What made you happy today?

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

22 minutes ago, hosscartwri said:

Yes - I bought it. Ordered back in March.

In the distant background is a blue GT410 Sport and between it and mine is an Elise. I don't recall what the blue car to the right of mine is - I'm afraid I was concentrating on the rather lovely grey GT410 Sport!

Congrats! Good timing with this weather! Enjoy

[Dan E]

So 5:15am off to Gerald at GST, service & MOT arrive at 7am car absolutely flew up there considering it hasn’t moved for 4 Months apart from a general start up and run up to temp as the MOT had expired. There was a lovely red S2 on the back of Gerald’s truck, anybody on here? 

Anyway tortuous 3 hours journey back on 3 trains and 1 tube then a walk home up a hill which is about the same incline as Everest. 3 hours later phone call everything is fine passed the MOT going to pick it up Tomorrow this is not helping with earning any money this week but hey hoo really, really excited to get her back on the road. I know the man doesn’t take on anymore clients but he is not only a lovely chap he has got to be one of the very best at servicing and looking after Lotus of any era. 

Annual pic below 

[Dave Eds]

@Dan E  - I'm going up there in the morning. If you need to be picked up anywhere give me a call 07889 745912

[PhilW]

Danny

 I'll second the comments re Gerald with hesitation. You'd be better staying in Newmarket the night wouldnt you?

[Dan E]

Dave thank you I won’t get there until about 1pm unfortunately I sort of got to do some work in morning as I have done bugger all for the last 5 days! 

Phil with hesitation? To be fair I should have just hung around but wasn’t expecting it to be done in a day i always say I don’t need it back quickly as he is always busy. So normally gone for 3 days but as  nothing wrong it was double quick 

 

[clivef38]

Got my Elite up and running at the weekend. Hope to have it back on the road for the first of June.

[Stuart Monument]

Well done @clivef38 I know it’s been a pain ! 

[PhilW]

9 hours ago, Dan E said:

Dave thank you I won’t get there until about 1pm unfortunately I sort of got to do some work in morning as I have done bugger all for the last 5 days! 

Phil with hesitation? To be fair I should have just hung around but wasn’t expecting it to be done in a day i always say I don’t need it back quickly as he is always busy. So normally gone for 3 days but as  nothing wrong it was double quick 

 

Bugger!  WITHOUT hesitation.........Sorry Gerald!

[Dan E]

Dave good to see you again today at GST, loving the Evora. I still can’t believe that M100 Gerald picked me up in had done 275k miles! Apparently the previous owner has another one with 320k on it. 

Esprit all set for the year with full service and fresh MOT all in £400 which I am guessing is a tad cheaper than your bill. That is blindingly good value for a 37 year old super car, my van cost more than that to service! 

[Dan E]

Dave good to see you again today at GST, loving the Evora. I still can’t believe that M100 Gerald picked me up in had done 275k miles! Apparently the previous owner has another one with 320k on it. 

Esprit all set for the year with full service and fresh MOT all in £400 which I am guessing is a tad cheaper than your bill. That is blindingly good value for a 37 year old super car, my van cost more than that to service! 

[Mark Blanchard]

Car's back from a service and MOT at Esprit Engineering.  Got the front springs replaced with new lower springs, as the Eibach springs were riding too high.  Also got the light pods sorted as they hadn't been installed properly when I had it resprayed, new steering U/J, new boot gas struts and new fuel pipe.  Good for another year

[C8RKH]

Got home after a 700 mile weekend round trip that included a full day thrashing the bum off my VX220SC at Blyton Park.

Damn what fine toys the VX's are and tge whole journey home today was roof down and glorious sunshine. My bald head no looks like a donkeys, well, you get the jist I'm sure.

It may not have a Lotus badge on the nose but those turnip farmers at Hethel made one hell of a great car....

Still smiling now. What a bloody lucky chump I am.

[PaulCP]

1 minute ago, C8RKH said:

 

It may not have a Lotus badge on the nose but those turnip farmers at Hethel made one hell of a great car....

 

The VX was always dismissed as a Lotus wannabe & looking like a Lego brick by the know it alls over on the playground.

Yes it is a great car, but for some reason the Lotus type116 also gets dismissed as a bit of an embarrassment by some at Lotus. I had a discussion with the guy that took us around Hethel a couple of years ago about the comment he made to the assembled crowd “here are the premises provided by Vauxhall for us to make the VX220 in, the least said about that car the better.” I enjoyed putting him right on a few points😄

[C8RKH]

Lotus wannabe or Lotus saviour at the time?

I wonder how many people owed then, and owe now, their jobs and livelihoods to that little box of Lego?

It's a shame really and the attitude in my very humble opinion is stain on Lotus' history.  That car was badly needed as they really did, if I understand correctly, need Vauxhall's pound at time.

My car is not a Lotus. It is a Vauxhall designed, built and assembled by Lotus. You can tell......

