Have you ever seen a car so gorgeous you had to own it? That is what happened to a young man named Joop Donkervoort. He saw a Lotus 7 and knew he had to have one. The only problem is that it was not legal in the Netherlands. The Low Countries have strict safety laws, so his only choice was to reverse-engineer the iconic automobile in order to make it comply with their standards.
By the time the transformation was over, it was essentially a new car. He christened it the S7, and the Dutch fell in love with it. The idea of a more practical and powerful version was the motivation for the S8. It used a Ford-Cosworth 4 cylinder, it gained a healthy turbo in the S8 AT. They have been building nimble 4 and 5 cylinder cars since 1978, and the D8 GTO is the current flagship. Always a driver’s car, they arrive without ABS, stability control, or electronic nannies. So they are illegal in the US if they are 24 years old or newer. Maybe it would be possible under Show & Display, so we’ll let you know what we find out. Until then, stay with us for all your exotic car news.
