Photo: tiutiunikoff/Instagram
Back in the 1970s, the up and coming Giorgetto Giugiaro was making the headlines with his innovative ideas. The straight, uncompromising lines he used on some of his projects, like the BMW M1 and the first generation Lotus Esprit, gave birth to the folded paper moniker used for this type of designs.
The 1970s were the years when the designer left his mark on more than one car brand. Lotus was one of them, and the carmaker’s Esprit is among the models that have been touched the most by the Giugiaro magic.
Shown for the first time in Paris in 1975, the Esprit came to the world as a sports car meant to replace the Europa. Its design, in pure folded paper style, sported a shovel-style front air dam and a wedge-shaped body that lacked any unnecessary embellishment.
Despite this – or thanks to it – the Esprit managed to soldier on for decades, being made until the mid-2000s in a variety of subsequent shapes that somehow retained the general lines of the original.
That first generation, which is called S1 in Lotus speak, is the subject of a rendering project done by a designer named tiutiunikoff. Just like one of his other works, the Mercury Cougar we talked about earlier in the week, this too has a certain retro-futuristic feel to it.
The project would sit rather nicely in a cyberpunk piece of literature or film (maybe even the upcoming game). Maintaining the overall shape of the original S1, the design is taken one step further with several not major, but important changes.
The most visible are the addition of a body kit, and the light bar that gives the S1’s front a touch of futuristic look. At the rear, a massive spoiler is there, hinting to a much more powerful machine than the 1.9-liter-powered original.
As for a possible revival of the Esprit, we might get one as soon as next year.
Shown for the first time in Paris in 1975, the Esprit came to the world as a sports car meant to replace the Europa. Its design, in pure folded paper style, sported a shovel-style front air dam and a wedge-shaped body that lacked any unnecessary embellishment.
Despite this – or thanks to it – the Esprit managed to soldier on for decades, being made until the mid-2000s in a variety of subsequent shapes that somehow retained the general lines of the original.
That first generation, which is called S1 in Lotus speak, is the subject of a rendering project done by a designer named tiutiunikoff. Just like one of his other works, the Mercury Cougar we talked about earlier in the week, this too has a certain retro-futuristic feel to it.
The project would sit rather nicely in a cyberpunk piece of literature or film (maybe even the upcoming game). Maintaining the overall shape of the original S1, the design is taken one step further with several not major, but important changes.
The most visible are the addition of a body kit, and the light bar that gives the S1’s front a touch of futuristic look. At the rear, a massive spoiler is there, hinting to a much more powerful machine than the 1.9-liter-powered original.
As for a possible revival of the Esprit, we might get one as soon as next year.
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