 

[PaulCP]

It was certainly a big lifeline for Lotus at the time and, I believe, the platform for the S2 Elise. 

Hence why I enjoyed putting the Lotus employee who was so dismissive of the VX right

[C8RKH]

He was, I hope a youngster, so not really up on his history.  My understanding is the same, Vauxhall stumped up the development costs for the VX220 and Lotus were able to use a lightly adapted version of the chassis, plus take the not inconsiderable amount of Vauxhall pounds paid to them, and create the S2. The chassis are very similar but not exactly the same I believe.

However, I understand, but maybe wrong, that the Europa was effectively a re skinned VX.

At the end of the day, despite the badge on the front , it is still enriched throughout it's entire make-up by the Lotus DNA.  I think the reason why people want to disavow it is because it does not have Lotus in the name.  The Lotus Sunbeam (a Talbot car), the Lotus Cortina (Ford), the Lotus Carlton (Vauxhall) are all "welcomed" into the fold, but, not the Vauxhall VX which oh look, does not have Lotus in the name but is arguably more Lotus than any of the other cars mentioned.

The M100 Elan is similarly feted, yet, this was again developed using General Motors (parent of Vauxhall and Lotus at the time) money and dipped extensively into the GM Group parts bin and came out with an Isuzu engine and gearbox I believe amongst other things. Lotus wanted to sell it as a Lotus Toyota (there we go, the Lotus name again in the model name) I believe.  

So it seems that the only reason for the VX to be "out of love" is that it was not called the Lotus Vauxhall VX as the evidence above clearly shows if it was it would be feted as a tour de force rather than being treated like Lotus's own John Snow.  Pah, they know nothing and winter is coming...

All I can say with certainty is that the cars that did the most laps on Saturday at the LoT day at Blyton Park were VX's and the car that drove the longest there and back, and the longest in time on track, was, a VX.........

Great little boxes of lego.....

 

[Alfa2Evora]

@C8RKH You should have said, Andy!

I could have popped up and 'exercised' the Evora for you - don't want things seizing up through not being used do we?

[USAndretti42]

This weather's making me happy.  Consistently sunny but not humid.  Perfect!

[Steve V8]

I've been fitting carpets in a boat in Plymouth today, the customer drove my van back to Bath, I drove his Porsche. Soooooo sorry for being unfaithful.

[Barrykearley]

I had a beetle convertible last year - heavy horrid cars

[Bibs]

Beer is 60p/litre in Poland! 

[Barrykearley]

Nice too see when converting to metric they went the correct way 💪

[Giniw]

On 14/05/2018 at 07:36, C8RKH said:

The M100 Elan is similarly feted, yet, this was again developed using General Motors (parent of Vauxhall and Lotus at the time) money and dipped extensively into the GM Group parts bin

Yes I don't understand those criticisms either. The fact that it didn't sell so well to cover the investment doesn't make it a bad car.

Extensively I don't think so, apart from the obvious few buttons and things in the interior, but the exact same parts are used in the Esprit too ...

 

On 14/05/2018 at 07:36, C8RKH said:

came out with an Isuzu engine and gearbox I believe amongst other things

Yes indeed, but I really don't understand what is so chocking as Lotus has made rather few engines for their cars. Elise: Rover then Toyota; Evora: Toyota. 60's Elan: based on a Ford engine, etc. The Isuzu is a very nice engine to drive and it's bullet proof too!

 

On 14/05/2018 at 07:36, C8RKH said:

Lotus wanted to sell it as a Lotus Toyota [...] I believe

Never heard that before, I don't think it's the case. The M100 was (is?) the car that they put the most money into development and testing. It's not a cheap car, it had many interesting/innovative features.

[C8RKH]

I really like the M100, but to be honest apart from the badge on the nose and the boot the VX is more "Lotus" than the M100 and i just do not get the attitude from Lotus itself, the people there, or the general carnoscenti the ambivalence towards the VX.  I mean, apart from the V8 in the Esprit what other engine has Lotus designed fully and seen implemented fully?

Anyway, I'll not change the snobbery against the VX, but at least I can smile when I drive the damn box of Lego. They really really are exceptionally good cars.

[johnpwalsh]

What made me happy today.

So after a long and protracted wait, the first of the 2 Elites has been collected and taken home from their deep slumber's. This first one comes complete with about 8 years of dust, but other than that she is almost( don't count the period correct sunroof) completely original. Also found out she has a rebuilt engine which has not been run more than 100 meters on a private road. Engine rebuild consisted of new valves, head skim, liners de glazed and pistons refitted with new rings, bearings and shells etc. All good to go. The paint had been flatted down after a respray many years ago, but had never been polished up. She was resprayed in Black from her original Blue to match the previous owners second Elite which was Black. I noticed a couple of small blisters on the front offside corner, but other than that the paint should polish up nicely. See what you think.

Anyone interested in a nice project for not too  much money, PM me for further details.

LotusRescue currently have four project cars immediately available

2 x Elites.

1 x Excels SE

1 x Excel SA