The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Black on Black S4s's

3K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  sleekgt 
#1 ·
How many '95 Black on Black S4s's were imported to the U.S.A. ?? Also how many were produced world wide ?:shrug:
 
#3 ·
If you submit a request for a "Provenance Report" from Lotus they can tell you that and much, much more based on your VIN..

Ping this guy at Lotus UK

Andy Graham – Technical Publications and Archives
LOTUS AFTERSALES, Units 6 & 7 John Hyrne Way, Longwater Business Park, Costessey, Norwich, Norfolk NR5 0AF England.
T +44 (0)1603 732178 agraham@lotuscars.com
 
#5 ·
The reason I posted this question , was that I was told that there were only seven Black on Black S4s's imported to the U.S. , and I wanted to find out if that was true. If so that would make the Black on Black S4s a kind of a rare bird. Thanks Dave
 
#6 ·
Black and red exterior is the most common color although I think they are split on tan and raven interior. If it is true that only 7 are in the USA then I have seen them all. All S4s are rare and there are color combinations that are less common than black on black as in 1 or 2.
 
#12 ·
Yes there were two options on the S4s. The standard S4 wheels are silver painted. The optional Futura wheels are brighter, they are 3 piece wheels with bolts all the way around to assemble. Both are the same size.

Many Esprit wheels were made by OZ, so you have to specify the style. My parts for sale web site below shows an example of the Futura rims down at the bottom of the page (sold long ago).
 
#21 ·
[snip] The optional Futura wheels are brighter, they are 3 piece wheels with bolts all the way around to assemble. Both are the same size.

Many Esprit wheels were made by OZ, so you have to specify the style. My parts for sale web site below shows an example of the Futura rims down at the bottom of the page (sold long ago).
You mean like these? ;) 17x7 and 17x8.5

 
#13 ·
Well I had been searching for over 15 years for a black on black S4s and finally found one two years ago. I got my provenance package from Lotus and in the letter they sent me there is a bit about our black cars. Rare indeed. I never knew how rare this combination was.

The Esprit S4’s’ for the USA market was introduced as the 1995½ model year which replaced
the standard S4 which was sold as a 1995 model year. The S4’s’ was available only as a
1995½ model year for the US market. The following is based on serial number sequence for
the 1995½ Model Year USA market Esprit S4’s’ only;
Your car is the 22nd out of 145 cars,
Your car is the 6th out of 35 cars in Black,
Your car is the 3rd out of 12 cars in Black with Raven leather trim (all with black piping).
 
#16 ·
the 1995½ Model Year USA market Esprit S4’s’ only;
Your car is the 22nd out of 145 cars,
Your car is the 6th out of 35 cars in Black,
Your car is the 3rd out of 12 cars in Black with Raven leather trim (all with black piping).[/I]
Interesting that he said there were 145 S4s in the US. My car is VIN #155, and I've been led to believe that the last was 158. I expect the info from LCU is correct so apparently some cars in that VIN sequence did not come to the US. Most likely those missing VINs are cars that went to Canada. Good chance that my car was the last Black/Raven.

What VIN is your car, the 22nd?
 
#14 ·
Oh, and they also told me this when I asked about S4s's produced for the rest of the world.

Excluding USA cars;

All the other markets had the S4s available as a 1995 and 1996 model year, with 186 cars recorded.

There were 7 cars in black, only 1 with Raven trim and that was a UK RHD car.


So I guess with the 12 shipped to the US that made a total of 13 cars in Black on Black. Wow!
 
#17 ·
My VIN is 021. According to Andy it was built on 17 January 1995. Using the numbers he gave me it appears that there were 331 S4s's built in 95-96 worldwide. I would imagine the VIN's go from 001 to 331 (just a WAG) so my car was one of the first off the line and yours more than likely in the middle of the run. If you get your provenance docs from Andy I would be curious to know your build date. The one for sale in Canada (it's sold)was VIN 088. So we already found three of the 13 Black/Raven cars! Thats almost 25% of them! That's a pretty small club we are in. Maybe we should start a new thread and find the other ones...
 
#18 ·
When I bought my 94 a few years back, I started an informal registry of S4's for my own personal curiosity. I have 101 cars from 93-95 with the bulk being 94-95... anyway.

The highest vin I have is 63156

I have the following cars as Blk/Blk

63156
63155
63115
63021
63018
and
61481 which I'm thinking is a regular 95 S4, not the S4S
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top