rcollum

I have not attended any Sunday morning cars & coffee since the first week of April, since the weather has been very bad in Northern Virginia this spring. It was nice to get out on a nice Sunday morning, which just happened to also be Mother's Day. I drove out to Dulles Landing, the large shopping center near the junction of 50 (Lee Jackson Memorial Highway) and 606. That cars & coffee event starts around 7:00AM, centered around the Dunkin Donuts. At about 8:30AM, myself and several friends drive back in 50 towards 66, and drive to Fairfax Circle, where another cars & coffee takes place. At this location, we grab coffee and baked goods at Cameron's Coffee. Nice people and cars at both locations. This morning, at Dulles Landing, I first noticed a detail on my Caterham. (How have I missed this?) I have parked in the exact same parking place, every time I have attended, since mid-August last year. Today, the sun was in the exact position for me to see the word 'Caterham' embossed on the lower leading edge of the nose. I had not noticed that before. At Dulles Landing, Dino brought out the Baldwin-Motion Corvette he just bought. Baldwin Chevrolet was a dealership in New York, and they did what has to be described as extreme customization and tuning of Chevy products. Their customized Chevies were called Baldwin-Motion Corvettes and Camaros, with mechanical tuning done by local shop Motion Performance. What Baldwin did was similar to other dealers, like Yenko Chevrolet. Baldwin-Motion produced cars from 1967 thru 1974. --Bob Collum

We've had 10 straight days of rain. It rained all day and most of the night Friday. What do we have to do to get a decent weekend? When I left the house, the roads were wet, but we lucked out, and it did not rain at Katie's. The overcast and the wet roads made lots of folks hesitate, but most still showed up, but an hour or so later than usual. An impressive showing, all things considered. My wife made her first trip out to Katie's this morning. Since she arrived much later than I did, and the weather looked better, she brought the Seven, and gave some rides to friends. Last picture - hey, who is that?? (LotusMan1951.) --Bob Collum

I was told the silver MGA had been sent back to England at some point for a full restoration, where they added very subtle fender flares, and made the body perfect. It looked really good. By comparison, the black one was a nice 'survivor'. --Bob

An overcast morning, which meant a slow start, but we ended up with a good turnout, overall. It turns out the rain will be happening Sunday, forcing us to postpone our Get Your Lotus Out event, originally scheduled for Sunday, May 1st. --Bob Collum

Sorry to say, we have our first-ever GYLO postponement. The Sunday, May 1st forecast is now for thunderstorms, all day. As much fun as it is to get together, we feel it will be better to reschedule for a later date. We are also cancelling the cookout at the Glahns', which was scheduled to immediately follow GYLO. We need to work on logistics - make sure the GYLO venue is available for our group, and arrange for a possible meal afterwards. Once that is taken care of, we will notify you all about the new date and arrangements. We are looking at Sunday, May 29th (Memorial Day Weekend) as a possible GYLO date. Let me know if you have strong feelings about that date, one way or another. As always, keep your eye on our website for future developments - NoVALotus.club. Thanks! Bob Collum Mark Franke NoVA Lotus

Lots of interesting cars - including 15 Lotus (and one M100 in the parking lot). A great day... My Caterham was the only Seven there. --Bob Collum

http://britishspeed.com/forum/images/icons/icon1.png Get Your Lotus Out - GYLO 11 This coming Sunday, May 1st, we will hold our GYLO (Get Your Lotus Out) event. NOTE: RE-SCHEDULED to 05/29/16!! The Venue – Katie’s Coffee lower parking lot, in Great Falls, VA. The address for Katie’s Coffee is 760 Walker Road, Great Falls, VA. This is in a shopping center called Great Falls Village, a large square block accessible from either Georgetown Pike (193) or Walker Road. From Georgetown Pike, the road in to Great Falls Village runs between the Great Falls Post Office and the BB & T Bank, directly across from the fire department. From Walker Road, the entrance to Great Falls Village is the street next to the Wells Fargo Bank, across Walker Road from the Safeway Shopping Center. I will set up early, so if you drive all the way around the block in Great Falls Village, you won’t be able to miss our setup. The Schedule – Sunday, May 1st, 2016, from 9:00AM to 11:30AM. We will issue a placard with an assigned number for each Lotus to put in the windshield, and a ballot to vote for your favorite Lotus. Between 10:30 and 11:00AM, we will tally the votes, and award some prizes. GYLO is a shorter-duration event than a full-blown car show, organized just for Lotus cars. We typically have between 25 and 40 cars show up, in a variety of Lotus models – it’s quite a sight! (We had three Sevens in attendance last year!) We’d love you to bring your Lotus, but we also understand that our cars are not always ready to drive – come on out, with or without your Lotus. This event is both for Lotus owners, and Lotus lovers! The NoVA Lotus Cookout afterwards – Jenn & Tim Glahn have offered to hold a cookout starting at noon at their house in Burke, VA – not a bad drive from Katie’s. We did this at the last GYLO, last September, and we had a GREAT time! The Glahns are providing burgers and hot dogs, soft drinks and beer, and desserts. If you would like to attend this event with your fellow Lotusphiles, you are welcome to come. We ask that, for food planning purposes, you RSVP your headcount for the cookout to me on this thread as soon as possible. If you like, you can bring a side dish to share at the cookout. We hope to see you at GYLO! Bob Collum

