Slotus

Remember seeing it at Paul Matty's... rather liked it and often thought it'd be a fun project to recreate it (sort of). Wonder if anyone already has?

I have viewed the events of the recent few years as "The Great IQ Test" - with the vast majority of people seeming to have failed it as far as I can see, resulting in them one way or another shuffling along ever more rapidly in the queue to the graveyard gates. Meanwhile, the handful of us that could see what was going on and "passed the test" are doing our best to head in the other direction, however futile that endeavour may be. What's that quote about it being far easier to fool people than convince them they've been fooled? - Mark Twain I think - and certainly true as a general principle.

Sadly not quite long enough to pit the Esprit and Vantage against each other for a 0-60-0 test 😉

To make it clear, to avoid a pile on by Karens and the thread disintegrating, I always have and always do wear a seatbelt whilst driving or as a passenger... and as far as it is any business of mine, I'd obviously recommend everyone else do so too! - my seatbelt probably saved my life when the careless bitch wrote off my first Elan, so I have first-hand practical experience of how useful they are. My beef, as I mentioned, is with the damn thing beeping at me incessantly when literally doing maybe 2mph in my driveway shuffling vehicles around... ridiculous. My little daily runaround car got the same treatment from the wirecutters. As to all this other government-spy-tech incoming in new cars, well more fool anyone daft enough to buy one of those cars in the first place... The tech will be there to lock you into your own car and drive you to the nearest plod-shop (or booster jab centre) if you've committed so much as a thought crime... Darwinism indeed 🙂

My Transit van (which sadly I do more miles in than all my nice cars collectively... such is life...) used to beep annoyingly at me if i dared move it a foot without putting the seatbelt on... Pair of wire cutters soon put an end to that. 😁 *I* decide whether or not I need a seatbelt to move a few yards on my own driveway thankyouverymuchindeed.

Well that looks like a pretty impressive place! - never heard of it before either 🤔

...there might be some hope then!

The other conccern is do they have any decent Lotus and Aston garages? 😁 - I'm no good at the oily bits, never had time to learn.

Sounds good so far... The healthcare thing is a concern anywhere, and old-age care (especially if no family with you) of course... Having seen the disgraceful way the NHS treated both my parents, leading (I suspect the investigations/inquest will conclude) to their increased suffering and earlier than should have been deaths, I have the best private health insurance I could find. Of course you pay loads of money into it in the hope you never have to use it! - and so I would look to do the same if I were to move somewhere else. As to the old-age thing... who knows... maybe a Lotus-powered Thelma and Louise exit?!

Sounds like a plan... love ice cream! (which might be an issue with the profit margins and my waistline 😂 ) But in all seriousness, yes, that kind of small business that can be run with just a couple of staff would suit... low stress levels is what you need for a retirement business!

A very pleasant evening yesterday... Went to Stratton Motor Co. to get an update on progress on my Eclat and Elan, more on those later, and then joined the run out to the Suffield Arms for dinner - met some friends there who I've still not managed to persuade to buy a Lotus / Aston, and had a very nice evening indeed. Excellent food. Heavens opened just as we were about to leave SMC, and the first 10 miles maybe was quite heavy rain and dark clouds... but then brightenened up bit. Great driving route, then again most of Norfolk is just made for Lotus driving! Car count: 3 Lotus, 8 Astons, 1 McClaren. Pleased to say the purple one kept up perfectly all the way with the 2 snarling V12 Vanquishes and McClaren GT in front of me - have to say all sounding glorious through the little villages etc., had radio off and windows down all the way except for the first torrential rain bit.

It does seem the whole world has gone to sh*t... everyone I speak to on the subject seems to come up with the same general answer of "well xxx used to be pretty nice in the (name recent decade) but it's gone downhill a lot since..." ...then usually they relunctantly conclude: "maybe better the grey damp miserable devil you know?"

Arrival of new keyring for Esprit. Ok, it's not *quite* the correct model 😁🙈

I couldn't stand the wokeness of Canada... seems even worse than here (hard to believe that's possible!) Italy or Cyprus not a bad idea... bit nearer to pop back and forth now and again to see the niblings... or vice-versa - I shall have to do a bit of research.

