I have just joined again after many years. I first joined up back in around 2000 when I bought my first Lotus Elan SE Turbo M100. It was a gorgeous car, I paid £10,000 for it and subsequently spend another £13,000 over the next two years. It needed the gear change linkage sorting out, I fitted a complete sports SS exhaust system, and it needed a total respray as the top coat was coming off in flakes. After sorting out some other little things, headlight activators for example, and fitting a new, super nice entertainment system, it was perfect, and went like a bat out of hell.
And then my wife (ex now!) decided we were migrating to Australia. I really wanted to take my M100 with me, however budget constraints, and also finding articles from Australian owners that said that the heat there made the glue melt that held many components together, so that things like the dash literally fell apart, meant having to sell it. I went over to Australia mid-2004 to look for work, as I had taken an early voluntary redundancy in the U.K., leaving my wife to sort out the last bits of the house sale and also to sell the car. She left selling the M100 to the very last minute as she loved driving it so much. Because of this she couldn’t find a buyer. As the time for her to leave approached, she ended up taking just £2,000 for the car. It was all she could get, so she said, and it made me cry!, a lot!
Anyway, that was a lifetime ago, and I returned to the U.K. last year, disabled now (after a chiropractor broke my neck - long story), single with no kids so wonderfully independent, and I’m now beginning to look around for my next automotive project. I currently own a Toyota GTS86, which I bought from new in Australia, and this time didn’t make the mistake of leaving it behind me when o moved back. It’s wonderful car, I have fitted an HKS supercharger and Cobra catback resonated stainless exhaust system to it. My Autumn project is fitting Tein coilovers all round, allowing adjustable ride height, with the EDFC Active Pro system installed today give me fully adjustable, on the fly damping as it uses sensors that can measure speed, acceleration, 3-dimensional g-forces, and GPS. I’ll also be putting on sports brake pads, various other bits like a master cylinder brace and body braces. All in all a great modern day track car and I have a fill day booked at Goodwood in December. This is a car that weighs less than 1 tonne and puts out close to 300bhp.
You may wonder why I have gone into all this detail about a car that isn’t a Lotus M100. Well, the point I am trying to make, all be it in a very circuitous manner, is that for all these things it ISN’T a Lotus Elan M100. Sure, it’s a gorgeous feeling car, with wonderfully handling, a rich and deep throated rumbling exhaust, rear wheel drive and powerful sports car, but since day one, in late 2014, I have been comparing it to my old Elan, and have continued to do so to this day.
And so I find myself here now, rejoining the community, and looking forward to maybe, one day, owning an M100 once again.
Hello everybody, it’s GREAT to be back
