PO Box 117303 Burlingame, CA 94011

Daren Stone & Nancy Lane’s place

Sunnyvale

23. Lotus Day—El Sobrante

19 Meeting TBD -

Elections

4 GGLC Holiday Party –Sunnyvale

Lotus Day at Mike Ostrov’s

On Saturday October 23 Mike Ostrov will host "Lotus Day" at his shop in El Sobrante. We’ll meet at Mike’s shop at 10:00am and will start the day with a small drive in the hills near El Sobrante around the San Pablo Dam Reservoir area. We’ll stop and have lunch along the way before continuing back to Mike’s shop for a tech-talk on topics of choice ranging from fiberglass repair to ???. If any of you have seen Mike’s Elites, you understand the excellent work for which Mike is known. This will be a show and tell, so bring a small part if you have one (not the entire Lotus) for examination and questions. Mike’s shop is located at:

4119 Santa Rita Rd.

El Sobrante, CA

Reservations would be deeply appreciated by October 22. Please reply to Mike Ostrov at 510-232-7764 phone/FAX, or email at mikeostrov@webtv.net. You can also reply to Scott Hogben by phone at 650-593-5806 or email at scott.hogben@twtd.cpii.com

If you haven’t noticed yet, the year is almost over and the stores are already starting to display dancing Santa Clauses and wrapping paper, not to mention those holiday specials- the Ginsu knife and the Pocket Fisherman. That means only one thing- it’s time to start thinking about the annual GGLC Christmas Party! Last year there were good reports about the restaurant, the food, and the location, so we will be returning again this year to Pacific Fresh in Sunnyvale on Saturday December 4th for the big shin-dig.

We’ll begin the evening at 5:30pm with a no host bar and appetizers, and we will begin seating at 6:45 with dinner being served at 7:00pm. There are 5 entrees from which to choose and the cost is $30/person. RSVP and payment must be received by no later than November 20th. Please choose one entree and one dessert from the following:

Dinner choices

1. Cajun Swordfish topped with fresh salsa and sour cream

2. Seared King Salmon topped with fresh basil rock shrimp sauce

3. Baked Alaskan Halibut in Phyllo Pastry stuffed with crab & spinach

4. Filet Mignon of Beef wrapped with Bacon

5. Vegetarian: Pasta Primavera with Marinara sauce

Dessert choices

1. Chocolate Fudge Tort

2. Creme Brulee

All entrees include soup or salad, fresh bread, coffee, tea, or soda. Pacific Fresh is located at:

1130 N. Mathilda Ave. in Sunnyvale. Details and directions will follow in the November issue of the Chapman Report. See you there!

RSVP in person at the October or November meetings, or mail your check to the address below:

Scott Hogben

2008 Notre Dame Ave.

Belmont, CA 94002

The President’s Column

The British Meet has come and gone and it was another hectic, last minute ordeal as many of you may have noticed from my lack of a hood. But, the good news is that I was there, and in color too! I am writing it down in black and white that next year I’ll start things way ahead of time. Yeah right.

This year I spent a lot of time tweaking and preparing the Europa for the various club events, and unfortunately the Seven was neglected. I wanted to get some paint on the car and I spent an enormous amount of time trying to locate the paint code for the green that Caterham uses on their cars. If you recall, last year I had new fenders ready to be put on the car but had to abort that at the last minute because I didn’t have the front fender stays. Well, I bought the stays and was ready to go but needed the paint code so that I could paint the nose to match. Hopefully next year the car will be all green with a yellow nose, but for now, the classic green and aluminum would be just fine. I tried the Sevens mailing list and someone was good enough to give me a volumetric breakdown of the constituents. Ahhhh! I thought I had it until the local paint store told me that the numbers which were given to me didn’t mean a thing to them. But they did give me Dupont’s phone number so I called them. Well, the numbers turned out to be from Australia and they couldn’t make heads or tails out of them. Then I tried one of the (surprisingly) many Seven dealers in the country and obtained a Glasurit number. This time I thought I had it in the bag, so I went back to the paint shop where the salesman looked up the number. "Is it supposed to be green?", he asked. "Yep!" I replied. Then my blood started to boil when he asked: "Is it supposed to be metallic?" A disappointing "no" was my response.

I happened to be at Rich Kamp’s shop one Saturday and the body man next door told me to take a fender to a local paint shop and ask them to put it on "The Prophet machine". He said they’d be able to match the color with one of those. So, I called up the paint shop that I had gone to before and asked them if they had such a device. "Oh sure, we can do that for you." was their reply. Gee, thanks a lot for telling me about this option when I was in before!

