The Mellotron Group

Beautiful car, Jim. I loved pretty much everything Lotus back in the day.  
Colin Chapman was amazing.
 
 
In a message dated 2/21/2012 10:15:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
ceratos@shaw.ca writes:

 
 
 
I wonder how many of us Tron guys are also into vintage cars. 

I'm a  Lotus fan. I've had a couple of Europas. Love em. The 67 S1 that I 
drive at  the moment is powered by a fuel injected Toyota 4AGE, and has NO 
original  electrical. lol

It is scary powerful, weighs nothing, and is totally  reliable. Really fun 
car.

_http://www.circleofwingsband.com/europa363/Europa1-800.jpg_ 
(http://www.circleofwingsband.com/europa363/Europa1-800.jpg)   

_http://www.circleofwingsband.com/europa363/Interior2-800.jpg_ 
(http://www.circleofwingsband.com/europa363/Interior2-800.jpg)   


Jim 




At 03:03 PM 2/21/2012, you wrote:



It was a 1964 model  as I recall. I didn't own that one; it belonged to a 
friend. We complete  rebuilt that car from the frame up as I  did with the 
XK-150, which I  did own. I forgot that I (briefly) owned a Triumph TR-3 back 
around 1971 or  so, but it was stolen not long after I replaced the 
drop-down top,  reupholstered it and repainted it. Never got it back. A year later I 
bought  a '59 MGA and we put a narrowed Pontiac rear end in it and a 302 
Chevrolet  Z-28 motor. There wasn't much Lucas left when I was finished with 
it. It was  a bit too much motor for the car. Often, under vigorous 
acceleration from a  rolling or standing start, or when banging through the gears, 
the doors  would open from the excessive torque. Scary! So I welded the doors 
closed  and put a roll bar in it. That was an improvement, but the frame was 
still  not up to the task, so off came the body and out came the welding 
torch. I  tried everything I could think of to stiffen that frame, but I could 
never  completely solve the torque issue and handling could be a tad 
unpredictable  at times. The thing was a rocket and just plain scared the shit out 
of  everyone but me. It was a cool looking car with  flared fenders and  
huge tires (at the time) and I called it the "poor man's Cobra," which,  
except for brute power, it was most certainly not. Finally, after a year or  so 
of trying to get it right, I got rid of it. 

There was a guy  who lived just a few houses down the street named Bill 
Pickford. My dad was  his attorney and he had two Shelby 427 side-oiler Cobras. 
I got to drive one  of them a few times and it was always in my mind that I 
could build  something like it. Wrong.

Pickford died in 1973 of brain  cancer. His wife offered one of the Cobra's 
to my dad for $7,000.00. He  bought a Porsche instead. I never forgave him 
for that, although I had a  long-running affair with Porsches (I've had 9 of 
them and sold the last  shortly after I got married.)


In a message dated  2/21/2012 2:30:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
gabru@comsec.net  writes:




Having owned a MGA, XKE and a few other British “Lucas based”  forms 
of transportation I agree….absolutely horrible 


electrical system…yet another reason a British car will ~always~ let  youu 
down.  But they are so damn much fun to drive!! 


What year was your E Type Frank?


g


From:






newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [_  
mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_ (mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) ] On Behalf Of  
lsf5275@aol.com

Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 11:12 AM

To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Mellotron M400 Lighted Power  Switch 
WANTED.





I also have rewired a (59 XK-150 and an XKE) and probably two dozen or  
even more, British motorcycles. Lucas Electronics... "The name goes on  before 
the trouble begins..." Always fun.


In a message dated 2/21/2012 1:55:04 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
_wonggster@gmail.com_ (mailto:wonggster@gmail.com)  writes:


When I think of UK and electric I always think of the time I spent  pulling 
solid core Lucas wire out of a friends Jaguar and rewiring the  car with 
lamp cord (speaker wire).




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