It was me in my Lotus... the dozy woman was in a 4x4 behind me... Police said she was doing 50+ mph... I was stationary, as was the car in front of me, and the van in front of that, all of which were also written off in the pile-up she caused. It hurt. Lots.

Not long before the whole plandemic farce kicked off, I'd decided I'd had quite enough of the UK, and especially the direction of travel thereof. My stress levels were stupidly high for various reasons, and I decided I needed to explore opportunities elsewhere. Having weighed up various factors, I considered the best option for me to at least explore/eliminate first was USA. I'd planned to have a week or so holiday in Vegas, something I'd wanted to do for years, taking in sights like the Grand Canyon, plus a few shows etc. - I'm not into gambling, just as a total distraction and switch-off from "normal life". Then I'd planned to go on to California for another week and check in with a few agencies etc. to see what job opportunites were like with regards getting a work visa for a year or so (besides my business I work freelance in TV & Film) - as long as I could find a job that would pay to live for a while I wasn't too bothered in job title/status, more being a case of experiencing the reality and seeing if I wanted to live there. ...anyway... Unfortunately it was literally within days of making that decision and me looking at booking flights etc. that Mum was rushed into hospital with as it turned out pretty serious cancer. Battled on for couple of years, but due mainly to NHS willful incompetence, the battle was lost. Inquest still pending well over 3 years later. Just as we lost Mum, Dad went rapidly downhill too, lost him early last year. So having taken on a bit of a carer role for past few years kinda screwed up my plans, to put it mildly. Such is life. Still sorting out the aftermath, inquests and invetigations into both ongoing, probate stuff etc. etc. - you know what it's like if you've been through it. Now I effectively have no ties, it would be easier than ever to up sticks to somewhere warmer, and due to the perma-damp-grey weather of the UK, and the slum-state the establiment is rapidly trying to drag the country down to, I'm actively thinking again. The question is where might be good now? As far as I can see the USA is being deliberately destroyed as fast as the UK, so not sure that's much of an option any more. I don't think I'm one to retire and just sit on a beach and do nothing... I'd be bored witless after a week... so needs to be either somewhere I could get a job, or run a small (relatively) stress-free business. Oh, and somewhere that has at least a few days of warm blue skies a year!!! Any ideas? ...answers on a postcard please 😊 Oh, and I guess that would make me option 2 on the poll!

Admins: I believe the correct date is 30th, not 20th as topic title 🙈

I've never really had an issue with TomTom - and I like the live traffic and mobile speed camera reporting etc. on it. Everyone has their favourite system; I suspect truth is they all have their good and bad points. I do prefer built-in design though, hate having wires dangling about and sticky on thingies... but of course on pre-satnav era cars compromises have to be made one way or the other. I absolutely admire the total dedication people put in to concours-perfect-original-spec restorations, but personally I have no objection to tasteful and inkeeping modifications that make cars more enjoyable / easy to use / safer etc., as to me sports cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed pretty much just for the sake of the thrill of driving them, rather than just sitting silently prestigne in collections... so anything that encourages more driving is good in my book! - I'm aiming to get all 3 of my Lotus over the magic 100k miles mark 😊

Marvellous... looks like a weekend of much Lotusing then! 😁

... do you have a link for that?

Coming back from the North Weald meet this morning, almost back home, stopped at a junction in the village and a young lad was frantically trying to get his phone out of his pocket to take a pic of my Esprit, so I obligingly waited a bit longer than needed so he could get his photo 😇 ... nice to know at least there's someone in the future generation with good taste in cars!

Sounds like the favourite solution, if the heater controls aren't too much of a pain to move (like on fixed linkages that need a lot off customising?)

Marvellous... hoping all 3 of my Norfolk-born cars will be in fine fettle by then, so with a bit of luck can bring along whichever model is most unrepresented!

'twas a most enjoyable morning... hoping to make many more during the year. 😊

ah... the good ol' days of trying to fold maps on the steering wheel 🙈