birkinsuper7

William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers".

Only a few periods during my life were rough; however, they made me stronger. Two divorces, untimely death friends, some non-productive career choices, and undiagnosed learning disabilities. As a former military brat, I inherited a sense of adventure and wanderlust; however, rules were rules and were enforced to the letter - my dad was a JAG lawyer in the Navy. After divorce number one in 1976, I grabbed my motorcycle (400F Honda,) depleted my accumulated vacation time, and soloed the lower-48 covering 12000+ miles in six weeks. After taking an early retirement and ending marriage number two, I sold my home and moved in with friends in New Hampshire on their 50 acres farm. That is were I accumulated my mechanical dreams as well as a well equipped woodworking shop. I would not change much about my 80 years.....

My late mother turned in her driver's license shortly after turning ninety when she determined that she was no longer fit to drive. That was only a few months after she celebrated her 90th by doing her daughter and three granddaughters on a canoe trip. She got her license on her father's Ford Model T coupe in 1927. Her canoe experience began a few years earlier when she received a canoe for her 12th birthday. I realize that I am not a sharp as I was fifty years ago; however, in defense of my continuing driving for a few more years: I love driving and take it very seriously!

I now have "BIRKIN" NH vanity passenger plate on the Birkin, "GORDON" NH Veteran plate in the Miata, a regular plate on the Smart, and the TourX sports a low-number passenger plate that has been in my mother's family since before I was born. The front plate is hinged so it folds down below the nose cone. I choose not to bait law enforcement with such a minor violation. The ugly 3rd brake light has been replaced by a more appropriate unit. Yes, we have a winner! I am the big EIGHT-ZERO and enjoy life to the max! The young lady is my granddaughter and she is married........that image is from six years ago.

While living in Arlington, Virginia, in 1953, I saw my first T-Series MG. I fell in love with the TC - those tall skinny wire wheels and rakish flowing fenders. During my freshman year at college in 1960, I saw an advertisement for a kit from England called the Lotus VII. I fell in love with the concept and the execution. After dropping out of college and finishing up active duty training with the Texas National Guard in 1963, I worked on a construction site and fell in love with the backhoe. Many cars including a BMW Isetta 300, Volvo PV544, Daimler SP250, and Triumph TR4, were followed by career in software development, a successful couple years of Regional SCCA TSD Rallying in a Plymouth Roadrunner, a Datsun 280Z, two failed marriages, and an early retirement at age 51. Once I reached 55, I decided that I deserved a dream car. It would be either an MGTC or a Lotus Seven. I live in New Hampshire, with more vanity plates per capita than anywhere else. In order to decide what I buy, I requested a vanity plate for my piss gold Plymouth Horizon: My choices: LOTUS7, SUPER7, or MGTC. Only MGTC was available at that time; therefore, the quest was narrowed and shortly thereafter, TC5012 became mine in 1996. A few years later, my 91-year-old mother passed away in 2004. To my surprise, she left us three some money. I found the backhoe of my dreams and bought it - an Ingersoll-Rand BL370 - bigger than a garden tractor with hoe and smaller than a CASE 580 - just right for a fifty-acre farm. Since, I am now living on a quarter-acre waterfront lot, the hoe saw very little use and I sold it this past Spring after enjoying 1200+ hours of operation. While awaiting the money from my mother's estate, I began looking for a Seven. I viewed and drove one - the one I now own - in Danvers, Massachusetts. By the time the funds were available, the seller had shipped it to Reading, California; however, the new owner found that his large feet were not compatible with the tiny pedal box. He posted it on eBay, I bought it, and shipped it to New Hampshire and enjoyed the heck out of it for a few years before putting it in storage so that I might get some home projects accomplished. That was five long years ago! This spring, I decided to concentrate on the Seven. I found a great independent mechanic who would tackle the punch list I had created. Correct the starter, debug some gauges, replace the overflow tank, clean the fuel tank and more. After a few weeks, I had her back and better than ever! She is a Birkin S3 for the early 2000s titled as a 1965 Lotus and powered by a Weber-carburetored 2.0 Liter Ford Zetec sporting a custom mesh grill made by the master stainless-steel fabricator, Charlie MacDonald, of the CJM Custom Shop in Fort Lauderdale.