elansprint72 Posted January 20, 2009 Share #1 Posted January 20, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 20, 2009 Posted January 20, 2009 Hi elansprint72, Take a look here An early Lotus blossoms.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stuny Posted January 20, 2009 Share #2 Posted January 20, 2009 Pete - Great fun for the title and the subject. Is the unpainted one in the front a forerunner of the 7? From when? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted January 20, 2009 Stuart, this is the first car to bear the Lotus name (confusingly it is now known as the MkIII), Chapman had built a couple of other Austin 7 based specials before he created this one. It was built before I was born; it is therefore VERY old. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share #4 Posted January 20, 2009 Actually my previous post was rubbish! This is the second car to bear the Lotus name and is known as the MkII (the first one was never known as the MkI); I believe that there were three MkIIs built- see how I got confused? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted January 21, 2009 Share #5 Posted January 21, 2009 Pete - You were probably confused because of age (Lotus's. not yours). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzo Posted January 21, 2009 Share #6 Posted January 21, 2009 Pete - You were probably confused because of age (Lotus's. not yours). Well, and his as a matter of fact ! Lovely tones and capture. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flatfour Posted January 21, 2009 Share #7 Posted January 21, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Everyone was building Austin 7 specials in those days. This was the start of mine just after I had put the engine back. (It ran well at speed but was a devil to keep on tickover with two Amals.) Notice the slicks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thompsonkirk Posted January 22, 2009 Share #8 Posted January 22, 2009 Hi, Pete, The BW treatment reveals a beautiful metallic glow. Kirk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted January 22, 2009 Hi, Pete, The BW treatment reveals a beautiful metallic glow. Kirk Kirk, all the images from this show were dreadful looking colour things, I thought they were all heading for the bin. This hall has a mix of lighting sources, all different colour temperatures, setting white balance there is beyond me. It was only after a great deal of experimental messing about in PSE6 that this photo emerged. In future I'll shoot in B&W at the show. Thanks for commenting guys. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flatfour Posted January 22, 2009 Share #10 Posted January 22, 2009 It is surprisisng how so many of the Austin 7 specials of the period all looked the same. I don't know how Chapman managed to get his radiator so low as the cooling was by thermosyphon through the rad. (You can see the outlet pipe on the head in my picture) I think he must have installed a pump which was not the done thing by the afficionados, but he was out for speed whereas most of us were just out for fun. I completely flattened the rear springs of mine and virtually locked up the shockers. If you didn't it would self steer round sharp corners, tucking in very hard. His car has pretty bodywork whereas most Austin 7 specials didn't have any panels with double curvature - well you can't do that at home in the garage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share #11 Posted January 23, 2009 It is surprisisng how so many of the Austin 7 specials of the period all looked the same. I don't know how Chapman managed to get his radiator so low as the cooling was by thermosyphon through the rad. (You can see the outlet pipe on the head in my picture) I think he must have installed a pump which was not the done thing by the afficionados, but he was out for speed whereas most of us were just out for fun. I completely flattened the rear springs of mine and virtually locked up the shockers. If you didn't it would self steer round sharp corners, tucking in very hard. His car has pretty bodywork whereas most Austin 7 specials didn't have any panels with double curvature - well you can't do that at home in the garage. This was designed as a racing car; the previous ones had been trials cars. It has a Bellamy-type split front axle, which lowers everything and, as all the builders worked at De Havilland, they decided that they needed minimum frontal area and needed to get the bodywork as low as possible; hence a water-pump. They also had the flat rear springs. From what I read the only really clever bit was the steering and, in typical fashion, Chapman recognised that there was a problem, let someone else sort out a fix and then claimed the credit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted January 24, 2009 :( I have just looked in the wonderful book "Lotus The Early Years", by Peter Ross and it IS the MkIII as I first posted! This book was actually written by folks who were there at the time and blows away much of the crap written by "learned scholars" who were not there! Highly recommended reading for Lotus blokes. And for non-Lotus blokes too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roguewave Posted January 25, 2009 Share #13 Posted January 25, 2009 Pete, nice work. Is this aluminum? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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