What happens at Katie's when it suddenly starts raining? Well, those of us in open cars... run away! Today's cars & coffee was doing well, until... it started raining around 7:20AM. A quick exit for all the roadsters. A nice turnout while it lasted, though! --Bob Collum P.S.: I hope everyone can make it to Britain on the Green on 4/24/16... They PROMISE good weather! See the thread below for details: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?11099-Britain-on-the-Green-Sunday-04-24-16

Don't forget! Britain on the Green, the first big British car show of the year, will be held this Sunday, 4/24/16. Show field opens at 9:30AM, awards presentation 2:30PM - 3:00PM. It's as much a social event as anything. We would like to get a large contingent of Lotus (including, of course, Sevens) at this year's event, as a way of kicking off our season. The link to the site is below. Show car registration will be $35 at the gate. Spectator admission is $10 for adults, and children 6-18 years old $5.Children under 6 are admitted free. Visitors can bring the whole family (2adults, 3 children) for $25. Bring your chairs! www.capitaltriumphregister.com/bog/ We will have a tailgate party set up in our area, so please let us know if you will attend, so we can gauge how much food to bring! --Bob Collum

I searched, and didn't see "LeMay" listed anywhere on the site. Here are some cars of interest I saw while visiting the Lemay Museum. I'm visiting a friend in Seattle. The current feature is American muscle, but we managed to find these cars there. I had heard this was a pretty good collection, and I was happy we went. --Bob Collum

A combination of good weather and lots of car events later today brought out the crowds! A good turnout of Lotus (I hope) means a good showing next week at Britain on the Green, and on Sunday, May 1st, for Get Your Lotus Out... (Sorry to Vic, I didn't get a proper picture of his red Europa Twincam - the corner of it is barely visible in the last picture.) --Bob Collum

It was wet when I left for Katie's, early this morning. It was a bit cold for early spring - 42 degrees. No rain at all on the way in, though. Looks like that was enough to discourage a lot of people, but not all of us! --Bob Collum

The first Katie's of April. Temperature was not bad - low 50's early morning, but it started raining lightly, just before 6:00AM. Did it keep some people away? Yes. Did it mean no interesting vehicles? Absolutely not! The first picture is of the Katie's front lot, at 7:40AM. (I drove my Elise, since I knew rain was likely.) That last picture - a Lotus cousin! --Bob Collum

Today was Easter Sunday, so Cameron's at Fairfax Corner was closed. Dulles Landing had a pretty good turnout, though - only one Lotus there today, mine. Alas, no Sevens there today. We did have a brand-new, flat-plane-crank V8 Mustang GT 350, and several other interesting vehicles. --Bob Collum

A cool, mostly-clear morning at Katie's, Easter weekend. A big turnout, and a good showing of Lotus! Mark Franke's Esprit is back from its vacation. (No Sevens today, though...) --Bob Collum

Glad to contribute what I can! --Bob Collum

Oh... Most Saturdays I'm inside, having breakfast with friends until there's enough light to take pictures. We are at the table nearest the coffee counter. Now that it's Daylight Savings Time, I'm probably outside around 7:45 or 8:00AM. --Bob

Not what I would call a good turnout in either location this morning, almost certainly due to the rain/very light snow overnight. No accumulation, and the roads were mostly dry this morning, but it was cold and overcast. Not a typical "first day of spring". We will do better next week. --Bob Collum

What time were you there last week? I saw no Lotus there last week, either. I was there with my Caterham, from before 6:00AM to about 8:00AM. I get there early enough that I practically always get the same spot, facing Katie's front door. I am either in my Seven, or in my red Elise. I miss, maybe, 3 or 4 of these Saturday events per year. For future reference, I am the old guy wearing a black Lotus jacket and a red Lotus hat, carrying a Canon camera (not in the pictures). Hope to see you some week soon! --Bob Collum

Officially, today was the last day of winter. It was a cool and overcast morning, but lots of interesting cars were there - not the least of which were the 6 Lotus in attendance - an Evora, 2 Exiges, Duncan's Esprit and Victor's Europa, plus my Elise. Many Katie's regulars were back from Amelia Island. One bought a beautiful Pierce Arrow. We had a nice Ur-Quattro tribute, too. --Bob Collum

The events today were predictably light in attendance, in both locations. It was overcast this morning, with some rain threatening. Also, this was the first day of Daylight Savings, meaning that everybody lost an hour of sleep. Still, even with the smaller turnouts, the interesting cars & people that did show up made it worth the trip! Since rain was predicted, I brought my 'rain car', the Elise! --Bob Collum

An overcast morning meant a beautiful sunrise, but slightly cool temperatures. Lots of Katie's regulars were at Amelia Island for the concours and auction, but there were plenty of cars and people in Great Falls today, just the same. --Bob Collum

A light turnout today, at both Dulles Landing and at Fairfax Corner. I guess people are waiting for warmer weather! --Bob Collum

This morning, somebody brought an Evora, with Mansory front end and GT4 wing. It appears to have just been bought at Gator Motorsports, the Lotus dealer in Indianapolis. I did not have time to catch up to the owner - does anyone know who owns it? It's very nice! --Bob Collum

Thanks, Michael. I will have to have you drive my Seven sometime soon!