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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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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