Central Valley Classic Cars - Home

Monterey Car Week Engines

2010-08-17T19:07:00Z

At this years, events, I found myself snapping pictures of engines this year. Had I put any thought into it a head of time, I would have gone out of my way to get important engines from each of the great marques. But I didn’t. So here’s a somewhat random collection of the expensive metal that was on the Moneterey Peninsula for the 2010 events.

Chin Spoiler

2010-07-16T17:51:00Z

You could say that Project Lotus is all about correcting as many of the faults (or at least shortcomings) in my S2 Europa as I can. ‘As I can’ is the key phrase there as sometimes I find out that this or that is the way it is because of this other thing that can’t really be changed. Or it means that sometimes I try to reengineer something only to tape it back together the way it was because I’ve made it worse.

But overall, sorting problems aside, the engine transplant has been successful at curing the car’s biggest failing in my book; that its acceleration didn’t compare to its handling agility. With that shortcoming fixed one of its other faults has taken center stage.

The front end lifts at speed.

Apparently the original design didn’t suffer this problem. Regulations in headlight hight and ground clearance caused a few changes in the car resulting in the design of my Federal S2 model. To put it simply, the front end’s ride hight was increased giving a little bit of an upward pitch to the nose and the headlights became frog-eyed which spoiled a bit of the air flow over the front of the car.

Road and Track tested a Europa in the 70’s and found that it had 95lbs of lift at 70mph. That’s a lot for such a light car. Later, when Lotus released the Twin Cam version of the car they found they needed to add a chin spoiler to the front of the car to lessen the air flow underneath and make the car stable at the speeds it was now capable of.

But history aside, I have personal evidence of the problem. When I bought the car the front of the body wasn’t bolted to the frame. I didn’t realize this until I was on the free way and found that the nose of the car seemed to be lifting up and away from the car itself. Clearly a sign of lift. The other giant indicator was that at speeds over 50mph the steering wheel went ridiculously light. Almost like it was loose, with no road feel. Even worse was that the car WAS connected to the steering wheel and would change direction with nothing more than the force of ones fingernails growing. That is you had to really concentrate while driving it at speed and if you didn’t it’d scare you half to death. I used to consider this a sign that it was a real man’s car; that it took a real driver to pilot it down the road. But that gotten tiring and I miss the wonderful road feel my Esprit had.

Luckily, the Europa wasn’t particularly fast before which made the problem manageable. With the new engine, its a different story. I decided a chin spoiler was in order.

Dave Bean Engineering supplied me with an aftermarket made replica of the original Twin Cam spoiler which I had decided would be the least conspicuous and complicated route. Installation was a matter of painting the spoiler, drilling mounting holes in it and the car’s nose and bolting it in place.

I started by taping the spoiler in place, making sure it was lined up evenly on each side and drilling three holes through it into the nose of the car. I then pulled the spoiler off and painted it. While waiting for the paint to dry, I decided to reenforce the inside of the car’s nose where the bolts would be. I had a Bondo Fiberglass Repair kit I’d used before so I mixed a little resin, applied it around each hole, placed some mesh in, and then covered the mesh with more resin. I then pressed down a large metal washer onto the fiberglass to finish each one off.

I doubt that was really necessary as a large washer probably would have been enough, but I had the time and the fiberglass. . . .

Click though the pictures to see the results.

I’ve tested the car on the highway now and I should admit that I didn’t really think the little fiberglass lip that the spoiler was was going to make much of a difference. BUT IT DID! Not only is there some resistance in the steering wheel now when you steer at freeway speeds but there’s road feel too! I’d always thought the car was fantastic at 45mph, but it lost something when on the freeway. Not anymore. Next to the engine upgrade this has made the most significant positive difference in the car. And it only cost $120 including shipping.

Lotus Trouble Log:

2010-07-16T04:27:00Z

I finally feel like a true Lotus owner. It happened when I started working on my car more than I drove it.

I’ve noticed in myself and from time to time in friends that there’s a common tendency to think other people don’t have problems. For instance when you’re fighting with your significant other it often seems like the couples around you are perfect and must never fight. Or since this website is about cars that because I only head news about some guy’s project when there’s a significant moment of success, that everything ‘some guy’ does must just work. If you stop to think about it, this idea is ludicrous. But all the same, this false idea can be very discouraging when faced with the reality of your own project. You (or I) are always very aware of all of the problems you (or I) are having while you’re (sigh. . . or I’m) often not aware of of problems other people are having. (You get an “A” in reading if you understood that sentence in less than 3 re-reads)

One of the most encouraging experiences during the ordeal that has been sorting out of my engine swap has been reading CAN AM by Pete Lyons. The book chronicles every Can-Am race from 1966 to 1974 and what struck me was reading about how often and how many teams suffered major car failures during each race weekend. In a weird imaginary sort of bonding way, it made me feel better about the struggles I was facing, and I’d like to pass on the favor.

So below is a log of the bigger problems/jobs I’ve had to do since ‘completing’ my engine swap.

