Photo of your car you took today

[theDreamer]

51 minutes ago, pethier said:

well.  that didn't work

I think you used to much "Negative Space" in your rendition.

[pethier]

[pethier]

[Scott_]

11 hours ago, zootnewton said:

This is gorgeous! I had a similar idea and had AI do a mock up. Not brave enough to do it for real  

 

 

Thanks.    There are things i'd do different if I were doing this again (and i might).   I think the big yellow block is too big and too far forward and I might remove some of the colors from the fenders.  I think the back of the car is the strongest.  

 

Scott

[pethier]

CSR 260 at today's MAC autocross.  It is obvious that I have not gotten around to washing the entire car.  I did wash the hood (bonnet) before applying the numbers and class letters.  

 

The wide photo is the view from my air-conditioned truck.  It was 100 degrees F at the event. I was happy to have the Soft Bits For Sevens "Storm Cap" to keep the sun off the seat.  In my assigned grid, I did not have a choice on the direction the car would face.  While I was seated in the CSR waiting for my runs, I would certainly have appreciated a Bimini on the cage.  116 entrants recorded scores.  There were two Lotus Elise cars.  Heidi's Elise is returning to her grid spot after a run.  I had the only Seven at the autocross.

 

I had lots of fun despite the weather.  I also gained further evidence that Toyo 888s are terrible tires for autocrossing with a light car.

[pethier]

On 7/24/2026 at 5:04 PM, richardjbondy said:

Here it is again today next to a 1933 Duesenberg, Model J, with a one off body. Previously it was a third place finisher at Pebble Beach. Two weeks ago we had a brand new McLaren Speedster (cost 1.7 million). The owner let every single kid (lots) climb around in it and have their photo taken.  I have never seen such a kind and generous car guy, those kids will talk about that photo their entire life!😊

My father had a 1932 Auburn cabriolet until my grandmother made him sell it (to Ralph dePalma) when Roosevelt sent his naval reserve unit to Pearl Harbor aboard WARD.  That car had wood artillery wheels, double sidemounts with mirrors like this Duesenberg, a rumbleseat, and a golf door.

 

I finally made it to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum.  I found features of his Auburn on several cars, but could not find one car that had all of them. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pethier/albums/72177720328947908

 

Around 1970 I met racer and collector Bob Youngdahl, who told me that he had been searching for my father's Auburn.  The most recent trace he found was in West Saint Paul in 1965.  I have no idea if the car still exists.

 

 

[pethier]

On 7/25/2026 at 10:42 PM, pethier said:

This is Saturday at the same location as Sunday. But the event was different.  A cross between a regular autocross and a track day.  Using the roadways on the site without pylon slaloms and chicanes.  The fact that it was run like an autocross and not a trackday meant that despite the higher speeds, there was still no opportunity to heat the tires.  In the afternoon, I did three runs in close succession, and the tires were essentially ambient temperature.  Other folks were spraying their tires to cool them.

 

Just in case you are wondering about the lump in the boot cover, and the general lack of the drum-like tautness you expect from a Caterham boot cover:

 

I think the car originally had the hood sticks, whether or not it ever had a hood.  With the poppers in the normal positions and no hood sticks to hold up the edges, the boot cover fits rather loosely. In a way, that's alright, because I think the backstays for the roll cage cross the plane of the top of the body rather aft of where the regular roll bars' backstays would.  

 

Oh, the lump.  That's a full-face helmet I left in there for a short while.  I believe it would not have fit there if the cover were stretched in the ordinary way.  I do have one popper to replace, and I have a supply.

[CBuff]

If it bothers you. I believe soft bits does a low profile boot cover made to work without the hood sticks installed. 
 

https://www.softbitsshop.co.uk/the-boot-cover-58-p.asp

 

[pethier]

4 hours ago, CBuff said:

If it bothers you. I believe soft bits does a low profile boot cover made to work without the hood sticks installed. 
 

https://www.softbitsshop.co.uk/the-boot-cover-58-p.asp

 

Does not bother me at all.  

 

As far as the CSR goes, all the soft goods I'd want to add would be a Bimini that attaches to the roll cage.  I don't have a windshield/windscreen and rollbar setup for the half-hoods that are available.  If i did, I'd rather have a full hood with a zip-open backlight like I have for my S3-body Caterham.

[Scott_]

Out today at a cars and coffee with the Tar Heel Sports Car Club to get folks to consider coming out to some of our events.   I left home in teh dark around 5:30am to get there and help get set up by 6:30am.   

[CBuff]

I nice drive today. Met up with @BlakeJ and @NSXguy (in is Renault). came across a bmw powered locost (I think). 
 

[CBuff]

[panamericano]

"Renault parking"  That is so wrong.  Those R5 Turbos are wonderful little cars.  Drove one about 1200 miles right after the same with a 308.  The Renault was so much better than the Ferrari through the mountains.  Course it was high rally spec except stage 2 motor instead of a stage 4 hand grenade.

[theDreamer]

Highly unusual very rare Lotus 7 inspired Donkervoort. They are built in the Netherlands and this one is a S8AT from 1991. Dario was driving by (on his way to dinner with his wife) one Monday night and happened to catch a glimpse of Purple Rain (our Caterham 7) at the local Cruise Night. He turned around and came back to see if it was what he thought it was. He told me had this car and showed up a couple of weeks later with it. Unfortunately we’d driven the wife’s 1981 Spitfire that night.

This evening we final both showed up with our cars and were able to do a visual comparison. Two completely different cars but both generate huge smiles for their owners and passengers.

Edited August 4 by theDreamer

[Slonie]

Wow! I would spend so much time poring over a Donkervoort from their era of "still looks like a 7" just to see how they did things. Gotta be a real rare one in the US, did you find out when they imported it?

[ProfGriff]

I'm finally getting back to work on my 7. I'm partway through an engine rebuild, and all the requisite parts are on their way from Burton UK. I can't wait to get it all together and see my new Revolution 5 spokes on it. I also can't wait to thrash it instead of just staring at it in the garage. Cheers from Canada!

[theDreamer]

Slonie, the car is in Ontario, Canada. Dario, (the present owner) did tell me when it was brought into the country by the person he bought it from but I forget when that was. I do remember him telling me that the chap was some miffed because when it was unloaded the doors were missing. These are very expensive to replace but still available from Donkenvoort Netherlands.

You can see a lot of the differences just in these two photos. More info can be found on-line.

[pethier]

Two Sevens in the garage and one in the shop.

 

 

[Ian7]

Just found this thread, and going back a page to some July comments:

Not a 7 obviously, but this is our car at Watkins Glen last year (not AI, actual livery)  :-)

 

[pethier]

On 8/4/2026 at 8:24 PM, ProfGriff said:

I'm finally getting back to work on my 7. I'm partway through an engine rebuild, and all the requisite parts are on their way from Burton UK. I can't wait to get it all together and see my new Revolution 5 spokes on it. I also can't wait to thrash it instead of just staring at it in the garage. Cheers from Canada!

I like the home-made car skates.