Friday, August 31, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
.JPG)
Monday, August 6, 2007
Films/TV series/Music Videos with Lotus Cars
-The Spy Who Loved Me - This James Bond film featured a S1 Esprit that could be converted into a submarine.
-For Your Eyes Only - This James Bond film featured a couple of early Turbo Esprits. One of these Esprits was equipped with a burgular protection system that would blow up the car.
-Pretty Woman - This fairy tale film featured a silver Esprit Turbo, in which the two main characters meet. Julia Roberts espouses the virtue of Lotuses in this film.
-Basic Instinct - This film featured a pair of black and white Esprit Turbos, one of which ends up upside-down in a construction site in San Francisco.
-If Looks Could Kill - This film featured a newer Esprit Turbo used by a spy organization.
-The Rookie - An Esprit, painted an unappealing shade of green, is owned by one of the bad guy. The color choice gives Clint Eastwood an opportunity to insult the bad guy.
-Honey I Blew Up The Kid - This film featured a M100 Elan that a child, who has grown to a very large size, uses as a toy.
-Crocodile Dundee II - A white Turbo Esprit appears in the courtyard of the bad guy's home.
-Rockford Files - A "chop shop" ring steals a Series 1 Esprit to dismantle and sell the parts. The engine sounds like a V8 when the car is driven.
-Hawaii Five-O - According to reports, there have been two episodes that used Lotuses, one using an Esprit and the other using a Europa.
-50 Cent "Ayo Technology" video - A female drives an Elise at the start of the video
-For Your Eyes Only - This James Bond film featured a couple of early Turbo Esprits. One of these Esprits was equipped with a burgular protection system that would blow up the car.
-Pretty Woman - This fairy tale film featured a silver Esprit Turbo, in which the two main characters meet. Julia Roberts espouses the virtue of Lotuses in this film.
-Basic Instinct - This film featured a pair of black and white Esprit Turbos, one of which ends up upside-down in a construction site in San Francisco.
-If Looks Could Kill - This film featured a newer Esprit Turbo used by a spy organization.
-The Rookie - An Esprit, painted an unappealing shade of green, is owned by one of the bad guy. The color choice gives Clint Eastwood an opportunity to insult the bad guy.
-Honey I Blew Up The Kid - This film featured a M100 Elan that a child, who has grown to a very large size, uses as a toy.
-Crocodile Dundee II - A white Turbo Esprit appears in the courtyard of the bad guy's home.
-Rockford Files - A "chop shop" ring steals a Series 1 Esprit to dismantle and sell the parts. The engine sounds like a V8 when the car is driven.
-Hawaii Five-O - According to reports, there have been two episodes that used Lotuses, one using an Esprit and the other using a Europa.
-50 Cent "Ayo Technology" video - A female drives an Elise at the start of the video
Friday, August 3, 2007
Who Makes Lotus? A History Lesson
I found this great website that has alot of trivia about Lotus cars:
http://www.gglotus.org/ggrace/ggfaq/general.html#Q1
Who makes Lotuses?
-When someone asks me what kind of car I own and I say "Lotus", the response that I get back is usually "Oh, who makes Lotuses?"
-Lotuses are made by Lotus in England. Well, except for the Seven, which has been made by Caterham Cars since 1974.
Who owns Lotus?
-Actually, this depends on what you mean by "Lotus". Here is a history of the various Lotus companies.
-In 1952, the Lotus Engineering Company was formed as a partnership between Colin Chapman and Michael Allen.
-Later, in 1952, the partnership broke up and the Lotus Engineering Company became a trade name for Colin Chapman.
-In 1953, the Lotus Engineering Company Limited was formed with Colin Chapman and Hazel Williams (later Chapman) as directors.
-Team Lotus split off in 1954 and eventually became Team Lotus International Limited. In late 1990, Team Lotus Limited, run by Peter Collins and Peter Wright, purchased the Team Lotus name and operated the Team until late 1994 when it went into administration and was later purchased by David Hunt under the name Team Lotus Grand Prix Limited. Hunt's organization entered into a joint operations agreement with Pacific Grand Prix to form Pacific Team Lotus.
-In 1994, the Chapman family formed Classic Team Lotus to support owners of single-seater, open wheel Lotuses through the Type 102.
-In 1959, the Lotus Group of Companies was formed and consisted of Lotus Cars Limited (road cars) and Lotus Components Limited (customer competition cars).
-In 1969, Lotus became a publicly held company as the Group Lotus Car Companies Limited, consisting of Lotus Cars Limited, Lotus Cars (Service) Limited, Lotus Cars (Sales) Limited and Lotus Components Limited.
-In 1971, Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited and subsequently ceased operation in the same year.
