Monday, September 15, 2014

British Car Show (2014): The Lotus Post


For 50 years, I've wanted a Lotus.  And for 20 years, more or less, I've been able to afford one.  I looked Elises over at the Chicago Auto Show in 2005.  And bought a Mustang instead.  More bang-for-the-buck, especially in the upper Midwest.  Ahh.... but if I lived in Knoxville, and it was a weekend toy...  In Fantasy World, I still want a Lotus.


Above and below: a tasty Elise.  The owner must have to be as careful about ramps with
his rear diffuser as supercar owners are about their front splitters.



This was one of the most interesting and puzzling cars at the show.  The display card listed it as a "Lotus 15
Custom".  Clearly it is not a fiberglass-bodied kit car: the body is aluminum, fastened in the same places
and in the same ways as the Lotus Elevens and 15's were.  There may be an engine transplant: I don't
recall a hole cut in the hood for induction on the original 15. 


Above and below: an original, street-spec, Lotus 7.  Go find one.  Most of the (rare) street-spec cars were long-ago
converted to race cars.  There was an even older one (1954, I think) at the BCS, with the original front suspension
made from a sawed-in-half-and-pivoted solid axle, but, fool that I am, I didn't get a picture of it.



The (English) Ford Cortina 105E engine that powered later street-spec Lotus Sevens.  This one has been
Cosworth-ized, with Weber carbs.

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