Jay Leano article in Sydney Morning Herald

[gordont]

A good read in this weeks Sydney Morning Herald - Jay Leano article. For those of you who are not in Sunny Sydney it is as below.
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/blog ... 18ysd.html

[nebogipfel]

Good find, thanks

He is obviously a man with good taste

[john.p.clegg]

[quote="nebogipfel"]Good find, thanks

He is obviously a man with good taste [/quote]

Not just good taste but a lot of it..

John

[lotusS2guy]

For those not aware, Jay Leno has a multi-million dollar collection of cars and motorcycles and drives most of them. He has a web site on which he posts interesting interviews and details of current projects. Of interest to this group is his restoration of a 1966 Elan S2 into a quasi 26R. He says it will be faster than a 26R (with its 2L all aluminum engine, I don't doubt that). Here's a link to his video blog for his Elan.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/segment/r ... otus-elan/

[bcmc33]

This is what I have in my video store:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/196 ... an/984581/

If you want to see what Jay Leno has in his garage check this out:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/the-cars/

[cal44]

Leno writes he doesn't get the 2+2 model. What's to get? I guess a 1970 "S" Porsche (back seats) he wouldn't get?

Jay, Plus 2 cars are neat.

[pharriso]

"Almost every weekend, when I go up into the Santa Monica Mountains, I will see what must be a local club of Lotus guys ? five, six, seven, eight of them ? neow, neow, neow, just tearing by, chasing one another like cats and dogs through the mountains.

They?re real enthusiasts and that?s what they do. They are fast, they handle well and they do it better than an yone else."

Hopefully some of you guys on here...

[nebogipfel]

Leno writes he doesn't get the 2+2 model. What's to get? I guess a 1970 "S" Porsche (back seats) he wouldn't get?

Jay, Plus 2 cars are neat.

I think I understand what he means.

The +2 is a nice car, I wanted one back in the 70's ...until I sat in and drove an Elan but it was always going to be a compromise, bigger, longer and heavier than an Elan. It was Colin Chapman's "family man's Elan", his wish to move up market and to a more "mature" grand tourer.

I have owned a +2 and quite liked it but I'd swap three +2's for one Elan any day. The Elan is a brilliant design and a pure sports car.


PS I know it's not good to envy but I would so like his garage/museum/collection I take some comfort from the fact that he's not just a rich bloke who buys cars but is clearly a knowledgeable enthusiast who loves cars.

[cal44]

John, you are lucky to have a Plus 2, the lines on these cars are just beautiful. Elans are cute, Plus 2's are graceful.

At sixty.............I'll take graceful. Cute always finds a younger guy...........and it ain't me.

[stugilmour]

Enjoyed the article; nice find & thanks for sharing. I wondered how much the 2 + 2 comment would stir things up here . Maybe we can just assume he meant the ?clat/Elite models rather than the fantastic Elan Plus 2

I really liked his advice to Lotus to stay focused; their new line-up looks heavy, expensive, and ambitious with the Elise even growing considerably. Car and Driver, a prominent US car rag, has an excellent article on the new Loti, comparing them to the ?clat Elite Esprit era.

Our local club had a presentation by a member who got the full tour from Jay over the Monterey show season this year. Besides having a fantastic and eclectic collection with a full restoration facility (several buildings), he mentioned Jay was a most gracious host and very good with all of the fans at the big shows. Don't particularly find his TV show that great (his attempt at a sort of Top Gear format this year was unfortunate), but as an enthusiast I really admire the guy.

Gotta love his opinion of the Elan and interesting he came to the car later in life.

[mopho]

I saw this article on another forum and figured it was being talked about here

"Almost every weekend, when I go up into the Santa Monica Mountains, I will see what must be a local club of Lotus guys ? five, six, seven, eight of them ? neow, neow, neow, just tearing by, chasing one another like cats and dogs through the mountains.

They?re real enthusiasts and that?s what they do. They are fast, they handle well and they do it better than an yone else."

Hopefully some of you guys on here...

That would be me. We have a Sunday morning Lotus coffee and drive meet but it is all Lotus Elise's. I used to bring my Elan a couple of years ago, but I've since sold it and now have a Caterham that the Elise guys try and keep up with.

We see Leno out on the roads all the time and he often shows up to the local car meets with something from his collection.

I had posted this before, but back when I had the Elan, I was out driving with my father who was in town visiting, and Jay chased us down on his motorcycle to have a look at the Elan, my dad couldn't believe it.



This past summer I had an assignment to photograph one of Jays car for Australian magazine. Jay ended up giving me a personal tour of the garage and workshops. After the shoot we got invited to stick around for lunch. He then took us out for rides in his 63 Chrysler Turbine car and a 1907 White Steam car. The steam car we went driving around Burbank which caused all kinds of pandemonium. We even went shopping at an automotive bookstore with him.

Here with my 7



07 White Steam car








Not allowed to take pictures of his garage unfortunately, but there is a lot of shots floating around on the internet

[StoatWithToast]

Ace article and video; makes me want to tweak the engine to 170hp, sort all the suspension out and trash it

[Galwaylotus]

Ace article and video; makes me want to tweak the engine to 170hp, sort all the suspension out and trash it

I hope you mean "thrash" rather than "trash" the Elan. I'd hate to see another one totaled!!!