Croc

There is a car? Where? I don't see one. I noticed you parked in a disabled spot - I would be disabled too after having them draped all over me. :rofl: You're a lucky man Hank!

That is just so incredibly tasteful :drool:

Will she bring enough to pay for the rims?

This is very frustrating. It is a case of inconsistent application of NJ laws and regs. It is hard to aim for a target when NJ keeps moving it. Of course if you try and ask the NJ MVC exactly what process you should follow you get 20 different answers. The NJ Government are just not friendly to cars like ours. Morgan's suggestion of substituting engine is a clever one its just who wants to do an engine change every 2 years when you have to address the inspection requirements. The QQ plate idea is also a good one but I was told by the MVC in January that they plan to phase out the plate in 2010 since too many cars were taking advantage of it - I guess that was a forewarning of where they plan to go.

Maybe....Jon should post an article on the trials and tribulations of getting his Se7en to start before summer is finished.... It would definitely be interesting and something we can all relate to. Then again, given the carp weather we have been having in NYC I am not sure summer has even started!

Um....what is the '1000 Club'?

No affiliation, etc. Interesting design ideas in this one. The owner has clearly put a lot of thought into it. It does not say what chassis it is based on but it is beautifully constructed. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus-Roadster_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZalgoQ3dSIQ26itsQ3dIQ252BCQ26ituQ3dFICSQ252BUAQ252BUCIQ26otnQ3d39Q26poQ3dLVIQ26psQ3d54QQ_trksidZp2773Q2em263QQcategoryZ6312QQitemZ300324103183 http://diligentdesign.ca/seven/photos/001.jpg

In a couple of the photos it looks like he has put his directional tires on backwards...oops!

I am really enjoying digging around on the internet to research this! Using the information kindly posted by West7se above, I have been doing more digging on this car. On all the Dutton websites I have reviewed plus checking back to Ortenburger, there was no production run of an S1 in 1975. The Dutton Owners Club has a nice section with pics to identify your car: http://www.duttonownersclub.co.uk/ The car we are trying to identify is not shown there and interestingly all the early cars design were inspired by the spirit of a Lotus Seven S4. I wonder if this is a one-off Dutton creation pre-production in the 1960s and was never a production model? The styling is a clear generation before the production vehicles. The front suspension does seem to line up with some of the other Dutton model pictures so it would appear to be Triumph based front suspension. O/T I was surprised to see Tim Dutton is still out there being creative. Here is his latest venture http://www.amphijeep.biz/ I would not mind one of these to drive out of my garage and into the Hudson river at the end of my driveway!

Yes but does Grace look good in a red dress? anyway...back to the point in question - which Zetec are we talking about here? the regular version or the SVT motor? If it is the SVT then there was a very interesting post by Athens who upgraded his SVT engine to the Kent cam (amongst other things). It was not as trouble free as I would expect for a simple cam upgrade http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1577&highlight=kent

Brilliant - had me totally fooled! I would love to see this posted on LotusTalk - the screams of anguish would be priceless.

Yes but was your son happy with what you did to his car?

Whatever it is - I like the look of it. I spent some time browsinig the Denis Ortenburger book and unfortunately did not get a clear match. It sort of matches the Donkervoort S7 or Glauner Rush in elements of styling but the distinctive dash shape did not match either of those.

