Adopting a family member

Introduce Yourself Here
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Hello again everyone! I posted a few times already but have not formally introduced myself or my ‘adopted’ Elan. I posted questions in this thread: https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=54653&p=398764#p398764 when I was first considering the car. I did end up buying it, brought it home, and I’m now starting to dive into it. Which no doubt means asking a few thousand more questions! So it’s time for me to tell you about, well, me.

My name is Dave. I live in the US, eastern Pennsylvania more specifically. I’m 71 years young as of this writing. I’ve loved and driven English cars since I was a teenager in the 1960’s. I did as much of my own work as possible back in those days, partly due to finances, mostly because I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I worked as a mechanic on foreign vehicles for quite a few years. There was a longish respite during which I dove into computing/networking/coding, drove non-English stuff, raised a family and all that. I’m retired now and back to enjoying driving and wrenching on interesting cars.

I’ve owned Minis and Mini Coopers (real ones not the new stuff) and MGBs in the past as well as Saabs, Peugeots, VWs. More recently I’ve gone through a pair of BMW Z4s and still own an E93 328i. I also have a 2002 911 targa to which I have become permanently attached and upon which I have lavished much treasure. Another story for another forum. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/1288586-wdb-s-forever-targa.html I also keep a Mercedes wagon around, for hauling all the stuff I need to keep the others on the road. :laughing:

On to the current English stuff! I always wanted a Lotus, and when a local-ish Caterham Super 7 powered by a Lotus twincam engine came up on Bring a Trailer I thought, “close enough!” and won the bidding. I also visited the car and its owner while the auction was ongoing, and in so doing I met a fine man who has become a good friend. More on that shortly. Here’s the Caterham.

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Here’s a link to the auction: bringatrailer.com/listing/cater … r-seven-2/

Not only did this gentleman have a twincam 7, he also had a Lotus Elan in his garage. A car he had bought brand new! And another vehicle I’d lusted after for most of my adult life. I got a short ride in it which just made me want it more. Fast forward a couple of years; I got a call from my good friend; he’s ready to sell the Elan, and he wants to know if I would buy it. I was dumbstruck, honestly. First of all that he was parting with the car which had brought both of his daughters home from the hospital after their births. Which he had raced in hillclimbs and other events. Which had been his only car for several years. Which he had owned since new and kept safe and warm throughout many years and many moves. A family member. Secondly I was dumbstruck that he thought of me when the time came to part with it. Thank you, Al. I’m honored.

Here’s the car. 1967 Elan S3 SE. I don’t have a lot of pictures of it yet.

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It came with a boatload of spares; wheels, transmission bits, interior stuff, thousands of bits of this and that. And a spare motor. I now have three!

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I hope that gives you some idea of who I am and what I like. I’ll start a thread on the Elan shortly; I’ve been busy with putting a dry sump system in the 7 since purchasing the Elan, and now that that’s done I am turning my attention to the ‘real’ Lotus. More soon. Thanks for reading.

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Very cool

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Really nice story and car. Belated welcome to the Forum. Stu

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Wonderful story about new friends made and a pair of wonderful cars. Such a well cared for Elan too! Enjoy the miles and smiles.

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Welcome and nothing like having a spare Twincam handy for when you need it :slight_smile:

cheers
Rohan

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Welcome Dave! Great stories and great cars. And I’ve spent a good chunk of today’s limited daylight reading your Porsche thread- I’d never really paid much attention to those Targas before but now I dig it for sure, makes me wish I had the time, garage space and money to do sump’n similar.

Looking forward to reading your adventures with the Elan! Funny though, I’ve read in various fora of guys who sold their Porkers after driving an Elan, but you seem to have well-enough-rounded taste in cars that your problem will more likely be deciding which one to play with on any given day upon which they’re all ready and available. :mrgreen:

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Thank you for the welcome! Although I am quite the carnivore, just getting that out right up front. :wink:

I pretty much accidentally ended up with the 996 targa. I had been thinking a lot about why a 911 holds its value incredibly well when, for example, my BMW Z4 M coupe did not. (I sold it after getting the targa.) I wanted to experience for myself what all the fuss was about. The ‘cheap’ way to get into a 911 is a 996, and it made no sense whatsoever to me that the rear of the coupe was so inaccessible, hence the targa with its rear opening window. I sighed as I placed my maximum bid, fully assuming the car would go $4K or so higher. But it didn’t! And now I have it, and it has 26,000 of my miles added. A trip to TX, two trips to GA, one to AL, bunches of shorter jaunts to NY and so forth. All of those trips planned with time on “interesting roads”.

I also have a Caterham, plus I spent a lot of time in my youth in lightweight cars, so I see where you are coming from with the “sold their porkers” comment. People who have never experienced light weight on top of an agile chassis tend to have their priorities rearranged when they finally do. And if I’m honest I will be selling one of mine; a 2007 BMW 328i cabriolet, 6-speed with M Sport option. I searched high and low for that combination – all the M Sports were automatics. Finally found one at my closest BMW dealer, lucky me! We took it on the AutoTrain to FL a few years ago, drove to Key West for a week, then circumnavigated the rest of the state for another week, stopping in on friends as we went. It was perfect for that trip. With the top up it’s a snug, comfy coupe; with the top down it is what I call “the thinking person’s cruiser”. Not that fast, not that racy, but it looks right at home at the ice cream shop and holds its own on the twisty back road getting there. And it’s wonderful in winter! The HVAC tunes itself differently when the roof is down, the heated seats are utterly toasty, and so it is really enjoyable with the the top down on a sunny day in January. It’s a fine car. But with the current stable I find myself not driving it much.

And it’s a porker.

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Very cool, and give me a holler next time you come down to Georgia!