This could also be titled: My other car is a “Fill in the Blank” Syndrome. You have seen the saying on license plate frames and on the bumpers of many different vehicles. Dennis Stahl has one on his truck. It’s almost like you are making an excuse or are ashamed for or trying to justify the “Other car”. But really what is happening is that you need that other car for some really good reasons.
Maybe you want no problems, break downs or overheating on this particular drive. Maybe you want to haul something bigger than a pair of gloves. Maybe you need to cover a lot of boring straight miles and be refreshed and ready to work at the end of the trip. Maybe you have two passengers. Maybe its raining and you don’t want a convertible top that only keeps out maybe 80% of the water. Maybe it’s snowing out and you don’t need to practice turning into the spin. Maybe it’s snowing out and you don’t want to be the lowest car on the street which in effect makes you the snow plow. Maybe you have to travel at rush hour through Chicago. Maybe you have to take an interstate road where the truck tire diameter is taller than your Lotus windshield. Maybe you have to travel at 3:20 in the afternoon on a school day near any school where the soccer Moms in their GIANT SUVs will run your Lotus over as flat as a pancake without any interruption of the conversation they are having on their cell phone. Or maybe you just want a couple of cup holders.
Everyone who owns a Lotus owns another car/truck of some sort. It didn’t used to be that way. I’ve heard stories of guys in College or early on in their work careers who only owned a Lotus or an Austin Healey or some other rather impractical form of transport. Rich Cwik used to travel from Chicago out to Iowa every week in one of his Europas or his S1 Esprit. (He always claimed the interior of the Esprit was made out of orange Mouse Hair but that’s another story.) Rich showed up in the middle of a snowy winter to a Lotus Corps banquet driving a Europa. That was back when he owned a repair shop. I think it was a customer’s car. He was just testing it out of course, but that’s also another story. There was a club member once who only owned a 2005 Lotus Elise. He was a professor at U of I, I think. He drove it all year including through the Chicago winters. He actually developed a mounting bracket for his bicycle. Two holes had to be drilled through the body for two mounting poles. The bicycle was held high up over the car so he could travel down to the lake-front and take his bike for a ride. It looked a bit weird but it worked.
Of course Lotus cars were and are ahead of their time. However, most modern performance cars driven well can turn better lap times at Blackhawk then a stock old Lotus Elan or a Seven. Part of it is the new suspension technology. Part of it the more powerful engines. But most of it is the modern wider tires. Whatever, it’s tough to admit it but they are faster.
So there are many reasons to justify owning that “Other” vehicle. But when the weather is just right and the traffic is clear and the road ahead is a bit twisty, there is nothing, just nothing quite as sweet as squeezing the throttle and holding firm on the wheel as you enter a sharp turn in YOUR Lotus. So don’t be ashamed, looking for excuses why you are not driving your Lotus. Get out there and DRIVE your “Lotus”!
