced Lewis Gilbert and the movie’s tone was refreshingly serious compared to rather comical recent outings in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
Released to critical acclaim in mid 1981, For Your Eyes Only saw 007 assigned to recover a missile launch system lost in the Ionian Sea. The launch system had been carried by a covert British spy ship that sank after a mine was caught in its fishing nets.
The plot thickened after the assassination of marine archaeologist, Sir Timothy Havelock (Jack Hedley), who had been recruited by the British to discretely locate the wreck.
Bond was then brought in to recover the missile launch system and ensure it did not fall into the hands of the Russians who would otherwise have been able to co-ordinate the Royal Navy’s Polaris submarine fleet and attack western targets.
After the popularity of the submersible Esprit used in 1977′s The Spy Who Loved Me, Lotus were contracted to supply 007’s personal transportation for this latest escapade.
Their recently launched Esprit Turbo was considered the ideal choice.
Unveiled in February 1980, production of the Esprit Turbo began three months later. It used a 2.2-litre engine with a Garrett T3 turbocharger and twin Dellorto carburettors. The chassis had been redesigned to accommodate a number of improvements including more sophisticated suspension. Cosmetically, the new car was identifiable by way of its heavily spoilered bodywork.
Lotus supplied a pair of Esprit Turbos to star in For Your Eyes Only. The first, chassis 10858, was the company’s original prototype. The second, chassis 10930, was an early production car.
Chassis 10930 was originally painted white with red graphics and a tobacco interior. Chassis 10858 (originally the Essex Motorsport colours of Monaco blue with chrome and red graphics and a scarlet interior) was refinished to match.
When filming moved to the Italian ski resort of Cortina, the producers thought a darker shade of bodywork would show up better against the snowy backdrop. Both cars were sent back to Hethel and repainted Copper Fire Metallic with gold stripes and decals. At the same time, they were fitted with a pair of custom ski racks mounted over the engine cover.
Q-branch Modifications
Whereas the Esprit used in The Spy Who Loved Me had brimmed with some faintly ridiculous features, these turbocharged versions were more conservatively modified.
One of the Q-branch upgrades was a self-destruct system. It consisted of four C4 explosive packs, magnetic seals on the doors and boot plus a set of vibration sensors.
On Screen
The self destruct system was used early on in For Your Eyes Only.
007 had travelled to Madrid to spy on Hector Gonzalez (Stefan Kalipha), the man responsible for Timothy Havelock’s assassination. Once in the grounds of the Gonzalez villa, Bond was temporarily captured, only to be saved by Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) who shot Gonzalez in the back with a crossbow to avenge the death of her father.
Bond and Melina fled the estate to find one of Gonzalez’ henchman with the Esprit. When he smashed the Esprit’s side window to gain access, the car (a rolling bodyshell) exploded.
This left Melina’s yellow Citroen 2CV as the only means of escape.
Q-branch were supposedly able to rebuild the damaged Esprit. Freshly repainted fire bronze, it was handed over to 007 at the MI6 headquarters in London prior to Bond’s trip to Cortina.
The Esprit appeared in several Italian scenes, most notably when 007 opened the passenger door to find his Italian colleague, Ferrara (John Moreno), slumped dead with a cut throat.
For Your Eyes Only Release
Produced on a budget of $28m, For Your Eyes Only premiered on June 24th 1981 and went on to gross $195m at the worldwide box office.
It eschewed the gimmickry of some recent 007 movies and returned to the edgier format that worked so well in early Sean Connery films.
Subsequent Histories
After production ended, various Esprit Turbos were used for promotional duty.
As for the two movie cars, 10930 was retained by Lotus until July 1998 when it was auctioned by Coys at the Silverstone Historic Festival. By this time, the car had covered 19,070 miles. It sold for £25,878
The prototype, chassis 10858, was re-registered 459 JTA and sold off.
For the full story on the For Your Eyes Only Esprit Turbos, visit the Chassis History section HERE.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: MGM Studios - https://www.mgm.com & Lotus - https://www.lotuscars.com
