USA dealer network in the 1960's

PostPost by: wolfchen » Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:54 pm

recently on Facebook, someone posted a screen shot of a booklet of lotus dealers in USA in the 1970's , is there such a bit of information for the 1960's ? Also there was a lotus distributor prior to Dutchess Auto as well


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PostPost by: trw99 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:24 am

Jeffrey, no, I have never seen a 1960s produced dealer list from the factory. I believe the first official one they printed was the brown 1974 version you likely refer to.

From my own research I have produced this non-exhaustive list, attached below. Edit: Well, I tried to but the forum doesn't like .xlt or .ods files; Dropbox and One Drive fail too. Any ideas?

I'd be happy to hear from anyone who can fill in any blanks!

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PostPost by: gjz30075 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 9:20 am

Tim, take a picture of it and post it as a jpg.
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PostPost by: trw99 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 9:55 am

Far too much info on it, Greg. It just would not reproduce well enough.

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PostPost by: wolfchen » Fri Jun 19, 2020 11:00 am

trw99 wrote:Jeffrey, no, I have never seen a 1960s produced dealer list from the factory. I believe the first official one they printed was the brown 1974 version you likely refer to.

From my own research I have produced this non-exhaustive list, attached below. Edit: Well, I tried to but the forum doesn't like .xlt or .ods files; Dropbox and One Drive fail too. Any ideas?

I'd be happy to hear from anyone who can fill in any blanks!

Tim

perhaps you could send it by email to me and I can work up s forum friendly version ?
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PostPost by: JohnCh » Fri Jun 19, 2020 1:16 pm

If all else fails, I can create a page for it on my website and host it there. The forum will take that link without issue.

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PostPost by: Elan45 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 2:20 pm

I sent a letter to Lotus in 1966 or 7 about buying an Elan kit. I received a reply that the Elan was only available fully assembled in the US and included a sheet on the Seven kits and I believe Lotus dealers. I was surprised that Continental Sports cars in Columbus was not on the list. I have the contents of that reply in my file of Lotus literature and I'll try to dig it out over the weekend and scan it.

Sy Kabak distributed Lotus cars in New York previous to Dutchess, but mostly race cars. There is a good discussion about his history on the Simple Sevens web site, but from memory, he was finished before the Elan was introduced. And there are no records of cars sold, as I'd hoped to find info on my Twenty which was bought by Team Rosebud in Texas.

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PostPost by: tvacc » Fri Jun 19, 2020 4:42 pm

I believe Team Rosebud was the team that Innes Ireland drove for in the 60's. I think it was a Ferrari he drove for them.
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PostPost by: trw99 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:01 pm

Phil Harrison is kindly converting the spreadsheet into pdf, so we can get it posted soon.

Please bear in mind this is a work in progress. I have gathered some raw data on a few of the dealers but recognise there is much more to do. The list is worldwide, so covers North America, Europe, UK and RoW.

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PostPost by: StressCraxx » Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:35 pm

One of the other dealers/importers was Bob Challman - Manhattan Beach Imported Cars, Manhattan Beach, CA. He took over from Jay Chamberlain when Jay ran into financial difficulties in the early '60s. He literally saved a batch of Elites from the dock in Long Beach that shipping had not been paid. Most of the '60's ads you see in the old Road and Track and Car and Driver were Bob's artwork and marketing.
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PostPost by: pharriso » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:19 pm

trw99 wrote:Phil Harrison is kindly converting the spreadsheet into pdf, so we can get it posted soon.

Please bear in mind this is a work in progress. I have gathered some raw data on a few of the dealers but recognise there is much more to do. The list is worldwide, so covers North America, Europe, UK and RoW.

Tim


This is Tim's list:
All Dealers as at Jun 2020.pdf
(215.47 KiB) Downloaded 1092 times
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PostPost by: gjz30075 » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:32 pm

Nice work! Thanks Phil and Tim.
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PostPost by: pharriso » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:49 pm

Jeff, I also have this list from 1967 of the 5 importers & the dealers under Lotus East:
LotusUSADealers_1967.jpg and

Take the 200 number with a pinch of salt!
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PostPost by: spanner » Sun Jun 21, 2020 2:28 pm

Time capsule.....
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Karl's.jpeg and
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PostPost by: wolfchen » Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:02 pm

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