RIP John “Magic” Mountain

[peteoddcar]

I read today the sad news that Magic passed away in February according to Geoff’s post.
I am pretty sure that most contributors to this section of the forum will have known John
RIP Magic

[clemo]

I read today the sad news that Magic passed away in February according to Geoff’s post.
I am pretty sure that most contributors to this section of the forum will have known John
RIP Magic

Indeed . Great guy . will be missed.

[lotusles]

So sad, and clearly now explains the lack of contact ref his website

[lotusflasherman]

So sad, and clearly now explains the lack of contact ref his website

Website? ... John was Electrical Systems Design Engineer at Lotus and did the electrics on the Elan M100, amongst many others. I knew him well for many years, had his phone number, email address, various social media contacts but no website. Are you confusing him with the guy who does Mountain Chips?

[peteoddcar]

Hi all,
John ran The Lotus Remembered page on FB, so I wonder if that’s what is being referred to?

[lotusflasherman]

Unlikely. John invited me to Lotus Remembered very early on and Alan Nobbs was a fellow administrator and is keeping it going. It's very active with great photos and interesting recollections and I spend far too much time in there when I should be doing other things...

[lotusflasherman]

Thought I'd post here copies of couple of conversations I had with John on Messenger and are still there ... first on headlights:
"I was involved with the performance assessment and engineering of the system with Valeo, I was not the engineer on the M100 s1 but did all headlighting across product range and therefore worked with the M100 guys.....All but Federal cars were to have the Cibie' complex surface reflex lamps for Main and Dip beam units. The commercial guys then got involved and only the Cibie' Main beam made it into production....Don't recall the supplier for dip beam.... As I'm sure you know the wiring is configured to only have 2 dip and 2 main beam..... " so the Hughes Book is not quite correct, (and the ommission of Barrie Wills still astonishes me).
and ... (a project for Pinky?)
"Cheers.... Did I ever tell you about the semi automatic M100 we did?"
No. What is semi? Pre-selector?
"It was a auto clutch, long time ago but quite impressive"
We'll have to talk over a beer..

4wd M100 and ABS were also projects that got killed when GM terminated the M100.

[peteoddcar]

It was just an idea ....
Great that he shared his recollections with you.
Hope to have a F2F again soon

[peteoddcar]

He invited me too therefore I thought he ran it. As he said he had very little to do with the Elan it was the cross car Headlamp decision that drove the opera glass design .....
I am really surprised he owned one.
RIP Magic

[peteoddcar]

May have driven the opera glass design ....

[chipp]

Not sure anyone can help but i thought i would put this post on here as some may be interested.
It was on my 'Nextdoor' feed.

Colin Spooner
Deopham Green • 1 day ago
Is there anybody, ex Lotus or other, in the Attleborough or Wymondham area who wou;d be prepared to take on final restoration of the ex John Mountain M100 Elan. Reasonable mates rate available but cannot meet full garage retail.
All required parts available, just requires labour.
Vehicle is owned By Barrie Wills who was the coordinator on the M100 program and who made it all happen, but who is currently in poor health. He would like to complete it for his son.

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Stephanie Lawrence
Stephanie Lawrence
• Attleborough
You could try car sos on TV they do this sort of thing for people
1 day ago
Rob Brown
Rob Brown
• Attleborough
Darren at the little car clinic Attleborough he’s ex lotus race mechanic
1 day ago
Fiona Ellis
Fiona Ellis
• Attleborough
Try Car SOS on tv
1 day ago
Steven Becker
Steven Becker
• Rocklands
+44 7540 386337
Give Bret a call he put my SL back together
23 hrs ago
Tim Hannam
Tim Hannam
• Stow Bedon
You could try car SOS
23 hrs ago

[peteoddcar]

I really hope that someone local could do it
I suggest put the post on FB Lotus Remembered
I have no idea if he’s able or willing or even still local but a name that springs to mind is Colin Moy.
If not contact Peter Riddle and Ian Doble ( both Sporting Car Club of Norfolk members ) for ideas perhaps?