DeanG

Think, think, think, why do you want a Se7en and how will you use it? There are many reasons for acquiring a Se7en: vintage racing, racing, building a car with your own hands, hot roding a classic design, autocross, driving a sporting throwback to another era, owing a piece of history… The main considerations should be history (vintage eligibility is part of this), grip, weight, power and cost. Do you remember the old TV ad for the Triumph Spitfire? “You not only get a car and a girl you get a piece of history.” For the history part you probably want a Lotus built car. Unfortunately to my mind; the noble history of Caterham doesn’t seem to excite many people. Both Caterham and Birkin have romantic histories of their own. If you want a car built by Lotus do your homework to insure that it is as advertised. There are a great many reasons for calling a car that was not built by Lotus a Lotus 7. Some are simple dodges to get around draconian registration laws, others are simple fraud. Check things out with the Historic Lotus Register. Do you want to slide around every corner? The narrow section tiers of the older cars let you do that at sane speeds. If you want a trick suspension with fat gumball tires look at the newer cars. The desire for a very light weight pushes you to the original Lotus 7, more modern cars with basic specifications or the new and exotic carbon fiber and titanium wonders. Want raw power? Maybe a Stalker with a V6 provides the torque you want. Does the wail of a high reving motorcycle engine turn you on? How about paddle shifting? Motorcycle engine Se7ens are a recent invention. Do you want to keep costs down? Buy a well cared for used car. Is the sky the limit? You can option a new Se7en into 6 figures if you really try. My problem is after writing this stuff down I want one for track days, one for touring in the primitive manner and a bike engine car for the sound and paddle shifting. Oh woe is me.

Cool guys grow up to drive Porsche.

Several of the dealership buildings would make great collector car storage facilities/clubs/man caves. A local car collector was trying to acquire an old unmolsted gas station for his collection. Unfortunately for him it became a community poliece station/museum.

I called EuroClassics of Richmond, VA. Plans have firmed up. There will be an open house, with drinks and snacks, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Wednesday January 27th. At that time they will be taking reservations to drive the Evora the next day 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM Thursday January 28th. Euroclassics Lotus http://www.euroclassics.com/web/home A local recommended Pescados seafood for dinner http://www.pescadosseafood.com/

It's not quite the same thing but I will be getting my fix by going to the: - Lotus Ltd DC chapter winter party tomorrow (Saturday) - LOG 30 planning meeting later 23rd, - Evora display at Euroclassics January 27, 28 http://www.euroclassics.com/web/home

Looks good, sounds great!

We were mentioned in the Hemmings Blog. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/12/30/show-coverage-classics-at-lee-hall/ The first picture shows our car at the Classics at Lee Hall show. The last picture is from the 777 meet. The Lee Hall show was fun but 777 was awesome. I hope that LOG 30 will have as good a turnout of Se7ens. Sorry but this is exciting news for me.

Coming up in the AZ auctions. http://www.rmauctions.com/ http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/461cc229#/461cc229/74

Our own TonyV's site is referenced by Jalopnik with a Nice Price / Crack Pipe 1991 Lotus Elan (M100). http://jalopnik.com/5439298/drive-with-elan-for-13750 Vote early and often

My Seven related New Year's resolutions: - Get bodywork fixed - Replace gauges and switches - Balance brakes - Mount video camera - AutoX - Always wear earplugs

We had our M100 on that road and it was fun even though we had to be careful because of light snow falling. Thanks for the note I will try and check out the show.

I bought both but have only tried the white. I thought it was pretty good.

Is that a real carbon fiber valve cover?

The mascot for the Pacer underground of USA7s?

I finally got my hands on some Lotus vodka. I will be doing some iced shots of that. Somehow vodka & Grand Mariner seem to be my winter drinks. Summer is Gin season. Tequila, rum & burbon fill in.

So... Do we need to start the Pacer underground of USA7s?

Thanks for the pictures. A very good fit. It looks good. You are dealing with a brave man, I get very nervous when I have to cut into the 7.

I liked the concept of the Pacer. Remember the TV add where the people climbed, shut the doors then technicians pulled away the false body panels to reveal the Pacer. My wife wanted one when they were new but had to settle for a Gremlin. She still wants one. Now I work with a guy who had a Pacer. When he talked about its styling he became excited. Others said that he liked his women to have a similar shape.

Nice. Please some more detail pictures. I especially want to see how the airbox looks stylistically (that is with the bonnet in place).

Sylva Star and interesting 7ish car for sale. It is amazing how basic sports cars seem to fire the imagination. http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C123583/ I admit I don't recall ever hearing of this car.

I like the older Saabs. I got to drive a Saab 96 on a road trip, 1977 or so. For the time it had good mileage, handled well, good heat, plenty of power for the highway and fit 4. GM kills another car company.

Kitcat - your questions are valid. It is amazingly tough to get feedback on LOG or Lotus Ltd. I try to communicate people who have questions and opinions and feed it to the proper channel. If anyone wants to ask any questions or make any comments please feel free to PM me. The co-chair husband & wife team are working hard at making LOG fun and affordable for all. In addition to holding down regular jobs and trying to get all their cars in shape for LOG. The husband, Chris is a pretty fair mechanic and does most of his own work. I believe they have: 2X Europa, Eclat and a recently purchased turbo Esprit. I have trouble working on our Seven, a very simple car and our Elan. Mostly I have to turn our M100 over to professionals.

One consideration is that it is off season. The rates are less - People have been complaining about the cost of attending recent LOGs. Room availability - finding a block of between 100 & 200 rooms is not trivial. It also slots in just after Fall Carlisle - Sept. 29 - Oct. 3 & the AACA 2010 Eastern Division National Fall Meet in Hershey 10/6/2010 - 10/9/2010 It has snowed at one LOG. It was LOG 13 in Grand Rapids Michigan.

Now you need to find the Lotus logo center cap. It would look marvelous I've been looking for a while and haven't found one yet.

I think that is the best modernization of the se7en I have ever seen.