Before the Lotus Esprit became the Lotus Esprit…it was known as the M70. Penned by Giugaro (Italdesign) and quite a big step for Lotus as a company; It launched Lotus into the realm of supercars.
I have to say that the Series 1 Lotus Esprit is a pretty great looking car….and the M70 definitely looks like the purest expression of the design (obviously!).
Here are some original ideas thrown around for the M70:
(from Car Styling Magazine, April 1976: Lotusespritturbo.com)
An Italdesign study penned by Guigiaro in 1970. It seems every photo I find of the strange Tapiro is accompanied by women! So here they are in all their early 70s glory. This car is actually based off a 914 chassis, interestingly enough.
Walter De Silva must have been sniffing massive buckets of glue when he designed this. Thankfully it was rejected by VAG head Ferdinand Piech….nice one, Piech. This is one ugly ride! (and i’m a huge Veyron fan)
full story: http://www.coachbuild.com/index.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=176&Itemid=1
IEDEI 