Buying someone else’s unfinished project is a risky proposition, a scenario that grows only more challenging if the vehicle in question is a limited-production turbocharged sports car. That’s what we’re dealing with in this very pretty 1986 Lotus Esprit “HCI” Turbo, which presents very well on the outside but has its engine sitting on a stand and in need of new bearings. The Esprit is an epic 80s sports car and this one doesn’t disappoint, with its snow-white paint over a lipstick red leather interior and corresponding mesh wheels. There’s no denying this Esprit looks the part, but the question is whether it’s worth the effort to pick up where the seller left off. The Lotus is listed here on craigslist with a $20,000 asking price.

The Esprit is an interesting specimen in terms of how collectors approach this small-volume British sports car. Values can be elevated for the best of the best, but if an Esprit is anything less than perfect, it’s a hard sell when asking real money for a project. The Esprit never quite cracked through the price ceiling like the Porsche 911 and Acura NSX did, despite often going head-to-head with those models when new. Despite having a reputation for questionable build quality, Esprits that have been looked after seem like very smart buys for a supercar-like experience without the actual supercar price tag. This Esprit, despite being a non-runner, presents very well inside with a few aftermarket tweaks added in.

The engine is out and sitting on a stand, which is seemingly where this project stopped. I can see never getting the project off the ground and selling a car six months later in exactly the same shape it was in previously. In the case of this Esprit, it seems like the seller went through the trouble of removing the engine potentially with plans to replace the bad bearings but later decided against it. My guess is the rebuild or repair phase ended up becoming more complicated than expected, or the list of repairs already made was threatening to overtake the car’s actual value. Who knows, but it seems like the next owner should have a grasp on rebuild costs for an HCI car before diving in.

This is just one photo of a handful showing all of the spare parts included with the sale, which likely represents a mixture of what was removed from the Lotus along with new parts acquired for the rebuild. The seller doesn’t elaborate on the nature of the spares, but given most everything is out of a box, I’m guessing these are mostly used parts and components. When considering the seller’s asking price, it’s a fair question to ask why they’re not continuing with the rebuild, along with what sort of conditions were in play that the engine suffered a major failure in the first place. Given it’s described as having a highly-modified mid-engine mill under the engine lid, I’d want to make sure I wasn’t getting into deeper problems as a result of an over-zealous amateur tuner messing with his Lotus back in the Pretty Woman days.