Which of these old Lotus Esprits would you buy?

Estimate: £75,000 - £100,000

Lotus only made 100 of these things for the UK. Officially called the ‘World Championship Commemorative Model’, it was built to celebrate the company’s F1 success, and bedecked in the legendary black and gold ‘John Player Special’ livery. This one only has 13,600 miles on it. 

It’s the first car in the so-called ‘Esprit Limited Collection’ – six rare Esprits that are being auctioned one by one by online auction platform The Market. 
 

Estimate: £105,000 to £150,000

The so-called ‘Essex’ was the first factory turbocharged Esprit. Another F1 tie-in – this time with the Essex Overseas Petroleum Company, the team’s lead sponsor at the time – this particular car is number 17 of 45 built and was extensively restored after being sat idle for 15 years. Two owners, still has its original 15-inch split rims and roof-mounted Panasonic stereo. 
 

Estimate: £75,000 to £120,000

Apparently this is the first time a Sport 300 has come up for auction. What you’re looking at is peak four-cylinder Esprit. Based on the X180R track car and a direct descendant of the Esprit GT1 that raced at Le Mans, just 64 Esprit Sport 300s were made in total. 
 

Estimate: £35,000 to £50,000

One of just 11 Esprit ‘GT Commemorative Editions’ built to celebrate Lotus’ success in the British GT Championship. Relatively reasonably priced too, relative to the other cars in the collection. Why don’t more cars have yellow-painted alloys, again? 
 

Estimate: £50,000 to £60,000

The S4S was meant to fill the gap between the hardcore Sport 300 and the normal Esprit S4, so it had elements of both. This car is said to be in “astounding condition” and may even be better put together than when it left the factory in 1995. Not hard, admittedly.  
 

Estimate: £70,000 to £90,000

Like the Sport 300, only with a 350bhp V8. Lighter and pointier than the standard V8, this could well be the most extreme road-going Esprit there ever was. 48 were built – this one’s had three keepers and only done 31,000 miles in its 22 years on earth.