1st Day (of the car coming back to Santa Cruz): Engine began hunting wildly. Found a website which explained the cold air circuit was the problem and to cap it off with a spare tire valve cap.

2nd Day: Accessory Belt came off: I thought it was caused by the notch in the frame I made being too near the pulley. So with a small hacksaw, spent the next week cutting the notch bigger and welding in more re-enforcement all WHILE the engine was in the way. To this day that may be the proudest accomplishment I have. . . . of anything anywhere.

2nd Week: Tensioner idler pulley mount broke as I was tightening down the tensioner with the new belt on it. I had two choices. Pull the engine to get it off or cut a hole in the firewall. I cut a hole. I then made a window/portal thing through the firewall which I am mildly proud of.

3rd Week: I decided the shifter just wasn’t working well enough. Sometimes I’d grab 3rd gear accidently when I thought I was going into 1st. I spent the next week with my arm in the access hole making modifications and adjustments. Also noticed that the fuel pump was trying to work its way out of the car.

4th Week: Thinking the car was doing good and ready for more active duty I started it up to go visit Niles. The accessory belt came off. I just quickly put it back on, not knowing why it came off.

4th Week: (Same trip to Nile’s place) The car cut out on me. I realized I had no electricity so I opened the front hood where the battery is and found the battery was shorting and that I had a small electrical fire. The car then had its first tow home. Problem turned out to be a few stray strands of wire at the starter which had came out of their shielding and found their way to the engine block.

5th Week: Finally fixed windshield wipers with a new switch (they stopped working shortly before I did the engine swap).

6th Week: Some of my shifter modifications came undone, made more adjustments. Windshield wipers quit working again. I didn’t bother investigating.

The next couple of weeks saw lots of test miles and some extended (35 mile) freeway runs.

8th Week: I installed the new adjustable lower links on the rear suspension correcting the alignment problem caused by the engine swap.

9th Week: Planned a trip back to Merced in the car. I decided to go through an extensive checklist of things on the car to make sure everything was holding together properly. Everything looked good except the accessory belt which was trying to come off again. Finally figured out the cause (the tensioner pulley had a slight angle to it so I corrected it with a washer.

10th Week: A bad weld on one of my cable shifter attaching points broke. The exhaust tip tried to work its way off.

11th Week: Fixed windshield wipers again. They stopped working again a few days later.

12th Week (okay I really don’t know which week each of these things has happened but this is approximate): Figured out what’s wrong with the windshield wipers (I think) but haven’t applied a solution. Added the front chin spoiler to cure the car’s lift at freeway speeds.

Currently the car has 37 test miles on it with out a major problem and with the accessory belt staying in place.

I’m getting there.

A man walked by one day while I was fixing the exhaust tip and asked about what I was doing. I explained and with out prompting he encouraged me, reminding me that when I started I had EVERYTHING to fix. Now its down to one little thing at a time. That’s a comforting thought.

Adjustable Camber

2010-07-09T22:14:00Z

When the dust settled from the massive war that was the jamming of the new engine in the Europa, the engine and transmission were left sitting an inch lower than they used to. That’s great for weight distribution but not so great for the alignment of the rear wheels.

The problem is that the lower links on the rear wheels attach to the transmission. So with the transmission sitting lower it had the effect of pushing those links out a little more. Now a stock Europa runs 1 to 2 degrees negative camber (that is the top of the wheels point in) which I know helps its lateral traction, but makes the back look like its sagging a bit. With the new transmission location, the wheels looked like they had more than 5 degrees negative camber, or as my sister put it “like one of those cars on the claymation Chevron adds that’s REALLY tired.”

Unfortunately the stock lower links are non-adjustable. They are simply fixed length metal pipes. So that means I get to buy something! R and D Enterprises sells a set of adjustable rear lower links that look like they are made out of Tie-Rod ends from a truck. The beauty of these though is that with just a simple wrench you can adjust the camber of the rear wheels to anything you’d like. The pivoting parts on the ends are teflon coated and in order to adapt them to to the attaching points, a great mess of washers (which R and D provides) is used instead of the rubber bushings. That’s my kind of adaption!

Swapping them in is as simple as jacking up the rear of the car, unbolting the old links and bolting in the new ones. Its worth noting that the Lotus Shop Manual said to always replace the nylon coated locknuts on the links when unbolting them. I did my best to ignore this waring until one of the nuts stripped out completely. Then of course I couldn’t find the proper threading on a nut at my admittedly lousy local hardware store so I just replace the whole bolt and nut combo with a new grade 8 bolt and lock nut (try stripping now!). Over kill, I know, but it got the job done.

I’ve only eyeballed the camber setting as opposed to using a bubble gauge or something more mathematical and precise but I’ve aimed for a halfway point between the wheels having 0 camber and how they looked before the engine swap. This SHOULD be around 1 degree negative camber, but whatever it is, it looks good, works well, and I can increase it if I ever get to a race track.

