Nifty

After 7 years holed up in the garage I'm recommissioning my Turbo Esprit to take to Classic Le Mans. Having only had one fuel filler cap key I decided I really needed a spare (or two). S.J. Sportscars sent me a blank which turned out to be incorrect. However, I have now worked out that it is a WASO M series key and have ordered two precut keys from Replacementkeys.co.uk for under £10 delivered ... let's hope they are correct 👍

Evening all, very long time no see !! I thought I was recording this series but it turns out I wasn't and have missed the Esprit !! 🙄 Will have to watch the YouTube recording. Was made aware of the episode yesterday when my mate who had stored the car for a while at his engineering works phoned me and asked what the reg plate of my old orange S1 was. Lo and behold it was STX 596 S. I owned the car from 2012 to 2017 having bought it from a chap on here who bought it from the chap who started the "restoration", as detailed in this old thread - FULL S1 RESORATION FINALLY BEGINS...... I never did anything with the car other than fantasise about the restoration and move it from Wyatt Engineering to my own workshop. I did make a number of enquiries and some will be in other threads on TLF. This included being quoted £15K by Steve Fulcher for the tartan interior. When I finally admitted defeat on the idea of restoring it myself I sold it to a friend of the chap who I bought it from for £9.5 or £10K (can't remember what we finally agreed on), having bought it for £6K 👍 I have to say, seeing the completed car does make me feel rather green with envy ... but equally satisfied that it wasn't my money laid out for what I understand was a relatively small return. Mind you, I would have kept it and used it if I had completed the project .. assuming I hadn't bankrupt myself in the process 😲

The car in this thread is the Salvage Hunters car. I owned it from September 2012 to June 2017. I bought it from a chap on here, who bought it from Kris (smokingkills), the narrator of this thread. I had great aspirations of returning it to full glory, like the orange Scott Walker cars at that time, but eventually saw the reality of such a huge project with almost everything in boxes. Bodywork was not as far forward as photos above suggest. Basically it was a start from the beginning project. Fulchers quoted me £15K upwards for a full trim in tartan and they only had one car's worth of material left. I sold it on to a friend of the chap I bought it from .. he in turn must have sold it on as the programme bought it from someone else. I bought it for £6K, did nothing to it other than move it from one unit to another and sold it for around £10K 5 years later ... wish my investments today yielded a return like that 😉

Stuart, I'll do my best to attend, but won't yet be in a Lotus (yet again) !! Looks like it'll be another season san Loti - 7 repairs looking more costly than I anticipated ... or to be more accurate, I've decided to get several other jobs done whilst it's still off the road. Won't be around for August meeting but will endeavour to get Turbo on the road for September (monies permitting) and then have the 101 out for winter

I'll second that !!

I have now sent it again Stuart. It's quite long and I don't appear to have a sent items box so hope its got to you this time !

The Oaksmere ? Loads of parking, nice setting, decent beer and food ... and I used to play rugby with the proprietor

Johnny come lately here. I haven't been to an AEG / TLF meeting for quite some time now, but don't forget that along with the wide geographical distribution (with poor interconnecting roads) we are also blessed with many Lotus club options. CL meet at the BIH once a month, L7C meet at Scole once a month, EALC meet at The Ram at Tivetshall once a month (though I've only been once - they were all polishers and stuck their noses up at the noise my 7 made !!). Personal circumstances have kept me quiet on the car front for a while but hoping to bounce back into the fold this year .. and the BIH is an easy, enjoyable drive for me .. if the car will start.

Oh .. what happened to that then I'll recompose and send again later this evening

Stuart, You should have a PM but for general interest I'll post up the last message to me from my L7C friend:

What a great piece of history to rescue. I read through this thread just a couple of days ago, having revisited TLF after a long absence (other aspects of life taking me away from my cars). Lo and behold, by sheer coincidence, last night a chap in the Lotus 7 Club posted a link to the Top Gear episode and it transpires that he was one of the Lotus engineers on the hydraulics working alongside Cranfield. He posted this snippet: Then another L7C member replied with this: If you're interested Stuart I could put you in touch with these chaps

I looked at a dry sump Turbo down in Surrey about 4-5 years ago, being sold through a small dealer /chancer. It was on an X plate and was painted (loose term) in a silvery blue colour with a black hide interior. The engine smoked like a chimney and the whole condition of the car was well below the asking price. Did contemplate an offer but decided not to be so stupid, for once !!

Matt, I've just PM'd you. Nifty

I've got a feeling I've something on that weekend (or rather, Cathy has arranged something ) but if not would be good to catch up again .. over a pint or two. Who's driving the bus ?

Sorry, change of plan .. I will now be going on Sunday. So .. anyone wish to join me for a run ?