This 1994 Lotus Esprit S4 is back from the brink: no, it wasn’t on the verge of being salvaged or donated to a nonprofit; it was one of the many sports cars that was almost converted to an electric vehicle, a trend which seemed to pick up some steam during the pandemic years when people were bored or felt like they needed to chase virtue signaling. The enthusiast car arena was more or less left unscathed by this tumultuous time in history, and thankfully, the owner of this otherwise nicely upgraded Esprit never got around to completing the conversion. The Esprit is listed here on eBay with the later V8-style body kit and other desirable modifications with bids to $12,700 and no reserve.

Now, to some extent, the concept of converting a sweet internal combustion engined sports car to an EV has merit, especially if the original engine was seized or otherwise DOA. In the case of an Esprit, the values aren’t typically strong enough to rebuild the four-cylinder turbocharged mill, but the passion behind the brand enables enthusiasts to do all sorts of illogical things to keep a cherished car on the road. And who can deny that the performance of vehicles offered by Tesla, like the Model S Plaid, is sometimes a bit shocking in terms of how quickly they accelerate? I can’t kick rocks at this guy, other than questioning why he’d convert an Esprit as lovely as this which has some terrific upgrades already completed.

The V8 body kit transforms the car into a vehicle that looks like its 20 years younger. It also has the seats and door panels from the later V8, along with a bevy of other tweaks to make this Esprit more enjoyable to use on a daily basis. There’s even a set of Brembo brakes up front along with custom wheels built specifically for the Lotus’ wide proportions, measuring 18 x 9 and 19 x 11. An aftermarket chip brings the car’s stock horsepower up to over 300 horsepower by the seller’s estimate. I haven’t even told you yet how overbuilt the factory engine is, which was not removed due to an unexpected failure (are you scratching your head yet?)

The 2.2L turbocharged 4-cylinder made 264 horsepower and 261 lb.-ft. of torque in stock form, but we’ve already established that a chip – which boosted engines respond incredibly well to – has pushed that number higher. Not only that, this engine wasn’t removed due to a premature failure but was actually rebuilt just 5,000 miles prior to being removed! It has all-new belts, water pump, engine mounts, forged pistons and ARP studs, and even stainless steel gas tanks, as the original units were prone to developing rust issues. Overall, this Esprit seems like a wholly deserving candidate to return to its pre-conversion state as soon as possible, and thankfully, the seller notes any modifications to prepare for the electric powertrain are minimal at best. Hopefully, we’ll see this Esprit back on the road before the end of the year.