Project Lotus: It RUNS!

2010-03-21T21:06:00Z

We’ve had another couple Saturdays spent on the engine swap now and the car has come to life, been reborn you might say.

On March 13th at 3:30 the engine started for its first time in the Lotus. An hour later, I drove the car out of the shop and then backed it back in, wanting to call it a day and celebrate before something went wrong. I knew I didn’t have the cable gear shift linkage set up right when I left and I needed some exhaust pipe bends to attach the muffler.

A week later, after welding in a new mounting point for one of the shifting cables and bracing both cables’ mounting points to remove any flex from the system, I’m proud to say the car shifts much better than it ever did before. And as a nice little bonus, the new large clutch and pressure plate I’m using has a much smoother take up. But both of those are just icing on the cake. What really matters is the engine. And it is perfect.

Its not the fastest accelerating car I’ve ever driven by a long shot. Part of that is its gearing but the feel of the engine now is what it always should have been. Before the Lotus felt like a race car that was down on power. Now it feels like a race car period. Test driving it with open headers helped too. . . .

But before I left I went ahead and tacked in the muffler and connecting pipe and now the car is ready to come home. There’s still plenty to do, plenty of things to be hooked up, cleaned up, checked, and tested. But the car can be driven and all systems seem to be working well. You can see a video from this last Saturday’s progress and test drives here:

New Engine for the Lotus

Project Lotus: Engine Swap

2010-03-06T18:42:00Z

There’s a little automotive show that airs in Britain, where the hosts frequently try projects to see as they put it “how hard can it be?” Often they are forced to sum up their plans in the end as, “ambitious, but rubbish.” I think now I can safely say I identify more with them than I would prefer.

You may remember that last year I bought a 1970 Louts Europa. This was a relatively affordable mid engine car which was simple and down to earth enough that it could be modified and improved without an advance degree from MIT. Or at least it was. Until I heard about a man in Texas by the name of John Pels, who helps other Lotus owners take out (now I’m quoting here) ‘the French lawnmower engine’ that is in our Europas and replace it with a near fire breathing engine from Toyota which is a good 15 to 20 years newer.

Now I’m sure there are those of you out there who aren’t fazed by the sight of a modern engine with its myriad of wires running everywhere controlling, every aspect of the engine as well as monitoring the engines performance, its emissions and what it had for breakfast. But coming from a stand point of working on old Fold V8’s, a modern EFI engine with variable valve timing and multi port injectors, separate coils on each cylinder, sandwiched between knock sensor and mass air flow sensors and multiple oxygen and temperature sensors sends a shiver up my spine, into my brain and causes what I can only describe as a mild stroke. Not that I don’t love these advancements in technology, and don’t desire an engine with them in my car. But the idea of me installing such a engine in a car it doesn’t belong in is at best overwhelming.

That all said, I suffer from another condition. A mental disablitly summed up by the phrase “eyes bigger than my stomach.” Hence I often drag myself into places I probably for sanity reasons shouldn’t venture.

So the project began when I bought both an adapter kit from Texas and my very own Toyota 4A-GE 1.6 liter EFI engine. I went the JDM route (Japanese Domestic Market) not because I would gain a few more hp if I used 98 octane fuel (their gas is higher octane than ours and their engines are thus tuned for it) but because JDM engines are often sold for engine swaps so it is easier to get all of the components you need with the engine as opposed to buying a long block and then needing all of the electronics and accessories. I didn’t go for the most sophisticated version of the engine, the 20 Valve version. I opted instead for what’s called a “Red Top” 16 valve engine. It has multi-port EFI but no variable valve timing or multiple coils or other advancements that might have made it more complicated. Or at least that was my reasoning, I have since decided that logic was somewhat faulty as I often find many more parts for the newer 20V engines than I do for the older 16V engines. But that’s water under the bridge at this point.

The next phase of the project was to obtain all the other parts and tools I would need to do the engine swap so that I could bring the car to my father’s shop (he is a rice farmer and works on a lot of his own equipment) and take a week’s vacation to preform the engine swap. Those of you who have done it know that for a first timer, this wasn’t the best of plans. But I tracked down and bought everything I knew that I needed, and yes. . . I knew I would find out more once I got into the project. A big thanks needs to go out here to Jim Blair who has also been working on an engine swap in his Europa with the same model of engine as I am using. He had already done a lot of work getting correct part numbers for everything and he shared what he found with me, saving me countless hours of ebay headaches (that is that pain in your head that comes from trying to determine if the part in the picture that looks like it was taken with a cell phone is indeed the correct part for your car). So with a truck piled full of parts I set out for my week off work to preform what I thought would take less time then I was allotting.

Can you hear the laughter in the distance?

