Restoring the S1 Lotus Esprit Steering Wheel

As my S1 Esprit originally had a brown marcasite interior, the steering wheel itself was wrapped in a brown material. I had the steering wheel re-covered in black leather to match originality (at least from the perspective of the S1 Esprits with green/tartan/orange). I am still hunting for the foam “Lotus” center button, but hopefully I’ll have some luck finding a replacement or I’ll simply fabricate it from the old one.

Fabricating the S1 Lotus Esprit Headliner & A-Pillars

My Esprit didn’t have a headliner as the previous owner had removed it and glued in a new section of material directly to the roof. The material had expired over time, so I had to scrape and pry it away in order to have a clean surface to adhere the new section. Once removing the old material, I cut a template using contact paper and then sent it to a plastics fabricator that cut a section from 1/8 thick ABS. From there it was sent to the upholsterer and covered. We were careful to match the original stitch pattern, as well as use the correct color thread. The A-Pillars were also covered at this stage as well as the firewall trim behind the seats. Next up are the door cards, center console, and intermediate dashboard.