"It was a cold and storms night"... Really, I don't remember what kind of night it was. But I do remember someone was writing a novel and was trying to start off with the above line. Please help me out here. Anyway I was doing my normal checking out of Loti on the internet for sale, e-baying as I do for parts, etc. You may or not know the Lotus Seven of mine was also an e-bay purchase. That's three out of four Lotus's bought at auction by yours truly. For kicks I started to bid as this was a true resurrection I was looking for to test my talents as a sports-car restorer. Hell, a few brews, screwdriver, spray-gun, two to three months and we're done.
To make a long story even longer my sought after prize was mine for the taking at a dollar amount I could live with. Now to tell the wife of this "treasure" (this word is a plum from Sue Herzog), could she live with the steal. I forget what I bribed her with but it must have worked as we are still married. I know when we got the Seven it was a life crisis that by not having owned a Seven I would go to my just rewards, unrewarded. Somehow I got away with that one.
Next having this treasure in hand, monetarily, I needed to physically procure the beast. Terms of the auction were must be picked up in seven days''. Wow what great timing, the snows of December, 2005 were upon us and traveling to the east coast should be a great adventure. Logistics required I borrow the trusty Herzog trailer, a tow vehicle and a good road map, which my copilot cannot read or fold. I put in a call to Log and made my request to borrow the two-wheeler. Bob asked where this 1970 Europa S2 was located and my reply was "Cape Cod" to which Bob immediately told me to hold the line, early Saturday morning. Bob came back asking if I would in turn deliver a car on my way to Boston, an Elva Courier he had sold but not yet delivered to believe it or not a buyer less than 15 miles from where I was to retrieve the Europa. The daughter-in-law 's SUV Mercury is equipped with a tow hitch, lights, etc and was available, so I got a new ball, wiring harness and put Jackie and a six pack, snow brush, diet Coke, lock de-icer, toll money, credit card, Elva parts in the car, and an Elva in tow. We made good time and only needed to stop for gas, food, and to knock the ice and snow from the trailer.
We arrived in Massachusetts at the appointed time, only to find in my haste to leave home, several messages were on my answering machine, and that party accepting the Elva would not be available, being in sunnier climes. His wife and mother, plus a neighbor were able to assist in the unloading and stashing in the garage, with others of the Elva persuasion. I'm sure before we even left the wife was calling her lawyer to start divorce proceedings, she wasn't happy; cold, snow, middle of the night and another Elva! Whereupon, Jackie and I left to the reminder of the journey, another 15 miles. Some two hours later, we arrived with a remembrance of my days in the army stationed outside of Boston. There is a saying in New England of unmarked roads, poor street lighting, rotary 's, "You Can't Get There From Here!". believe me it is true, at least nearly true. The Owner of the Europa was standing in the middle of the road signaling me with a flashlight, my code is pretty poor but I assume it was not complementary .. After an exchange of pleasantries we loaded the Europa onto the trailer, many pails into the SUV rear hatch. We then secured the spare frame to the side of the trailer with the obligatory red and yellow streamers. Transfer of funds, got the title and manual, instructions to the Thru-Way and off into the night trying to avoid the forecast of a severe snow storm approaching from Canada and points west. It look some doing but we managed to leave the beautiful state of Mass by 1:30 am.
One cool thing about tooling around the country in the dead of winter with two strange sports cars it brings out many questioners as to "What in the Hell is That" and many "Boy I remember that from way back when or I had one of them in the 60's'', so we had a few conversations along the way and maybe a few more people shaking their heads??? At any rate we arrived safely back in Lyons with the ''treasure'' spending almost as much to travel, sightsee, transport, and snow-skid as the purchase price of the car.
Elva Going---- Lotus Coming