My good friend Niles came with me for the first weekend, and he and I wasted no time yanking the old engine out and getting the alterations done to the frame. To be honest he did most of that work, I was busy working on my new cable shift linkage set-up. I obtained plans that are online at the Lotus Europa Yahoo Forum for a system that would replace my current tube style linkage. Now in my mind, I thought, that Niles could be working on the new engine mounts and reinforcements and I would be installing my new shifter. I had already made the mechanism it just needed to be installed and adjusted. But just as some foreshadowing of things to come I’m going to admit that Niles finished the frame modification Sunday afternoon. I finished the shifter on Tuesday.

Now seems like a good time to take a moment to talk about complications. Before I jumped into this project, I talked to a man who runs a custom car shop and asked him about an engine swap like this. He told me he’d probably have the engine in and out four times checking things before it was all finished. I couldn’t imagine why he’d have to do that SO MANY times. That was before I took the engine in and out 5 times. FIVE! And I’m not sure it won’t need to come out again at this point.

Now this isn’t to say the conversion kit I got isn’t great. It is saving me months of trial and error. The problems just come from attempting to make logical decisions about how to connect things, or the proper order to ease assembly and then finding out I was wrong, but wouldn’t have known that until the engine was in place. And if any of you know anything about fabricating or modifying anything you know it always takes longer than you think it will: “Okay now I just need to connect this and this. . . .Oh wait, it doesn’t fit this way anymore, okay I’ll just grind this, weld this in, re drill this and we’re good. . . . What do you mean its 6 o’clock I’m not half way through connecting this first thing!”

What wasn’t great was the condition of the wiring harness of the engine I ordered. I was told I was getting a JDM engine out of an 86 MR2 with its wiring harness intact. That is not what arrived. I thought it was odd that the flywheel wasn’t attached to the engine when I received it, but what was more alarming was that the wiring harness was all hacked up, connections were missing and the relay box had been smashed to bits. Oddly this may have been the best thing for me. Rather then attempt what would have been a complicated wiring job if the wiring had been all in one piece I sent the harness off to Phoenix Tuning (oddly enough not in Arizona) who customized my harness to being wired into the much simpler wiring of my Lotus. Besides saving me hours or sifting through wires and buying new relays and other components, they also were able to tell me that my engine was actually out of an (around 1989) AE92 Corolla with an automatic transmission. Hence my flywheel had come separately. This is all fine, its a better engine than an 86 MR2, and at least now I know what engine I’m supposed to be getting parts for. Or at least that’s what I tell myself at night when I’m lying awake thinking about it.

But back to the swap:

I wanted to have the engine bolted in and wired up so I could test the starter relay and spark by the end of Monday. I actually got to preform that test on Thursday. What happened was, that after I finally got the shift linkage working properly (I tested it with the transmission in place so I would know it worked before I blocked my access to it with something silly like an engine) on Tuesday, my dad and I bolted in the engine. Then on Wednesday we found out that my oil filter relocation lines stuck out too far and that the headers had to be installed before the engine was bolted in. So we spent Wednesday undoing Tuesday’s work and then re-doing it. . . twice. Lets just leave it at that.

But the engine cranked over and had spark. Even after the car decided to hide its new engine beneath a cloud of electrical smoke. . the result of a stray wire which just happened to find its way to the battery terminal.

That unfortunately was about it for the week though. The last couple days was spent putting in the transmission, re-doing some more things, and putting as much of the car back together as possible as it wouldn’t be coming home with me any time soon. I still need to get a new fuel pump, run coolant lines, hook up the exhaust, clean up and mount all of the electrics as well as connect all the gauges and such before its done. My week of vacation is over and I suppose I should be really proud of what we accomplished. But I’m just left with this feeling that I’m going to spend the rest of my life pulling and re-installing that engine. Maybe I should take up bird watching. . . .

Why?!?

2009-10-06T01:23:00Z

The first question that you should be asking is what in heaven or earth (or somewhere more sinister) could have possessed me to buy a Europa?

I could tell you that I absolutely love the car, but that doesn’t really answer the question but merely begs: Why do I love this funny looking little trouble maker of a car?

Having owned a lot of interesting metal (and fiberglass) over the years I’ve noticed my way of looking at cars has changed. No my eyes haven’t gone. Ha ha. What has happened is that my criteria for liking a car has been freed up.

It used to be that I skipped to the end of car reviews to read the stats. To find out, mathematically which car was faster. That was what mattered right? I mean I need to know that my car is superior (and speed is primary way to judge that) to whatever car is next to me at a stoplight. But there is a tiring problem with that (besides the possibility of driver error which can easily make the fastest car slow). Its expensive. I can’t afford a car that is faster then 5 seconds from 0 to 60. So I bought what I could afford and then made it faster. But that still costs too much money. And cost can really suck the fun out of things. For instance I would thoroughly enjoy cruising around Italy in a rented Ferrari. But that would mean I wouldn’t be able to afford anything but rice and beans to eat for a couple years. And that takes some of the fun out of tooling around Europe in an Italian thoroughbred. So I don’t do that.

