At 04:58 PM 10/11/1999 -0700, rodbean@earthlink.net wrote:
>bengel wrote:
>
>> While waiting for yet another late AmericaWest flight to California, I came
>> across the
>> October Issue of "Sports Car International". It has a great review of the
>> Esprit V8, all
>> empirical, but good reading. " It's the kind of car Colin Chapman would
>> still be proud to
>> sell".
>>
>> Then in the "Highest Bidder" auction results section the sale of an M100
>> was reported
>> as:
>> Christie's Auction, Los Angeles, June 19, 1999
>> Sale Price: $23,000 Price New: $40,000
>> "Now after storage and insurance, and not being driven, has lost
50% of
>> its value, the Lotus Elan Turbo SE, with its Isuzu engine,
whoopee cushion
>> exhaust note and front-wheel drive is the Porsche 924 of Loti,
and never
>> likely to appreciate..."
>>
>> Now I find that insulting, even when I have never owned an M100! But, I
guess
>> every marque needs it's alpha and omega car...Ford had the Edsel, Jaguar
>> the MK-X, Yugo the Yugo...So, now we have the omega, shall we start a new
>> thread on what is the best Loti?
>> JUST KIDDING!!!!
>>
>
>Hi Brett,
>
>Yes, I read that too. I think Lotus made a giant miscalculation and paid
for it.
>Unfortunately, they made us pay for it too when they wouldn't make a US
version of
>the Elise.
>
>As for criticism of the M100 being insulting, well, I it helps if one
thinks "car"
>instead of "Lotus". What's our (nameless) ideal in a car? In my case,
after owning
>and driving lots of sports cars (all of which I did enjoy), I was stopped
in my
>tracks the first time I drove an Elan.
>
>After that, only formula cars felt better to drive.... more at one with
the driver.
>And certainly, nothing with two seats ever has approached a good Elan for me.
>
>I see there is going to be a fwd Jaguar. I guess that's what can happen
when large,
>corporate facelessness comes to a small, independent company. Lotus made
its biggest
>blunder when it was owned by GM.
>
>Wonder how Ferrari enthusiasts would react to ..... Oh it's too funny.
>
>Rod :-)
>
Rod:
Humm, FWD Ferrari...well with FIAT in control, what's in the perverbial
parts bin?
Lop 2 off the V-8 and install in a Panda? Call it the "Oso Rosa" (that should
really upset the Testarossa owners, oops there's two of those too!...:-) )
In the spirit of bad designs in my past, we actually started to fit a
water-cooled VW x-axle
and engine into a badly damaged Honda SC600...were going to call it the
Ho-bbit......
Bad idea, bad name. But, I got distracted by racing a TR-4, and the Rabbit
lived.
But LIFE started after I bought my Elan, too bad I was nearly 40, I wasted
all those
years driving/rebuilding MG's, TR's, Datsoons, and Jags...
Brett Engel
bengel@cisco.com
'67 Lotus Elan
'93 BMW 325i
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing,
and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games."
Ernest Hemingway
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