-In 1973, Lotus stopped making the Lotus Seven and sold its right to Caterham Cars Ltd, which start making the Caterham Seven in 1974 and continues doing so.
-In 1980, Lotus Engineering was formed to sell Lotus' Engineering expertise to other companies.
-In 1986, General Motors acquired all shares of Group Lotus.
-There was a rumor that one of the companies in Group Lotus' portfolio is called "Team Lotus" and that when GM purchased Lotus, they thought they were getting the Formula One team as well. According to Patrick Peal this is not true, although GM did talk to Hazel Chapman about buying Team Lotus at one point.
-In 1993, the Bugatti Group acquired Group Lotus from GM. GM still owns the Millbrook testing facility, though.
-In late 1996, after a number of rumors and near-purchases by other companies and individuals, a controlling share of Group Lotus was purchased by the Malaysian car company Proton.
http://www.gglotus.org/ggrace/ggfaq/general.html#Q1
Who makes Lotuses?
-When someone asks me what kind of car I own and I say "Lotus", the response that I get back is usually "Oh, who makes Lotuses?"
-Lotuses are made by Lotus in England. Well, except for the Seven, which has been made by Caterham Cars since 1974.
Who owns Lotus?
-Actually, this depends on what you mean by "Lotus". Here is a history of the various Lotus companies.
-In 1952, the Lotus Engineering Company was formed as a partnership between Colin Chapman and Michael Allen.
-Later, in 1952, the partnership broke up and the Lotus Engineering Company became a trade name for Colin Chapman.
-In 1953, the Lotus Engineering Company Limited was formed with Colin Chapman and Hazel Williams (later Chapman) as directors.
-Team Lotus split off in 1954 and eventually became Team Lotus International Limited. In late 1990, Team Lotus Limited, run by Peter Collins and Peter Wright, purchased the Team Lotus name and operated the Team until late 1994 when it went into administration and was later purchased by David Hunt under the name Team Lotus Grand Prix Limited. Hunt's organization entered into a joint operations agreement with Pacific Grand Prix to form Pacific Team Lotus.
-In 1994, the Chapman family formed Classic Team Lotus to support owners of single-seater, open wheel Lotuses through the Type 102.
-In 1959, the Lotus Group of Companies was formed and consisted of Lotus Cars Limited (road cars) and Lotus Components Limited (customer competition cars).
-In 1969, Lotus became a publicly held company as the Group Lotus Car Companies Limited, consisting of Lotus Cars Limited, Lotus Cars (Service) Limited, Lotus Cars (Sales) Limited and Lotus Components Limited.
-In 1971, Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited and subsequently ceased operation in the same year.
-In 1973, Lotus stopped making the Lotus Seven and sold its right to Caterham Cars Ltd, which start making the Caterham Seven in 1974 and continues doing so.
-In 1980, Lotus Engineering was formed to sell Lotus' Engineering expertise to other companies.
-In 1986, General Motors acquired all shares of Group Lotus.
-There was a rumor that one of the companies in Group Lotus' portfolio is called "Team Lotus" and that when GM purchased Lotus, they thought they were getting the Formula One team as well. According to Patrick Peal this is not true, although GM did talk to Hazel Chapman about buying Team Lotus at one point.
-In 1993, the Bugatti Group acquired Group Lotus from GM. GM still owns the Millbrook testing facility, though.
-In late 1996, after a number of rumors and near-purchases by other companies and individuals, a controlling share of Group Lotus was purchased by the Malaysian car company Proton.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Blogging
This blog site has several problems that I have uncovered thus far. I will use this post to add hints that will make the site work better.
-How to fix posts not showing up: Settings -> formatting -> days
-Some templates have problems with their formatting. If lines and pics seem to be running together, try a different template. The "dots" template seems to be problematic.
-How to fix posts not showing up: Settings -> formatting -> days
-Some templates have problems with their formatting. If lines and pics seem to be running together, try a different template. The "dots" template seems to be problematic.
Lotus under a trailor
If you ever wondered if a Lotus could fit under a trailor from a semi, here's the answer:
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Elise without skin #2
Here's a classic pic of an S1 Elise without clams and doors. It truly looks like a kart:
Elise without skin
Below are some pictures of a car being "altered" by a guy named Neil at Sector 111, a major source of aftermarket parts for Lotus cars. He is trying to get rid of all the excess weight he can!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
Today I attended the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Lots of great cars were there, including one S1 Elise, and 7 S2 Elise cars.
The first pictures are of an "S1" Elise, the first bodystyle produced by Lotus. This version was not sold in the US.
The rest of the pics are of S2 cars, with a Europa and a couple of Esprits thrown in:
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