But two things have happened that have left my primary criteria rendered moot. The first is where I live now. When I was in the valley the road are smooth, straight and intersections are so big they seem designed for drag racing rather than for traffic control (not that I encourage such illegal behavior). But over here in Santa Cruz, we don’t have many multiple lane intersections. Roads are never straight and are only smooth for a week after they’ve been resurfaced. Worse is our freeway on-ramps. One of my favorite pass times in my old Mach 1 was slowly getting onto an on-ramp and then seeing how quickly I could get to free-way speed. But that was in Merced where on-ramps are straight and uphill (making power all the more important). Over here our on-ramps are all giant centrifuges that fling you onto the the freeway where you find the average speed of traffic is 45mph. Much unlike HWY 99 where the people seem to mistake the name of the road for the speed limit. What we do have here though is tight twisty back and mountain roads, and that lends itself to a car that maintains speed through corners rather then a car that builds speeds on straights.

All of this is then compounded by the experiences I’ve had in different cars. Since my days of hopping up old Mustangs (I still contend they are one of the best all around fun cars to work on and play with) I’ve driven a LOT of different cars from all over the world with all kinds of different drive-train arrangements. And what I’ve learned (what Ferrari has been preaching for years) is that its not about the numbers. Its about how a car feels.

There is a saying that, ‘driving a slow car fast is more fun then driving a fast car slow.’ Its so true. I’ve come to love old cars for their sensory input. For the noise and shakes that the cars make. So that when you’re doing 40 mph it feels like you’re riding a rocket ship ready to explode. That is more fun on a daily basis then sitting in an uber-Mercedes and when traveling 90 mph falling asleep from boredom. In that sense its also safer.

But none of that really mattered until I got over something. How I felt my car represented me. It used to be that if there was something wrong with my car, I had to fix it immediately. I wouldn’t ever have to say to someone, sorry, the car’s not working right now. This is important because my cars were always my projects and I felt these projects, because they were what I spent my time doing, represented me. I never wanted to say “I have such and such great car.” And then when asked if I could show it have to say “Well no, its on blocks right now, and primered and the engine is in pieces in my living room.” That was, in my mind something I would never let myself become, even though I knew such a condition was always looming.

But that was when I was single. Now I’m married and since my primary goal in impressing anyone was to meet women, I don’t feel so tied down to what a normal (non-car person, usually women) thinks of me. I’ve had some really great cars over the years and my wife’s opinion has ranged from not caring to not liking them. So I have no one to impress but myself.

It feels so much better. If a car has a problem now, I save it for a free weekend and actually enjoy doing the work. Its something constructive to do. The freedom also means I don’t worry as much about what the car says about me when I pull up to places. People (usually women) tell me how ugly such and such a car is (usually really famous race car that they know nothing about, just as I know nothing about Ballet) and I just shake my head and think, ‘they don’t understand.’ Which is great because opinions like those keeps value on certain fun, fast, but ugly cars low. And low value to others translates to affordability to me.

You may think then that because of my apathy towards image that I’m able to compromise and thus buy a less expensive ‘fun’ car. That is not the case at all. I’ve come to love ugly cars. I find that they are more fun then beautiful cars because you don’t worry about them. You don’t spend your weekends waxing them just to curse the rain and bird poop that came out of nowhere hours after you finished. Or have your day ruined by a new door ding courtesy of some careless person at Cost-Co (I will find you one day and take my revenge!). Ugly cars can be tossed, raced, enjoyed and not worried over. And to me, ugly is better then boring.

So why the Europa? Its got all the novel things I like; British, wood dash, mid-engined, non-powered steering. And it is what I love. It is FUN to drive. Sensory input galore, 30mph feels like 50, steering that makes a Ferrari feel like a lumbering giant (in comparison it is, this car makes a Miata look big). And despite its ugliness, it looks great in Le Mans style stripes (I’ve always wanted to paint these stripes on a car but never had one that would like right with them). Driving is a joy again. I make up excuses to go anywhere in the car, just because its so much fun to slam its gear shift around and zig-zag down straight roads just because the cars agility feels so un-earthly.

I also deeply connect with the spirit of the engineering in the car. Okay that sounds really bizarre but here’s what I mean: I’ve often dreamt up how I think a car should be designed. True I feel my ideas are better looking then the Europa but the engineering is in total agreement. Mid-engined, and light. I don’t need or even want all the things put into cars today that make them weigh 2 tons. 2 TONS!!! Why do I need to move 4000lbs around when 90 percent of the time I’m the only thing that needs moving? To put it in perspective, why would I pay for gas to move 4000 lbs just to move 170lbs? Even if I have a buddy with me, that’s still less then 400 lbs for both of us together. The Europa weighs in at 1400lbs. That means it takes a lot less power to go fast. Which means less fuel too. Which means less emissions.

Its then kind of a bonus, living in Santa Cruz where everyone claims to be greener then they are. I get to say, my vintage sports car AVERAGES 35mpg without overdrive (which I hope to add one day). Apparently I’m saving the environment one Lotus at a time.

