Al N.

Gary, I run the 195/45 Avon R500s, they are very good in the rain (at least in terms of street driving). Skip, what wheels are you mounting on? The Caterham issue ones? I ask because of the staggered fitment.

Tim, you raise a very good point. We'll take it into consideration before making everything "official" in July. Thanks for your input.

Tenlow, AFAIK there are a few scratch built folks here. I'm pretty sure at least one guy from the Tail of the Dragon meet's car was totally scratch built...as in he didn't even start with a book, just a pile of metal. Welcome and good luck with your build. There are some other twenty somethings here...but more importantly a lot of older guys who say if they had to do it all over again, they'd have gotten a seven sooner! So you're doing the right thing.

Steve et. al - Please hold off for a bit...we'll post deets on dues payment soon. (I'm trying to streamline the process for the Treasurer!) Thanks all for the interest and enthusiasm. -Al

Martin- The club was incorporated in Maryland. The mailing address is: USA7s Inc. 14209 Secluded Lane North Potomac, MD 20878 We don't have a club email address, though this would probably be a great idea and relatively simple to implement. Thanks for the input. -Al ----- A point of clarification (prompted by a PM from another forum member): Please note that there is no cost to be a member of the USA7s.org forum. However, for a variety of reasons, there is a cost to "officially" belong to the Club behind the forum. Everyone who attended a USA7s event in 2007 is a Club member (the dues were incorporated into the event fees). In reviewing what people get for their dues, the officers decided to grant Club members some forum privileges not available otherwise: - Ability to list items in “Cars & Parts for sale” sections of the USA7s.org forum - Ability to start a thread in “Technical” section of the USA7s.org forum - Ability to start a thread in the “Events” section of the USA7s.org forum These privileges will get instated on or around July 7, 2008. The point of the announcement was really just to give people a heads up about a Club policy change for 2008 going forward. Forum members should feel no pressure to join the Club — though we will welcome you warmly and appreciate the financial support! The move to allow Club members to start threads in selected areas or list for sale items is a way to give dues paying Club members a little more value for their dollar.

Al Navarro here. On behalf of the USA7s Club, I’m proud to announce our membership policy for 2008-2009. After some consideration by the officers, we are moving to an annual enrollment as opposed to a “rolling” enrollment as we had in the past. Meaning all memberships will now start and expire on the same date. We have set this date as July 7th. This will greatly simplify the administration of memberships. It will enable us to do one bulk email and fulfillment of membership materials, instead having to be constantly monitoring memberships and sending out materials year round. NOTE: For members who joined before July 7, 2007 you will enjoy membership through July 6, 2008. Current members who joined after July 7, 2007 will be grandfathered through July 6, 2009. For the 2008-2009 membership year, we will provide the following to paid members: 1) Coverage under the club umbrella insurance policy — this allows members to attend events and save vs. the “non-member” event fee, as well as host local events for other club members with some degree of liability protection 2) A club membership card 3) 5 "Tell a friend cards"...with the forum URL printed on it 4) 1 club logo car decal 5) Ability to participate in Club “Group Buys” such as the recent watch group buy 6) Ability to list items in “Cars & Parts for sale” sections of the USA7s.org forum 7) Ability to start a thread in “Technical” section of the USA7s.org forum 8) Ability to start a thread in the “Events” section of the USA7s.org forum Additional Club logo stickers will be available for a small additional donation. We are also working on other benefits. Dues for the 2008-2009 membership year will be $20. Dues will be collected online and by check/money order. We’ll post details of how to join/renew your membership as July 7th approaches. We invite people to pre-pay, but keep in mind that your membership will begin on July 7, 2008. Remember that USA7s is a not-for-profit organization and all dues and proceeds go toward supporting club activities and materials — including the hosting of the USA7s.org online forum. If you are a forum member but did not attend any events in 2007, we ask that you consider becoming a dues-paying member of the USA7s Club and either attending or organizing a local meet in 2008. If you have any questions about membership, feel free to write to the officers at the following addresses: John Viviani, President geeno at supersevens dot com Mazda Ebrahimi, Treasurer mazda_ebrahimi at yahoo dot com Al Navarro, Secretary al at mintadv dot com

I wish they had videos of machines that could plant and grow trees just as quickly...sigh.

Beat me to it Tom! I got my issue yesterday too...

