Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

wow what period is that from ? never heard of lotus dealer in NYC itself JV

Here are the list of dealers sent to me Dec 1966. I've also enclosed the letter that accompanied the lists.

Roger

thank you, that is great ,I guess in the day dealers came and went frequently, I read that Gran Turismo in Greenvale NY sold Lotus too but either they were very short loved or something

I am asking around Long island to see whom recalls lotus in Long Island in the 1960's


Jeffrey Vogel

wolfchen wrote:,I guess in the day dealers came and went frequently

Jeffrey Vogel

Jeffrey, unfortunately they still do!

This is all great info for me as I reside in the area. Also heard of a dealer at 790 Norther Blvd, Little Neck.

Glad to help out. When I received this document, I was disappointed, since there was no dealer listed in Ohio, but I suppose Ohio was covered by Lotus Central in a suburb of Detroit. Livonia IIRC.

Years later, after I'd bought my 1st Elan, while living in Columbus Indiana, the DPO had bought it from Lotus Central and friend was able to put me in touch w/ a fellow who had been w Central when my car had been there, and he could remember my Elan being traded for a new Europa in about 1972 and that it had come from Pittsburgh area. There was a grille badge for "Competition & Touring Sports Car Club" while ripping out carpet etc during my 1981-85 restoration, I found a downtown Pittsburgh parking lot receipt, so verifying the info. But I've never been able to progress further in my search for the original owner.

Roger

Jeffrey et al,

I have found it very interesting that the Lotus dealers in Columbus, Dayton and Cleveland Ohio all burned down during the winter of 1974 '75.

Roger

Thanks for posting. My car was sold through Lotus Southwest according to my heritage certificate, and I assumed it was in Dallas but this confirms it.

Amazing what you come across when you aren't looking.
This ad is from the October 1964 Road & Track mag, somehow filed with old project car receipts. I saw my first Lotus in 1965 at Precision Motors in Tucson, Arizona. I bought my +2 in 1975, in Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK.

I have reformatted the PDF file so dealer names, addresses & notes all appear on the same line/page now. Also expanded all rows so Tim's full notes on dealers can be seen.

thank you for that information, I didn't see Tom's Pit Stop in New Jersey USA listed, it was the first place i saw a new Lotus for sale other than Dutchess Auto.

"I learned a great deal and moved back to New Jersey where I opened my own repair shop called "Tom's Pit Stop". Under my leadership as owner/operator of "Tom's Pit Stop" I trained many young men to be mechanics. At that time I also became interested in racing and prepared and drove an Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite. I also sponsored a BMW, MGA, and MGB Midget for SCCA racing for other drivers.

After racing one day at Lime Rock and trailing my Bugeye home I stopped to help a broken down TVR that just had finished racing. I gave the driver of the TVR an extra fuel pump that I had, Sometime later I learned that the driver of the TVR was Gerry Sagerman. Subsequently, he came to my shop in New Jersey to have a clutch job done on his TVR. The next time that I saw Gerry, in 1966, was when he came to my shop with a new TVR (Serial #001) and asked me if I would like to sell them. He left the car and took my check, walked across the highway and hitchhiked back to Long Island. I immediately sold the car and two more were delivered costing $3,717 each. That was the beginning of our friendship, which still continues today.

In the meantime Lotus was looking for a Central New Jersey dealer and asked Gerry about me. I became a Lotus dealer in 1967 and sold more cars than any other TVR/Lotus dealer in the Northeast, mainly due to my reputation as a foreign car mechanic.

I stopped racing when I got married in 1967 but still sponsored cars and sold TVR/Lotus through 1984 when I gave up my dealership." from http://www.tvrccna.org/tvrccna.pl?page=pitstop

Toms Pit Stop. Great old memories. My fathers business was nearby. My brother and I would stop in and look at new TVR and Lotus. My brother did purchase a used Vixen. When it developed engine problems my brother sold it to Toms Pit Stop. Quite some time ago a person listed (not on this forum) about a TVR that required work was purchased by him from Tom's. He had purchased that car.

I now have an early TVR Vixen S2 originally purchased in NJ and a Lotus Elan +2. Both restored and sitting unused in my garage awaiting a COVID vaccine.

I need the motivation to get back to restoring my 1963 Jaguar MK2. I am getting old.

Bob