And all of that is besides the wonderfully snug feel of the interior, the vintage gauges, the feeling that the car could convert into an airplane if I could just find the lever that makes it do that. And I can’t forget to mention that it is the easiest car to work on that I’ve ever owned by a wide margin. Or that its the kind of car I don’t feel guilty about customizing with my personal mechanical modifications and the aforementioned stripes.

So when you see me driving around in the tiny little British racer, looking like my legs have been amputated, you’ll know. I’m actually having the time of my life.

Buying A Lotus

2009-09-25T03:59:00Z

The problem with telling this story is that nothing interesting happened. Sure, I ended up with one of Chapman’s little Bread Vans, but 500 miles in a vintage Lotus during the blazing heat of summer should have been ripe with struggles. And it just wasn’t.

It all started with my last Lotus. I only owned the car a mere three weeks, but in those few weeks it left a lasting impression. I was hooked and bent on getting another one as soon as I could afford it. Unfortunately the term afford becomes awfully vague when saving up for a span of multiple years. Things inevitably happen. Changes that affect priorities. The first was my office moving from walking distance from my house to somewhere further. The distance wasn’t the problem though. The problem was that I did occasionally drive to work. Which was fine, we had parking at the old building. But in our new place parking was only in a multilevel garage with prepaid parking permits. And my only car has no roof or windows. So a paid for (and expensive) parking permit could be easily stolen.

That’s okay, I’ll move the time table up and get myself another Lotus. If I needed a car with a roof it might as well be a Lotus, right? I was going to save up more money then I spent on my last Esprit Turbo and get a nicer Esprit Turbo, one of the Peter Steven’s styled cars. But I’d be happy with a cheaper older Esprit Turbo if I had to get one sooner than planned. The older, and worse shape its in, the less I would worry about it. Great.

And then more changes. I went to Africa. I liked it. Wait, no I didn’t. It made the Valley in summer feel like Antarctica. But still I want to go back. And do more traveling in general. So what if I found an even cheaper car that was fun like the Esprit? More money saved for other things. Toyota used to make that MR2 thing. Lotus even helped them design the first version. But the second generation offered a turbo. And turbo’s are fun. I could get one of those for half the price of an old Esprit in bad shape.

Then Car Week hit. I couldn’t have a Toyota. That would be too wise or responsible or something. All things I aspire to avoid. I wanted another Lotus. But I want a mid-engined car and I need something with a roof. Now Lotus hasn’t made that many different models so that really narrowed it down. I had seen old Europa’s for sale before but never in person and thus never gotten to drive one. I didn’t know if it would cut it. Especially with my wife’s comments that it looks like an ‘alien baby hearse.’ All that changed at the Monterey Historic Races. I saw for the first time in person; a Lotus Europa. It was tiny. I loved it.

I went right home and found two for sale in the LA area. Not exactly convenient but doable (and the price was just what I was looking for). I should mention there was also one in San Francisco, and another in Monterey, but neither was running and the most important thing I needed to know about the car was that it was fun to drive. So after a few failed attempts to fly down there with a buddy, I made plans with my wife to visit her family in Bakersfield. The trip would provide a stepping stone to LA where I made arrangements to see one of the Europas.

The weekend came and with it, record heat. Santa Cruz was over a hundred degrees. SANTA CRUZ! The boardwalk was reporting 93 degrees a few yards from the waters edge. And this was the weekend I would be traveling inland and possibly driving home in a 40 year old car with no A/C, which I’m sure would break down, leaving me to sweat it out on the blazing hot asphalt ribbon running 500 miles between my start and stop points.

Seeing the car in person didn’t excite me to the point of forgetting the 108 degree heat out that day, or the fact that the car wasn’t in LA, but Costa Mesa, and extra 45 minutes south. It was even more awkward looking then I remembered. Its particularly odd shade of blue inspired my wife to call it the ‘Smurf Alien Baby Hearse.’ I knew full well why everybody save my two closest friends were either adamant that I not buy the car or avoided replying to my emails of pictures of the car completely. Its not as awkward looking in person as it is in photos. But it is awkward.

It was in worse cosmetic condition then I thought but mechanically impressive. I was expecting the opposite, and that threw me a little, but I progressed with the testing and took the car out for a drive. It was fantastic. It felt very little like the Esprit. It was a combination of the same nimbleness but with an old car simplicity. It felt classic. From the cockpit with its simple wood dash full of all the necessary gauges and lack of sound deadening, it reminded me of the Trans Am racing Boss 302’s that I dreamed of turning my old Mach 1 into.

Needless to say I bought it. And drove the thing 200 miles to Bakersfield. And then another 200 miles to Merced. All in 100+ degree weather. And neither I nor the car was fazed by the heat. I filmed much of the trip, hoping for some Lotus-itis to make for a memorable documentary about the crazy guy trying to drive a Lotus 500 miles without a breakdown and all the breakdowns he then endured. But the car let me down (by not letting me down).

