Tina's coming out party! Her first car show! The British Car Festival is an annual event held in my hometown of Des Plaines, Illinois. Every year for the past 10 years, Oakton Community College has lent (for a small fee) it's large parking lots to the British Car Union to host it's only event of the year. The British Car Union is basically a board of directors made up of representatives from all (or most of) the British Car clubs in the Chicagoland area. Clubs from Aston Martin to Bentley/Rolls Royce to TVR to Triumph to Jaguar to MG and of course... LOTUS! I have been entering my Elan in the BCF since 1989 and have been taking home trophies almost every year. The trophies are based on popular vote, not concours. The categories are based on the amount of cars entered. In the Sunbeam category for example, since there are only a couple models and maybe 20 or so cars, so you would have the Alpine class and the Tiger class. In the MG class, since there are over 100 MGs entered you might have the MGB class, the MGA class, the MGTD class, the MGB with rubber bumper class, the MGB with gold carpeting, the MGC with non-stock push button radios, etc.... You get the picture. There are a LOT of MGs and Triumphs. Add them all up and you have a LOT of British cars. This year (1997) broke the record again with 880 cars entering the parking lot, and Tina was one of them.
Actually, lets back up a couple hours... kcot - kcit, kcot - kcit... (that's a clock tick-tocking backwards.) Before the event, the Lotus Corps bunch gathers for a fine breakfast at the fellow club member's home of Jeff and Robbie Nack. Jeff and Robbie put out a beautiful spread in their lovely home. Actually manor or castle are more befitting a title for their home. Wonderful egg things and potato things that only a fine connoisseur of fine foods could possibly describe. So I won't even try. Lox & fresh bagels are a few of the other items dined upon and gently washed down with Mimosas. Not Minnie Mimosa, Champagne and orange juice. All before 8:00 a.m.! Anyway, usually I go to this morning event by myself in the Elan while the family sleeps in and joins me later at the fest. This year was different however. This year we were showing off Tina for the first time. Many people in the club had read about all my stories as the monthly club newsletter carried updates. But now it was time to stop reading and actually see the car. My wife and kids were as excited as I was to show her off. They were all up at the crack of dawn and we rolled out of the ally together. My wife driving Tina with my younger son John riding shotgun and I driving the Elan with Michael on board.
It was a quick 5 mile ride in the brisk overcast morning. Big smiles beaming off all our faces as we cruised to the Nacks. The show kind of begins at that point. We all enjoy ogling each other's cars while we feast and partake of the Mimosas.
9:00 a.m. and it's time for "Over the river and through the woods" to the registration for the fest. Always a fun drive as the sound of Twin Cams and the aroma of slightly rich weber carbs fills the air as a dozen Loti converge on the Fest. As usual, things were very efficient and we proceeded to our normal designated area in the parking lot. Lotus has two stretches of spaces in the huge lot and we set up the Lotus Corps Club canopy and Lotus flag in the grassy area between the parking spots. My wife was thrilled to be there, and she was thrilled that she could actually drive Tina home to get some sweatshirts for herself and the kids. So while I made did some final polishing on the Elan, she drove off to fetch some warmer clothes. Tina's trunk is so huge, I had brought lots of stuff I could never have stuffed into the Elan. Two directors chairs, a cooler with beverages (of course I know that alcohol is not allowed on the college campus), my photo albums for the Elan and Tina, umbrellas, carpets to sit on while we polish the car, tools and a water jug.
Sue brought back the warmer clothes and a couple of fishing rods and bait (cold hot dogs) for the boys to try and catch some giant whales (Catfish) in the Oakton College pond. As soon as she pulled in, the people started swarming around Tina. There had been 1 or 2 Lotus Cortinas at the fest before, but you wouldn't know it from the crowd reaction. Lotus Corps people who had read about my exploits in rebuilding Tina over the last couple years were genuinely thrilled to finally see it done. Many, many other British car nuts were coming up and smiling and telling me how they had once owned a Cortina or raced one or somehow had had a loving relationship with this shoebox of a car. We parked next to a club member who had his racing Cortina out for the show. A very tidy blue Cortina GT. As the rows filled up and the people started flocking in, it was obvious that the Loti were one of the most popular groups to view. 47 Loti in all were in attendance.
More and more people were congratulating me on Tina's completion. Many more hadn't heard of my exploits, they were just very impressed with the way she looked. There was even this GUY. He was a nerdly type, but really, really interested in Tina. He was taking pictures of everything. I started talking to him and come to find out, he's a model builder. Not just your basic "buy a kit and build it" type builder. No, this guy was a certified nut! Kind of like me I guess. What he was doing was trying to restore a MODEL OF A CORTINA! He had found an old, old toy model of a Cortina and he was in the process of enhancing the details in every way to makeit an exact miniaturization of a Lotus Cortina. He was reshaping old plastic and fabricating new plastic to make the model Better than the manufacturer had ever dreamed. He took pictures of the engine, the front, the rear, the interior and everything else. But when I showed him my photo album, he went crazy and actually took some pictures of my pictures! He was most interested in the underside of the car since his model was flat bottomed, he wanted to put in the factory ridges and supports! Now that's crazy. And I ought to know! Who would go to such effort to restore such an oddity as a Cortina. Hey, wait a minute.... I did!
As the day blew by I realized that I hadn't even had a chance to tour and view the other 800 or so cars. I had looked over the Loti pretty good and checked out the vendors, but I had never strayed too far from Tina as I was basking in her glory. I took my ballot and filled in the numbers for my own Elan. I then checked with fellow club members and voted for cars in various non-Lotus categories. If a Lotus Corps member brought, say a Rolls Royce or a Rover, they got my vote! I stuffed the ballot box as they say and soon it was time for the announcements. Who won the trophies? There were two classes for Lotus. Pre 1975 and 1975 and over. My Elan and Tinawere in the pre class, as were numerous beautiful Elans, Europas and Sevens. The Post '74 categorize swelled with M100 Elans and Turbo Esprits. They started announcing the Triumphs, the Jaguars, the Rovers, the Rolls, the Bentleys. Finally Lotus. Three trophies in each class. In third place, Bob Herzog and his 1965 Lotus Cortina! Holy Taxi Cabs Batman! Tina beat out some beautiful sports cars. This old taxicab did great. An immaculate Seven took second place and wow, my Elan took first! Two cars, two trophies. Was I pleased. I gathered my trophies with my two boys to the cheers of many who had voted for Tina. It sure feels great!
Funny to see how many jumper cables, tow trucks and push starts are required to clear out the lot after the British Car Festival. Gigantic oil spills all over the place. Looks like the Exxon Valdez was here! Not too much general debris however, especially clean considering probably 10,000 or so people spent the day eating and drinking and strolling around the lots.
The Lotus Corps gang headed back to our house for some burgers and beer. As the evening approached, the laughter died down as everyone left to go home after a wonderfully full day. Two trophies! A trophy for Tina! I just can't get over it. It's just great. I feel great. It was a LOT of work. I saved a junkyard dog taxicab from the car crusher and a lot of people have shown their appreciation!
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So now you say "OK, NOW what are you going to do?" Oh, and by the way, this IS a Tale of TWO Tinas. I've only talked about and built one, what about the other? Well, that my friend is whole other story! Zog 9/11/97
