Anaximander

The Vette is a bit tame in some respects. Power to weight ratio could not match my Stalkers and the fun factor of my 300/400r Caterham that I had for a short time. I still want to autox but don't want to take a relatively porky and new Corvette out and bung up the paint with cones:smash: Besides, a set of tires for the Vette cost almost half of what the Miata cost was to purchase the car. The Vette doesn't require any wrenching whereas the Miata needs some TLC and I am learning its relatively simple systems. Where sevenesque cars have a fairly "open" architecture, the Vette is shrouded in covers that discourage jumping in with wrenches. Different horses for different courses as they sometimes say.

Croc, I can't believe that you finally realized that our Storkers look better than Donkervoorts! OTOH, the 1.5g's that Stalkers can pull turned out to be a bit much for my old inner ears. This past year, I went jazzing around very tight twisties in the North Carolina mountains with a Stalker XL and realized on the second day that I was experiencing some disequilibrium. Having been a professional pilot in another life (but not trying to fly my Stalker like Shane), I realized that my 70ish body was not liking a constant diet of g forces. Well, that just saved me a cool $187k. I did pick up a 1995 Miata a couple of months ago that I have been mechanically preparing to screw around with some street tire autocrossing. I don't know, having owned 5 sevenesque cars if the Miata will prove to be fun enough to continue to play with? For $4k, I can sure tell you that it was cheaper than any ragged out 7 that I could have found. However, when I read some of the car porn being thrown around on this site, I still miss the rawness of my 7 experiences. Bob

As an anecdotal data point, I reached Hunter, one of Hayes' sons at Wirewheel yesterday and alerted them to our thread and the family was aware of the critical posting on BAT. Hunter who has extensive sports car experience and likely some limited seven experience reported that he had driven the Rotus and it seemed to handle appropriately. The folks at Wirewheel have very extensive experience buying, rehabbing and selling Lotus cars, especially Elises. They also have personally raced a bunch of different high performance race cars that constantly flow through their inventory.

I found this beautiful 1991 RHD Westfield SEiW (wide body) in Phoenix with reportedly 17k miles for $16k or reasonable offer. The owner reportedly has redone some of the mechanicals and interior. https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/d/phoenix-lotus-seven-westfield-sei/7118191799.html

Hayes at Wirewheel never listed a price for the few days he had it up on his website AFAIK.

Bonjo2, Those Storkers are pure hoodlum buggies! However, when it comes to power to weight, that sport bike that blew by you in the tunnel likely had the edge but not four wheels on the ground. I sold my LS3 Storker XL for a 2019 Vette but miss some of the raw hooliganism that is inherent in the Stalker DNA. Thanks for sharing. Bob

Mike, It appears that the folks at Wirewheel in Vero Beach, Florida that was a few miles from my rental home last year may have decided to put this car up on Bringatrailer. It was on their website as a new arrival for a couple of days this month and then was taken off and apparently placed with BAT. Seems as if BAT is the place to obtain higher than usual valuations for some of our cars. Good for sellers, kind of risky for buyers. However, the owner of Wirewheel is a good guy and usually has quality products for sale. Hayes, the owner of WW has a 2005 Lotus Elise with a turbocharged K24 Honda engine that only has 4k miles and would be the bomb. If I didn't have the Vette to play with and use as my formerly daily driver before Covid, I would love to have that special Elise with only 4k miles.

You guys are being too esoteric! Vodka is the answer. It can help with toothaches, bad breath, virus laden countertops, etc. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/drinks/a18825988/vodka-health-benefits/

Mike, Unfortunately, I think you are right on the money (pun intended), about the value of our beautiful discretionary toys taking some financial hits moving forward for a period of time. As many smart people have opined, this is somewhat of a perfect storm from a health and economic standpoint and "business as usual" will become a faint memory for a period of time. Our decade plus boom where sevenesque cars on sites like Bring-A-Trailer for the past year seemed to be commanding prices that were "frothy" will likely come back to earth. Sadly, some of our really great vendors such as Beachman Racing may have gotten caught in a squeeze with the rollout of their parts inventorying that was absolutely not of their making. I hope that their strategy can persist with some of us who can continue to afford to benefit and support their forward thinking, concerning marketing and services for Caterhams in the USA.

Mike, That is indeed one of the cars. The car comes with a small, non-spec fuel tank (8.5 gallons IIRC) that someone would likely want to replace with a larger one. The air conditioner never worked properly and reportedly the guts have been removed with an oil cooler placed inside the engine bay where some of the former a/c plumbing was, but not the actual front end of the system, which is still inside the cockpit.

Croc, You could rent your paddock when not using it. It is so clean and tidy that you could rent it out as a Day Surgery Center and take the rental proceeds and pay for support staff at your new Winter home in Thonotosassa, Florida. I'll make sure to pop on down to your new "home" track and see what my porky Vette can do. Bob

Anker, Where is the maid's quarters? BTW, I didn't know that you owned a Checrolet (See your car list)? I bought a Checrolet Vette but don't own a Checrolet Volt.

Wow, it is only 1.25 hours South of our current home. Sadly, my spouse is tired of cooking and cleaning and with the acquisition costs, I don't think we could swing any domestic help? Thankfully, I am not that crazy about some of the cars in the "garage" so feel less sad than I could have.

