Danville Street Sighting - 2005 Lotus Elise

We're on the final countdown to Christmas which means only a few dozen more times having Mariah Carey forced upon you, and a few more installments of "All I Want For Christmas Is 'U'". By now you know the drill: car brands with the letter U in their name. Buick, Datsun, Peugeot, Austin-Healey, and now Lotus. This is a 2005 Lotus Elise.

Emeryville Street Sighting - 1969 Lotus Elan S4 S/E Drophead Coupe

Any of my readers remember the Lotus Elite I featured in 2016? That wasn't the only car parked on that block that day. I left the Laney College flea market in Oakland on a Sunday morning and cruised over to Emeryville. I found two classic Lotus sports cars and a small warehouse with the roll-up door open. The owner was going to take one of the cars for a drive and needed to move the other in order to get it outside. Here is the Lotus Elan SE roadster.

Emeryville Street Sighting - 1960 Lotus Type 14 Elite

I rarely get lucky enough to run across a car collector with a warehouse or garage full of cars. Just as rare is the collector who has something rare and awesome pulled outside on a nice day and is kind enough to talk to me about it. I had left the Laney College Swap Meet on a Sunday morning and decided to kill some time before I met up with a friend. That's when I happened upon this yellow Lotus Elite and its friend, an Elan SE roadster. The owner planned to take the Elan for a drive and needed to move the Elite in order to get the roadster out the garage door. The owner, a Lotus enthusiast, showed me around his garage filled with some incredible machinery. In the interest of privacy and respect for his property, I did not take any photos in the building and will not disclose its location.

Pleasanton Street Sighting - 1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo

One of the first cars I photographed for this blog was a red 1988 Lotus Esprit. Now here's another. For some reason all the Esprits I find parked on the street seem to be red, as this is our third one. It's a very nice one, too.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1995 Lotus Esprit S4s

Rounding out '90s Supercar Week is this 1995 Lotus Esprit S4s, an edition I didn't know existed until I saw it parked just around the corner from the 1973 AMC Gremlin I featured during '70s Economy Car Week. I've always been fond of the 1990s Esprits; from most angles they just look "right" to me. I know they're parts bin cars cobbled from other manufacturers' components, and the basic design dates back to the '70s when the Gremlin was still being built and Roger Moore was still James Bond. The Esprit is just a cool sports car.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1988 Lotus Esprit

Coming in stark contrast to the older, squarer vehicles we've examined thus far is this 1988 Lotus Esprit I spotted in the Financial District of San Francisco. This baby was parked only a couple of blocks from the Transamerica Pyramid, fitting given the car's wedge shape. Interestingly, Transamerica's former headquarters were in another triangular-wedge-shaped building (now occupied by the Church of Scientology) just down the block from where this car was parked.