I presented the car to my Dad, I would be leaving it with him for a week until I could come back and paint some racing stripes on it (I needed to do something to help the car’s looks). He warmed up to it. Perhaps just because I already owned it and there was no reason to berate my purchase. Or perhaps the drive in it changed his mind (he left some tire marks in the driveway).

A long week of sitting at work thinking about what all I’d do to the car when I paint the stripes later, I came back to Merced and fulfilled a long time dream of mine. To have a car with Le Mans style racing stripes. And for the first time in a long time, I had my own car again. A car which I tuned to my preferences and driving style. Which is modified in ways I think are better. Which is blue with white stripes (that I decided on, designed and painted). It feels right to. Not too showing, not expensive, plenty interesting, and not full of gadgets I don’t want, will break down, and add weight. Its like a race car. Its just right for me, and I now remember how good it feels to take a car out for a drive, just to take the car out for a drive. Criticize its looks all you want, I love it.

It made the last 100 miles to Santa Cruz without a hitch and its winning over the people who told me not to buy it one by one. Not that I care terribly much. I spent the money and I’m glad I did.

Racing is Doomed: 'Go Like Hell' Review

2009-09-22T19:24:00Z

I don’t want to sound prophetic; to be one of those people who says they know the future and give an exhaustive list of evidence to why they are right. It seems that most of the time, these predictions turn out false. I mean technically, Chrysler still exists despite all who foretold its demise at the beginning of the year.

That’s not what I’m claiming. Doomed is merely the conclusion I’ve come to after reading the history of the Ford GT40 in A.J. Baime’s book, Go Like Hell.

The problem as I see it is progress. The same progress that allows you to read this collection of words on your television like screen thingie. Hold on, let me take you through my thought process.

The world of racing in the mid sixties is not like the racing of today. ‘Go Like Hell’ is a gripping story of brave and talented men risking their lives every time they set out in a race car. And when I say ‘risk their lives’ it is no mere exaggeration for dramatic purposes. It felt like someone died in every chapter of the book. Whether a rookie driver or a world famous star racer, people’s lives ended commonly on the track. And thankfully, for the lives its saved, progress has put all but a stop to death in world class racing. It still happens yes, racing is still dangerous but to put it into context, in the early 60’s there were actual debates about weather or not to put seat belts in race cars. Things have changed.

I’m not claiming then that the progress I’m referring to is bad. It is after all progress. But still, some of the romance is missing. Yes I know that sounds horrible but its true. Men in general like the idea of laughing in the face of death. Of heroes. Of men who succeed against truly dangerous opposition. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the glory. Or something like that. I don’t believe that the safety, the saved lives is a bad thing. Of course it is good, but the loss of adventure is an unfortunate side effect. That said, lets switch gears a bit and I’ll continue with something that sounds less offensive.

As progress in technology has increased two things have happened: Race cars have gotten further and further from cars people can actually buy and drive, and the cost of racing has sky-rocketed.

The first thing has bothered me for a long time. NASCAR used to use a term that meant something. I’m referring to of course the words ‘Stock Car’. That meant that the cars were stock. Or at least were only modified with parts that any old enthusiast could go down to his local dealer and buy. That built a fan base with a marque and allowed fans to identify with the cars they cheered for. I can just picture a marketing person in the 60’s saying, “Why don’t we make it easier on all the manufacturers and make them all race the same car, just with different painted bodies on them. Fans will still cheer for their brands. It doesn’t matter that the cars have nothing to do with the models they are named after.” Had someone actually said that back then, I’d like to think they’d have been drawn an quartered.

But I will concede that NASCAR is very popular today. With its fake cars. That’s fine. Good for it. Can we have then a new racing league for actual stock as in stock from the dealer, cars? Yes they can be fitted with roll cages and harnesses but outside of that. . . .

Trans-Am racing started out on the right track back then too. But it too lost its way. And disappeared.

And to get back to the book, look at Le Mans racing. I still enjoy the GT1 and GT2 classes for having varying degrees of relation to cars I could (if I had money) go and buy. But the ‘prototype’ cars raced in the 60’s would be considered GT1 cars today. There are people who used their GT40’s on the streets. That would never happen with a Peugot whatever its called.

About the only thing I can think of that hasn’t changed is Formula 1 (and other open wheel leagues) but that’s only because they were never ‘normal’ cars to begin with.

And this leads into the second problem. The cost. This to me is the greatest problem. Because it destroys something that though universal is very strongly tied to the American Dream.

When it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to race successfully in a major series, we lose the opportunity for the underdog success stories. For the chicken farmer that has a good idea and a strong commitment and takes on the worlds best. For an aluminum salesman to revolutionize two of the top racing leagues in the world and brings the established racing royalty to its knees. Its that dream of no matter what your status in life, if you have a good idea and work hard you can accomplish anything. Its the tie to the common man and the drama that ensues, the hope, the struggles and finally the win that makes racing great.

Or maybe that’s just how I see it. Luckily there’s books like ‘Go Like Hell’ out there to thrill me with stories of the Golden Age of racing. I highly recommend picking it up.

