Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim Brick wrote: > Sorry Marc, there is NOTHING as cantankerous as an old British > Sports car. I'm not so sure about new ones either. As an Esprit owner for almost ten years now, the old adage is true that the good thing about owning a Lotus is that every drive is an adventure and the bad thing about owning a Lotus is that every drive is an adventure. I budget about $2500 every year for maintenance. In recent memory I've had the following "adventures": - Coolant hose separated from the remote (!) thermostat, dumping all my coolant; fortunately, I was less than a mile from my garage. I have a Rest of World (RoW) car rather than a Federal or Domestic (UK), and only the RoW cars have this nasty remote thermostat. - Coolant hose separated again, this time while on the track at PIR. By the way, for those not familiar with how inaccessible everything is, getting to and fixing this problem takes five (5) hours. - I spent $2000 getting the car ready for our club's trip from Portland down to Monterey for the 1995 International Lotus Convention (marque of honor at Laguna Seca was Lotus). On the very morning our club was to leave, my throttle cable breaks while the car is still in the garage! No spares and everyone is anxious to get going. Had to take my daily driver down to Monterey instead. I am still upset about that. - A few years ago the throwout bearing disintegrated (no, I don't ride the clutch or hold it in at stops). Driving without a clutch is possible, but starting from a stop without one is not a pleasant experience. Still, I can't bring myself to sell it. As the Colin Chapman himself said, "of course they break, that's all part of Lotus ownership". ObLeica: haven't photographed the car with a Leica yet. - -Dave