The new Orange photo backdrop.

Posted on November 23, 2009

I’m getting into the meat of my JKC that I’m building for the upcoming NAHBS and wanted to share a few photos of it……. but I suspect that for many the background might also be of interest. My shop is in my garage so the car parked in the background gets a lot of ink when I take in-progress photos. Here’s the scoop on the new photo backdrop.

Anyone that has known me for more than a few minutes knows I’m a huge fan of Lotus automobiles. I have been since I was a young man and I’ve been very lucky to have owned a few genuine Lotus’ over the years. There is just something about the simple and elegant engineering that appeals to the framebuilder in me. The founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman, is my engineering hero and his designs are legendary both in and out of the automotive world. My first Lotus was a 1966 Lotus Cortina. What a wonderful car. I spent a number of years restoring it and at about this time I got into autocross and eventually sold it as it was just too rare to risk damage while autocrossing.

When I sold the Cortina I really wanted to get a Lotus Elise but they were very new at the time and way out of my price range. While shopping around for a serious autocross car I found the Birkin, which is a modern version of a 1969 Lotus Seven. It’s been a great car for the past 4 years and I’ve had a ball with it but the deep seated itch to own an Elise had not gone away. Lucky for me that the value of a used Elise has come down and the value of a used Birkin has gone up and just recently the two values came very close to one another so I could entertain selling the Birkin and buying an Elise.

I got lucky and was able to swing a deal on selling the Birkin at about the same time a very good deal came to me on a used Elise. So the Birkin is heading to a new excited owner in Maine and the Elise just arrived in Bozeman a few days ago. It’s a 2005 Elise with about 32,000 miles and it runs very well and I look forward to spring when I can start working on it in earnest for next years race season. It being November in Montana I haven’t been able to spend much time in it yet but spring is coming! Well, eventually it is………..

Here are a few photos of the bike that’s in progress as well as the cars I wrote about above. If you have no interest in cars I can respect that and promise to get back to the full bike content for the next post.

Thanks for looking,

Dave

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This entry was posted in For Fun.  

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9 responses to “The new Orange photo backdrop.”

  1. parris says:
    November 23, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    Dave:

    I let a few people back home know you said “hi”. Congrats on the Lotus! How close in color is it to the 1800s’ you had all those years ago? I hope you have years of fun with it.

    Parris

  2. kirks says:
    November 24, 2009 at 11:52 am

    Yo,

    The color of the Elise is similar to the 1973 Volvo 1800 ES I owned years ago but the Lotus has a pearl look to it when you get up close.

    That 1800 ES was a great bike race car – a sporty car you could just barely slip a bike into. I miss it sometimes.

    Happy Thanksgiving,
    Dave

  3. Carl Strong says:
    November 25, 2009 at 5:51 am

    I think you should either put a pad on the passenger side window or require helmets. I have a feeling that thing turns hard.

  4. kirks says:
    November 25, 2009 at 7:30 am

    Some, like those with undersized necks, might also need a neck brace. Just say’in. 🙂

    Happy Thanksgiving.

    Dave

  5. Don H says:
    November 26, 2009 at 7:01 am

    Dave, Congrats on the Elise! I sat in one at a car show last summer. It was a private owner car, so I didn’t feel I could adjust the seat, etc, so it was a little tight. But I assume the legroom and headroom is ok, so I’ll keep it on my wish list! Good for you! Happy Thanksgiving.

    DH

  6. kirks says:
    December 4, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    You know i don’t know if I have photos of my 1800. I have some snap shots somewhere but I don’t have a scanner. Anyway….. I’ve owned 2 1973 1800 ES’s. Both orange with black leather. The first one was totaled when a drunk hit me (car was toast but I got out and walked away!) and the second one was sold when Karin and I moved from New York to Montana. There was something about the way those cars felt that was special. I used to joke that they were ‘sport tanks’ as they were sporty but built like a tank. It was fun owning the sportwagen version of the car because my road bike would slip right in and I was off to the races.

    I just did a google image search and came up with this one. It’s the wrong color but it captures that wonderful 60’s-70’s thing. http://www.cabinnaise.com/vpage/cole.jpg

    Thanks for reading.

    Dave

  7. Daniel says:
    December 5, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    Nice car Dave. Come May you’ll have to post your top speed up Bridger Canyon Rd.

    dn’l

  8. kirks says:
    December 6, 2009 at 7:14 am

    As uncool as it might sound I doubt I’ll get much over the speed limit anywhere. That said that doesn’t mean that all the corners can’t be taken at the speed limit. The fun part isn’t just around the corner but it’s the corner itself.

    I’m pretty darn excited for next autocross season………. it will be a fun and learning experience.

    Dave

  9. John says:
    December 21, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    Hi DK,

    So that is what the orange thing in the background was! I better let my friend, and fellow MT Autocrosser, Jeff know about your Elise. That way he can make sure his RX-7 is up to the task, if that is possible.

    Your cars make a statement. But then too, so does my Subaru station wagon with two kids’ seats in the back, and a Yakima coffin on the roof.

    John

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