I drove down with a rear fender and the salesman brought out a rectangular plastic box about half the width of a shoebox. He cleaned the fender and placed the machine on the surface and pushed down on it. BEEP! Then he moved it over and did it again. And then once more. Then he loaded the information into a computer and out came a piece of paper showing the colors and amounts needed to match my green. Within 15 minutes, I had my paint. I was both amazed and annoyed at the same time. I had spent so much time trying to track down the paint code, but I couldn’t get too upset because I was so happy I finally had my paint! I think a better name for that little machine is the "Profit" machine.

The days left before the British Meet were getting fewer but I wasn’t worried because I knew the car ran and was drivable, it’s just that I wanted it looking better. So Saturday morning before the meet I was out draping plastic in the garage in preparation for painting, a job that I had planned on doing about 2 weeks prior. It went very well and by noon the nose was finished and I was on to mounting the fenders. It was in the afternoon that my brother’s friend came by with his MGA to do a little spiffing-up of his car and provide me with any help if I needed it. The first comment to come from him when he saw the Seven was: "You know, last year when I came over you were doing the same thing. The only thing that’s changed in a year is the color of the fenders!" I have to admit that it did look that way, but I was much further along than last year.

I continued on at a modest pace, fairly confident that I’d get everything on the car by about 11:00pm. This year I was a lot easier on the neighbors, I only ran the compressor until about 10:00pm. At that point my brother was putting the taillights on and I was moving on to the clamshells, but it was obvious that I wasn’t going to finish when I wanted to.

I had all the fenders on and functioning brake lights by 12:00am, the point at which I thanked my brother for his help and sent him on his way. I still stayed up as I had to paint the exhaust, do some clean-up work, and do the little odds and ends like attach the license plate. Well, it was 2:15am by the time I finished and 3:00am by the time I got to bed.

I woke up at 6:30 to get a few more things done and I packed the car full of zucchini bread, chips, drinks and a bunt cake. Off I drove to the meet by about 9:00am. I made it all of about a mile and a half when I had to stop at a stop light. Without a warning, screEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!! The fan-belt was squealing like a Ferrari owner whose just been blown off by a Lotus! I pulled off the road (in disgust) and began to think of what could be wrong- the cynic inside saying it had to be something other than just a loose belt. A seized 16 year old water pump with roughly 150 miles on it? Maybe it’s the wrecking yard Bosch alternator seizing up? No, it was just loose.

Since the only tools I had were a pair of channel-lock pliers and some Robogrips, I began to butcher the clamping bolt and used the channel-lock handles to pry the alternator over more. I got it back together and thought for about 2 seconds about going back to the house to do it properly and to check things over. Then, knowing full well that nobody was with me to provide help if I needed it, a wave of John Zenderism came over me, I shrugged my shoulders and blurted out: "It’ll be fine!", and I fired up the car and drove off down highway 92 towards 280. Everything went great, and the further I drove the more confident I became in my roadside hack-job.

I kept it at an indicated 60mph, listening to all the noises and trying to cope with the tremendous buffeting. I was disgraced when a Bug-eye Sprite and a TR3 blew past me on 280, but a smile and a wave of camaraderie from each made everything better.

This year I made it down without overheating once! I pulled into the Stanford Shopping Center parking lot to meet the group, and shortly later the Lotus convoy drove over to fill our area of the field. We had a great turnout of various Lotuses: Sevens, Elans- standards and +2’s, Esprits, Elites- generations 1&2, Europas, a 23B, and a nice RHD Elise, fresh over the pond. If my memory serves me correctly, we had 48 Lotuses. That number tied the Jags but was not enough to win the coveted Club Participation Award. We were out-gunned by the Triumph Club who had a reported 60 cars! Never the less, we all had a great time.

I would like to thank everyone who came and made the day such a success. Considering the number of other events that a car enthusiast could have gone to that day, I was very pleased that we had such a good turnout. I would also like to thank Kiyoshi Hamai and Mike Schlict for bringing their Easy-Ups which provided the much-welcomed shade. I’d also like to thank my mother for baking all the breads and the cake!

See you at the next meeting!

Scott

Has my catchy title got your attention? Okay everyone, at the risk of being labeled a "tax and spend" president, I’d like to propose that the annual membership dues be increased to $25 per year. I think the dues have been $20 dollars since before I was a member and there have been more than a few increases in postal rates since then. It’s getting to the point where our postage budget required to send the Chapman Report out every month is dictating that it only be about 2 pages long! And all of you know how verbose my monthly articles can be, don’t you want the uncut version??? At any rate, we’ll be discussing the matter at the October meeting so if you have something to say about it, make sure you attend to tell us your views.

In addition, it’s that time of the year that everyone in the GGLC dreads- it’s time for nominations! It’s a tradition that people who DON’T show up are the first ones to be nominated, so make sure you come to the meeting if you want to save yourself. See you there!