I am not a bird, I am a Stork! And Pee Wee took me and my flock buddy, Mr. Bill, out. With that goofy outfit, I bet he couldn't even drive a Se7en worth a darn. Les Suave

IIRC, the tubing that Dennis and Scott used on the Classic Stalkers was 1.25" OD vs 1.0" on the Caterhams. Those old GM 3.8 liter iron engines with aluminum heads (?) actually weigh more than a modern LS GM engine. Finally, it is likely that the C10 axles add significant weight.

Very well said!!!

Nah. More like about 1860 pounds. At least, that is what my XL weighed with 1/2 fuel and the slightly less powerful LS3/480. I suspect that the LS3/525 does not weigh anymore than my former engine. He does have the wings and attachment hardware for them that might add 140 pounds so I would guess that the number may be pretty accurate. He likely had to take it to a weigh station prior to getting it licensed here in Florida. I remember having to take a Classic Stalker to a scrap yard, hop out of the car and get a weight ticket so that I could change the registration from Texas to Florida. The Classic Stalker only weighed about 1400 pounds IIRC with a 3.8L n/a engine.

The person who is his own doctor has a simpleton for a patient.:jester: My spouse already thinks she is married to a simpleton. I don't want to prove her correct:willy_nilly:

I suspect that I could figure out a way to stay hydrated in my 8-15 thousand square foot "villa" overlooking my exotic cars and the race track. Only problem I can foresee is that it is more likely that I would find myself on the surface of the moon than being able to afford a "villa" at the Thermal Club. The fellow who owns the dealership I bought my Vette from drives a beautiful McLaren 720s and is a very nice man. Maybe he could afford the freight and let me play with my Corvette I bought from his dealership on his track? I wouldn't be so bold as to invite myself as an overnight villa guest. Not only are se7ens addictive but some of the accompanying lifestyle scenarios could certainly become addictive if someone would just gift me a few million bucks. Broken down old psychologists just can't handle the freight I am afraid:drool:

Sadly, my pockets are shallower than my personality. What a terrific three days some people are going to have driving two of the most legendary tracks in the world. I wonder if Croc already has his flights booked for the event?

"Unlikely there will be a post next Sunday as I am in Bintan, Indonesia." Croc Ahem, it is unlikely that I will ever get a chance to visit Bintan, Indonesia (sob). Mike is probably having to "suffer" through the holidays at the Bintan Lagoon Resort! with the weather vacillating between a low of 79F and highs of about 89F (sob).

Shane, I have finally been able to drill down on a couple of the prime "enablers" for this se7ens vice and they are the Double Mikes aka Croc and Kitcat. There is a "sevens disorder" known as folie a deux where two people share the experience at the same time (a little bit of psychological liberty here). Just think though how rare it would be to have an S1 with a true aluminum nose! Suave would have another stable mate. Then, we could safely surmise a case for possible folie a trois!

The buyer of the Stalker XL was exceptionally pleased when it arrived at his home in St. Paul, MN. He luckily had a few good days before Winter set in and went out for some fun blats. He commented to me that I hadn't warned him about the sweet sounds the side-pipe mufflers make on deceleration. He is used to high performance cars but commented to me that the brute power of the LS3/480 powerplant in an 1860 pound package was delightful. I am tickled that he is already enjoying the ride and looking forward to the Spring when he will be able to take that bad boy out and thoroughly run it through its paces. Se7ens rule!

Mondo, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley of LA and never thought a thing about the heat but I was also maybe 60 years younger. I also know that other than the Valley Fog, Bakersfield could get even more sweltering at times because the San Gabriel mountains would block the ocean breezes. You are correct about the A/C issue. Here in Florida, add a day with a dew point exceeding 75 and your skin loses its ability to cool off in direct sunlight. I will love being able to take off the carbon-fiber bikini top (and actually stow it in a clever locking holder under the rear hatch) on beautiful days but basically leave it on unless the weather is truly pleasant. In my sevenesque cars including one Caterham r300 Superlight, the cockpit temps were practically unbearable during our hot Summer months and the hot parts of Spring and Fall. Oh, did I mention the 9-speaker Bose stereo in the new car? These manufacturers seem to keep upping the ante in terms of sound quality in basically fairly noisy cars. The real bottom line is that now my wife will go on trips with me. I even purchased a 5-piece matching luggage set yesterday with matching Corvette logos to keep my sweetie happy on some fun-filled blats around the countryside. Don't know where I would or could have put those things in my se7ens? "Sweetie, could you hold this soft duffle bag of our clothes and stuff in your lap while strapped into our 5-point harnesses while we jazz around the countryside?" Clearly headed in a different direction in terms of performance vehicles :auto: However, as we all know, there are very few cars that can provide the incredible raw visceral experiences of our sevens and I am truly grateful for the 5 years that I enjoyed these cars.

Shane, I can only drive slow cars now according to my wife who says I have been slow all my life? Is your Stalker sporting a souped up LS7 engine? Less and Pee Wee are digging the air conditioning. Mr. Bill just keeps shouting "Oh nooooo!".