Quail 2009

2009-09-05T00:10:00Z

Unless Ben get’s himself out from under his Europa distraction and writes something up, this will be our last report on Monterey Car Week 2009. Pretty amazing year. And big THANKS to Les Ellis for all the photographs from so many of the best events.

Without further ado, the Quail…

From Les:

The Quail is the most expensive show during car week and has restricted tickets to 3,000 each year. I’m not sure they sold out this year, though they have for the last 3 or 4 years.

It has wonderful cars but is becoming more manufacturer oriented (Jag, Lambo, AMG, Prosche, all on hand). That’s understandable as this is the best spot for them to contact their potential clientele. Quail is also moving to “lifestyle” (fashion, food, cigars, wine, etal.) rather than just cars. Still its great as limited attendance means the CHANCE to get a photo.

And photos he does get… though he seemed to manage just fine at the more crowded events too.

As always, when in the area, the best place to pick up grand Les Ellis prints is at Woodies at Crossroads in Carmel. When not in the area, you can always contact us for more information via email at infoATcv-classiccarsDOTcom.

PG Rally 2009

2009-09-04T22:55:00Z

More from Monterey Car Week 2009. Lower profile, yet no less loved, the Pacific Grove Rally was documented my Les Ellis. Included here are some of his favorite pictures.

Quote from Les:

Friday afternoon of car week, when all the serious car auctions have just started, Pacific Grove (PG) holds its very unserious rally which may be the most fun event as it is NOT judged and is open to almost anyone who has made a reservation to participate – many do year after year.

The result is an astoundingly diverse set of owner-maintained hobby cars that are what the hobby started out as. Its just plain fun.

And check out the scenery. Yes, that’s the rugged yet majestic Pacific Ocean in the background. If you’ve been to Woodies and checked out the prints available there, you know that Les specializes in special cars in special locations.

Gathering of Ferraris

2009-08-20T16:44:00Z

Car Week is always jam packed with stuff for the car enthusiast to see or do and Les Ellis goes all out to make sure he covers the best of it, including the Ferrari Club of America’s Pacific Region Meeting.

From Les:

This year as part of car week, the Ferrari Club of America had their Pacific Region meeting at Chateau Julian on Carmel Valley Rd.

The event was choreographed by Paul Reps and implemented with the help of many volunteers and the active participation of Ferrari.

On Wed, there was an”informal” gathering of 20 or so cars at the CrossRoads shopping Center in Carmel, and then Thursday was the main event at the Winery.

The setting was marvelous, the day was VERY sunny, and everyone was having a great time despite the ash falling from a wildfire North of Santa Cruz – 50 miles away (which the judges said they would ignore).

From the pictures, you can see that there were quite a few fine italian specimens on hand. Most popular color? Ferrari Red, of course!

Pebble Beach Tour 2009

2009-08-17T18:00:00Z

Just when you thought the CVCC fun of Monterey Car Week was over for another year, we surprise you another fun collection of Les Ellis photos.

From Les:

The Pebble Beach Tour is one of the neatest events of Car Week.

The Pebble Beach cars are all “invited” to rally around the Monterey Peninsula. The “carrot” to accepting the invitation is that if two cars on a class are judged to a tie and one participated in the tour it wins (tie-breaker). The public find viewing spots along the route and get to see some of the rarest and neatest cars in the world for free.

The Cars with Green Decals on one headlamp are the “official” participants, but, as you can see, some really neat “spectator” cars join in.

Many thanks to Les for sharing his great photos with us. You can find high quality prints at Woodies at Crossroads in Carmel. Or contact us for more info.

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance 2009

2009-08-17T04:07:00Z

Keeping with tradition, Les and Ben attended this year’s Concours d’Elegance, closing up Car Week in Monterey with the utmost in style.

Thanks to Les for the pictures highlighting the event.

It looks like another great year, including one of the seventy seven Aston Martin One-77s to be built.

Les provided some background on the Mercedes in the second picture:

“The Black Tandem is street legal in Europe and they are trying for US homologation. A V12 Mercedes in a car that weighs about 2500lbs (mostly engine). Seats two tandem style.”

Don’t forget to swing by Woodies on your way out of town to check out the Les Ellis prints available there.

Carmel Concours 2009

2009-08-12T16:30:00Z

Les took some more great pictures at the Carmel-By-The-Sea Concours on the Avenue

Here are Les’s introductory remarks about this event:

“This one is free admission in Downtown Carmel. They close Ocean Ave (Main Drag) and have about 150 cars. The show is only three years old, but has a lot of local support and eclectic cars as you can see.

The spectator cars are also fun. Try a Ferrari 275, Aston Martin Convertible and a 36 Ford Pickup with a ROOSEVELT bumper sticker.”

Coincidentally, Pete Stout, editor of Excellence, the magazine about Porsche, was on hand for this event too, serving as an official judge of the competition.

As always, when in Monterey, the best place to find high quality prints by Les Ellis is at Woodies at Crossroads in Carmel