By Michael Pawlowski We purchased our Lotus Elise in the summer of 2015. My son had been keeping an eye on the inventory of a used car dealer in the Chicago suburbs that specialized in Lotus cars, and when they
Jim Clark – Fifty Years On
It is difficult to believe that fifty years have passed since Jim Clark died. It was April 7th, 1968. He was racing a Lotus 48 for Team Lotus in a Formula 2 event at Hockenheim, Germany. The race was held
Cost Overruns
As most of you know, my hobby is restoring old Lotus Elans. I usually find a cheap basket case that needs everything, drag it and all the boxes of parts home and then spend a couple thousand hours and tens
50 Years Ago…
Two years after Jim Clark’s epic win at the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, Team Lotus was caught off balance when they returned in ‘67. Sponsored once again by Andy Granatelli’s STP organization, Lotus originally planned to use BRM’s H16 engine
The Lawn Sprinkler Inventor
Tonight’s story is about an inventor like the other stories I’ve told. W.O. Bentley was a wonderful engine builder; aircraft engines, automobile engines. But he couldn’t run a company for crap, and went out of business. Our own beloved Colin
Keys for M100 Elan
by Ken Olendzki For years I have only had one set of keys for my M100 Elan. Lotus no longer supplies them, the Elan Central Forums threw their hands up on how to source them, and I stopped looking a
Horn-ary Stent Surgery
Tubular structures break. Especially if they are attachments of a line which extends from a fixed structure: something’s got to give sometimes! When it happens, it usually renders the part useless. And THIS backyard mechanic hates to be victim to
VSCDA at Road America
I LOVE ogling the details on classic, high performance vehicles. Especially Lotus models. And there is NOTHING like chat-ting up a proud owner/driver of such an iconic vehicle as a Lotus 71, or a Cheetah, just AFTER a stirring race
Painting Upside Down
Transcribed from Steve Styer’s educational minute at the October 27, 2016 member meeting. I came upon something just within the past couple of months that I never realized. I thought I’d pass it on to you folks tonight. I’ve been
A Visit to the Gilmore Auto Museum
Early in October, my darling bride announced that she wanted to take me on a get-a-way weekend someplace for my birthday. She suggested going to Galena, Illinois, an area steeped in history and beautiful scenery, especially in the fall. We