I've got the softbits/Jill Judd top: Al's Softbits Top They make it with a rear window now, allegedly. Damn progress.

Have none of us with cycle fenders installed blinkers there? :jester:

With so many musicians among us, will there be an "open mike night" at the next national meet???

Again, welcome aboard John. I had thought that stuff ended up in the UK...glad that someone associated with this site has access to it.

Having worked on credit card solicitations for several large issuers...I can also add that it was rumored back in the day that you could tape the BRE (business reply envelope) to a brick and the company would have to pay the postage on it. Not that I encourage that sort of behavior.

Maybe any Se7eners who receive a check this year should pledge to spend it on uprades? :jester:

I find sending your kids to a pricey private school has much the same effect! (Gorgeous guitar, btw.)

Rob- If you don't already have a tonneau cut, some people do the little pockets to accommodate the seat tops. Jill Judd Site If you do have a tonneau, then perhaps someone can modify it to accommodate your new seats. -Al

NJ law has apparently changed too...but my car is grandfathered. Going forward, I think you'd have get a pre-titled car from out of state....prob best if registered as old Lotus or other type of car.

John- Welcome. Here's a link to the "Tell us a little about yourselves" thread: http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=168 That's a good place to do an "official" introduction. A word or two about this place: Of course the original Lotus cars are the inspiration for the entire hobby, but we all have our favorite cars here. The nice thing (IMHO) about USA7s, is that owners and fans of all the LSiS cars are welcome — we try to avoid marque hierarchy in our interactions...on or offline. The hobby is too small to get all caught up in that sort of mindset. FWIW, John Gault's gorgeous S2 won "Best Se7en" at the Tail of the Dragon meet, with a Stalker in the runner up spot. Although pooh-poohed by John Watson as a "Hollywood Production" (we didn't honor the exact date of the original 7 launch!), that meet was great fun for everyone who attended. And that's really what we're about here. Perhaps we'll see you at the next USA7s national in 2009? Or perhaps at LOG this year....many of us are members of the UK L7C and Lotus Ltd. as well. Again, welcome. Al

I drove to the 2006 Skyline East meetup in torrential rain. "...in addition to the miles I logged while I was down in Virginia, I drove to and from Va. in Orange, without a trailer and, on the way down, through a few hours of POURING rain. That was quite an experience, as I only have a half hood and half doors. Needless to say I got quite damp and even had to resort to manually wiping off the windshield on the interior of the car. A few times I simply had to stop for the sake of visibility or lack thereof." From my blog. I had a Patagonia rain jacket and soft shell (fleece with water/windproof layer), but got soaked from the waist down, and at my sleeve ends and shirt collar. It was a great way to bond with the car.

Tom- Your car is going to be one bad m-fer. Hopefully you can come to wherever the 2009 meet is so we can all see it. -A

Sean...in my case, I had a few too many hoses slip for my taste in the first few years of ownership (yes, my head gasket is fine), so I looked into it...it eliminated many of the hoses and joints. Read this thread.... With the Raceline, which I've had on since just before the Tail of the Dragon meet, no problems. Some of the other benefits are outlined here: Raceline Web Page From what I understand, on some of the the Birkins, it was necessary to use the Raceline solution because the normal installation wouldn't fit.

Thanks for the kind words, Mike. But I don't think I'll be as hands on as last time...that was a lot. Right now, I'm just trying to keep the momentum going...I think because of the remoteness of the sites in play, we'll need some strong local support just like last time (Thanks Bill & Marcy Power!). Maybe even more so. Also, if the 2009 is more of the traveling show that we're considering, there should be a lot less "formal" stuff to plan. I think.:ack:

Thanks for the recent round of input, both in the poll and comments. I think we can say that there are 2 good options on the table that we'll do "white papers" for. Keep your eyes posted for this update sometime in late February. Thanks again everyone for your input and enthusiasm. It'll be great to see many of you again in 2009.

First, I would look through the classified here.... You don't state a price range, that would help....there is a sub $20k Cat for sale at Sevens and Elans right now. And have you read this thread yet? If you had to get your first Seven all over again... I think that's got some great advice for prospective buyers, from people who went through the same process you are going through.

It's going to sound like blasphemy, but I would also consider selling Orange to get the right S2 or S3. There, I've said it.