Suprising Info !!!!

[Elan45]

I was at Lotus East only once, upstairs in the main building for a nice visit with Phil Mahoney. It was June 1975 while on route to Sturbridge Mass in the Elan SS DHC. We'd had a beautiful 1st day of travel from Ohio, except the passenger window cable broke, stayed the night at Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck (we've been back there several times since), but awoke to rain that seemed to last the whole rest of our trip. So off the Duchess Auto to acquire a replacement cable and some other sundry bits that we could fit into an Elan already bulging from a weeks worth of luggage.

The field to the left of the main building was filled with the last shipment of Europas that day, probably over a hundred. The shape of things to come was there too. I was not impressed with what I saw of the new Elite that day, nor apparently, were many others. We also visited DSN Lotos (correct spelling) during that trip. Great memories!

Roger

[StressCraxx]

Well, I wonder how many of our members bought their Lotus from Bob Challman's Ecurie Shirlee?

Or from Jay Chamberlain?

Or Bill Young?

Chamberlain was the first, servicing mainly the San Fernando Valley area.

Challman, in Manhattan Beach, serviced the mainly aerospace gearheads in the South Bay.

And Bill Young did like wise for the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valley areas.

In the '60s and '70s, it was not uncommon to see an Elite, Elan, Europa, or Seven on the roads. For awhile, there was another Elan parked with mine when I worked at Litton in Van Nuys. And another Lotus in the parking lot at JPL when I was working there.

David
1968 36/7988

David,

There were several Lotus in the parking lots at JPL. I worked there as a summer student employee the summer of 1970. That included the first Clean Air Car Race with a S1 Europa fueled with ethanol. Anyway, I knew Dan Griffin of drove his Elan frequently because he parked in the east lot. There was a very nice black S2 Europa that parked in the west lot.
My dad worked in the Instrumentation test section from 1967 to 1992.

Our neighbor behind us owned a 65 S2 Elan. She drove it most every day.
I became a Lotus fan the day I saw her pull out into the street and row through the gears down the street.

Regards,
Dan Wise

[Jon Eckman]

Jim,

I worked on 17th Street in Manhattan back in the early 1970's and would take the subway from there to Karl's Garage up around 232nd Street in the Bronx for parts for the '66 S2 I had back then. The local-stop trip took about 45 minutes and it was like going through different worlds as the train went up the line. The counterhelp at Karl's always treated me, then a long haired hippie looking kid wearing an old beat up army jacket, pretty well.

Jon

[spanner]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the response. I just dug up the old receipt:

Karls Parking Corp. 633 West 134th Street
5-31-'68
Lotus Elan - white - conv. - 1965
$2850+119 tax

CAR NOT WARRANTED (underlined 3 times)

The fellow that bought it from Karl's Parking kept it for about 18 months. In that time, he blew the engine and clutch, had it rebuilt and blew the clutch again (drag racer).

The local-stop still takes 45 minutes, but you don't see as many bell bottoms!

JIm

Goggle, Karl's Garage.... http://www.mail-archive.com/camp03@fesi ... 11390.html

[1964 S1]

I came across this old fun subject and thought, hmmmmm, how many of the @ 15 posters are still here? I recognize a few names, but the rest? Are you guys still here? I know I can search profiles but it's discussions like this one that make this site entertaining.
I imagine my white S1 was the one Gurney got to drive when he was at Indy.
Eric

[garyeanderson]

Hi Eric

I don't know, the forum seems to go through phases like the moon. I don't think folks stick around forever but most people may still read the forum on occasion to see what it has morphed into. 13 years ago when it was a single stream on yahoo and you could get it mailed to you had a lot of good things about it in that you could scan 10 to 30 messages and reply at your leisure. Today it seems more real time and most topics seem to start and stop after a couple of quick one line comments. Answers are answers and many are right on the money as they have been discussed several times and folks seem to remember or know how to find that info quickly. There are several view points about what this forum is and what it should be, I certainly have one and expressed it quite a few times. It may not be the way anyone else wants to see it but it is still an Elan forum about Elans and the Plus2. Seems I've ruffled some peoples feathers of late and the bully comments may be valid, I do get a chuckle out of it but I except what people think about me and my ideas. There are others with "strong" opinions that are welcome to express them and do. I say what I think, I don't bait. I start and reply to topics, I am wrong enough that sometimes it bothers me but I get over it. There is funny thing on this forum, some of the "experts" have a tough time being wrong here, they don't post anything ever worth reading and just seem to read the stuff in "For Sale" Those that think I should go away or be nice have another thing coming.

Gary

[SpeedModel]

Still lurking....

[lotusS2guy]

+1

Herb
26/4618

[Jon Eckman]

Still here too - didn't pick up on the 2010 thread start until I saw my post from then!

[1964 S1]

Gary, aka . . .
?
ps;
Please pm your response.

Eric

[StressCraxx]

I log on several times a week to get my Elan fix.

[Elan45]

I just saw at the top of this page my post about my visit to Lotus East in 1975, so I must admit to still being here. I've just read a couple of the other posts and I wonder if maybe there is an underlying search for past history. I wonder if there is a member in the Pittsburgh area, as that is where my SS originated. When I rebuilt the car the first time 1983-85, I found a parking lot stub for downtown Pittsburgh inside the heater box. In the grille of the car is a badge for Competition & Touring Sportscar Club which I have verified was a Pittsburgh club. And there was a Netherlands (I think) badge too, not there anymore.

Roger

[spanner]

Wow, where did the last two years go?

Greetings from upstate New York.

Jim

[AlfaLofa]

And I'm still here !

But I need to change my ownership from 37 years to 39.

[LotusArchives]

Reading this and seeing cars being invoiced abroad, but never going abroad has put a spanner in my works of trying to identify total number of UK/Export cars.