I just want to echo everyone else with thanks to Bruce for putting this all together. I had a great time! For those that did not make it some photo links to enjoy: We started at Milford NJ, a sleepy little town on the Delaware river: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05608.jpg And proceeded to drive what I though Bruce described as "Tail of the Gecko" I could have misheard.....but it was fun! Some pics from the drive: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05611.jpg During the drive we passed Bikie diner heaven on Rt 32 - there had to be at least 100 bikes at this diner - even a dealer would not have a forecourt so crowded. Plenty of waves from those guys - they get our "habit"! http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05610.jpg This is Steve (and Boxologist) smiling just before my car decided to give him his cardio workout for the day - yes the brake lights decided to go to lunch early on the drive...oops! Sorry Steve. http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05609.jpg Steve then caused alarm at the front by disappearing from the rear vision mirror. Was it mechanical problems? Was it electrical? Had his passenger puked? Noooo.....he saw a port-a-potty! Pit stop: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05613.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05614.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05615.jpg Post drive we ended up at Bruce's house to redecorate the driveway before then adjourning to the Ship Inn for some lunch, tall stories and lots of laughter: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05617.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05620.jpg Due to the threat of impending rain Jack and I did decide to use our hoods as a preventative measure - good idea since it bucketed down while we were in the Ship Inn having lunch Following lunch we had a peek at Bruce's exquisite taste in motor vehicles - original Mini Cooper, Austin Heally in stunning Pacific Blue ("No its not an Aston Healy Jen":D), a gorgeous cream Jaguar E-type V12 convertible, and a concours condition red Jaguar E-type coupe. At this point its time to leave and its still raining. Bruce was concerned about Steve's ability to swim while driving and had a brilliant solution: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05623.jpg Other suitable captions are welcome for this pic I decided to drive home (with hood up) by way of a lengthy detour. I retraced Rt 32 and 611 north to I-78 and headed west to bond with my inner red neck at Cabela's at Hamburg PA. Wrong move. The rain was torrential and I was leaking everywhere. I know I did not have the James Bond's Lotus Esprit submarine car but geez the water coming in from the top of the pedal box was like a rushing tap! I also discovered that while it is more fun to have 2 people in the car heavy breathing really only 1 person is needed to fog up the windows so you cannot see where you are going. Good news is the windscreen wipers worked well on the outside but the running water on the inside of the screen (yes hood was installed correctly - the rain was that bad!) meant that the wipers were about as useful as boobs on a bull. Still the car handled beautifully in the paddling pool that was I-78 - plenty of traction - better than I expected. At Cabela's I had fun viewing the stuffed wildlife, checking out the fish tank and BBQ section, viewing the guns, and generally pretending to be a red neck Q:"So you say you can fit gun racks to any car? I have a Caterham will that work? A: "Wha type of hoity toity pick up is thart? Is it a furriner vehickle?" For the drive back to NYC I took the hood off to drive au naturel. Well that lasted 20 mins before I ran into the back of the rain front that I passed through on the way to Cabela's. Hood back up, I then experienced the joy a submariner has on discovering his submarine has an open porthole! Has anyone installed a bilge pump in a Se7en? I actually wrung a boatload of water out of the carpets last night! If anyone is interested I can email around the "rally book" of the driving route that we took. Should we use our rain day on June 20 to do another drive - I had a lot of fun!!!

Unfortunately renting track cars is an expensive proposition at the best of times. With the economy the way it is, it is not surprising the business struggled. I guess I now have to go back here to rent a Seven for the track. http://www.autegmotorsport.com/track_car_rental Seriously though, race car rental works in a place like this - a ton of people making the pilgrimage to race track Mecca means plenty of customers. Its hard to think of a race circuit in North America with the same star quality and drawing power to make this business work.

and that is a problem? sounds pretty good fun to me

Roll call 1 - Bruce and wife 2 - Jack and Jen 3 - Alan & Kathy (At Carlisle they said they would come - not sure if they have seen this post? I do not have their contact details). 4 - Steve and Box 5 - Me and Kyle And Al doing a chilli cook-off!

You raise an interesting point. How many people drive their Se7ens on the road with arm restraints? I have always thought of them for circuit racing not road use. Admittedly when I used to race "Elvis" my old Series II I never used arm restraints but I did have an FIA rollbar. I guess I was young and stupid

Sorry to hear that your Seven is still misbehaving. I would offer you my spare seat but Kyle has reserved it since his Birkin is unfortunately also off the road. Two of the other cars are already paired up - Jack/Jen and Alan/Kathy. The only car that comes to mind with a free seat is Bruce's (or possibly Steve's?). Give Bruce a call on his cell (on this post) as I dont believe he is checking email or this site regularly now that he is back in the country this week. It would be great to have you along. Edited - Problem solved for Box by Steve.

So a 4 cylinder engine becomes an 8 cylinder in this approach? Unless they dropped something (e,g, some cylinders) the packaging for one of these engines is larger and heavier than the original otto cycle design?

Weather looks encouraging for Saturday - sunny 74 degrees. Hopefully the rain from Thurs/Fri will have cleared away.

I have the mirrorforsevens product as well and like it. I am still getting used to it but I have removed the passenger side mirror as I found I just do not need it. I still feel I need the driver side mirror as I cannot quite see everything I want to. I am yet to remove the center mirror as I continue to tweak positioning to avoid the roll bar which sits right in the middle of my line of sight with the mirrorforsevens.

Now that you mention it - I think you are right. No problem though - you take the first car and I will take the second and we are both happy!

I think the black XI is the same as the one on the Manik Tech site under preowned link - more photos to lust over... http://www.manikllc.com/ click preowned once at site off to buy a powerball ticket....

Oh that is soooo tempting The curves on that body just make want to caress it. Gorgeous design - even after all these years - it has aged beautifully.