By Kiyoshi Hamai

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year and 3 months since "THE SHUNT". Looking back it took me most of the summer of ’98 to recover physically. It was difficult to get around with a splint on your leg and crutches. It was early August ’98 before I could even put enough weight on my leg pull the 41 off the trailer. Getting the car off the trailer was a good trick, only the wheels on the right side of the car were still attached! So, I reverted to pulling the roof off the trailer and using a "Cherry Picker" to pluck the 41 out. Moving a engine hoist on small metal castors with a 850 pound car suspended from it was challenging. But, after a bunch of pushing and pulling I managed to get the 41 into the garage and on top of some tall jack stands.

Then began the long disassembly process. I say long because I would go out to the garage on some weekend morning with every intention of putting in 4-6 hours on the car and I would pull some part which then exposed a view of what was before hidden damage. This sight would immediately depress me, I would drop my tools, close the garage door and return into the house. This went on until spring ’99.

Now, this is not to say nothing was being done, it was just slow. As the car was slowly pulled apart the list of replacement parts grew and grew and grew and grew… Of course as the list grew so did the cost of the restoration. Quickly the pieces included a new chassis, new left suspension for front and rear, new headers, new steering rack, new windscreen, new front wheel spindle, new left wheel spindle, etc. The bodywork would require major "Humpty-Dumbty" work with large hunks missing and long cracks out of both the belly and top/nose portions.

Over the winter I began sourcing this list. It’s pretty amazing what’s out there. The chassis was the first step. After calling many of my vintage buddies, 41 gurus and racing friends around the world I got the possibilities down to 3. There are a number of shops in Northern California that could handle the job, but some were not familiar with Lotus, some wanted to use chrome-moly tubing and MIG/TIG weld. I felt uncomfortable with the idea that I would replace the once original chassis with something that would be considered over restored. Some would argue that the old stuff is old unsafe technology, but I’ve always tried to keep this car as original as possible and I want to stay in that mode. So, it came down to a shop in Australia, pretty inexpensive with the current exchange rates; Peter Denty in the UK, noted authority on vintage restorations; and Performance Restorations in Chatsworth, California. Most of you won’t recognize the name Performance Restorations but I sure you’d recognize their work… If you attended the ’95 Monterey Historics you’ll remember the brillantly restored Lotus 62. That car is owned by Alex Bollinger. Alex owns a fleet of vintage Lotus which includes the 62, a 47, two 41s, the famous Gold Bug 26R and an Elite. Alex’s son, Kevin either assisted Alex or did the restoration work on these cars. At the end of the day I chose Kevin. I trust his workmanship, and he’ll produce an honest replacement chassis that is period correct, nickel-bronze welded and uses the right materials.

So, in mid June ’99, nearly a year after the shunt I strapped the old chassis on the roof rack of the Jeep and did the one day commute to LA. Kevin took one look at the twisted mess and said, "There’s NOTHING to save."

With summer and warmer weather and the chassis a Kevin’s, I got started on the fiberglass body work. Holes were filled, cracks ground out and pieces spliced back into place. It’s taken hours, and there’s still at least 100 hours before the body is ready for paint. The steering rack will be shipped off the Dave Bean’s for replacement (it’s bent into a 45 degree angle!) and Kevin will be building suspension arms for both sides. There’s some other bits I’m going to have machined and a new set of headers will have to be made after I get the car pretty much back together.

Kevin tells me the chassis will be ready in a month or so and the suspension shortly afterwards. I'’ going to continue over the winter and hopefully will be testing the car in April 2000. Keep your fingers crossed!

By the time that you read this, the All British Car, Truck, SUV & Van Meet will be over and Rover will have probably won. Not too many Range Rover owners will have been distracted by a CSRG vintage race that now always falls on the same weekend. Lotus owners, on the other hand, hear "race" and their blood starts to boil. Rover is not their historic enemy anyway, that’s Porsche, Ferrari and a few British specials. I like the British car show, except that the emphasis is on "show", as in show us your $20 to get in and park your car on the grass for six hours. I thought that it was worth the $8 that it cost the first time I went. The only thing that has changed since then is the price, same band and same bangers. How many cars are there each year, at $20 each? I like the British car meet at Cal State Hayward, maybe because they also have car parts for sale, also. The only way you can confirm that you really went to any event is if you bring home some trinket, and there are more of these at Hayward. For me, that’s why I can’t attend the ABCM; I need parts, and the Beulieu Autojumble is the same weekend.

The Monterey Hysterics is also over, and was very reminiscent of the ’95 Lotus event. That’s because Stirling Moss ran over another few cars that were in his way. This time he destroyed some very expensive machines, though, not just a quick punt off the course. They’re don't seem to be as many Auto Union owners, as there are Porsche owners, so the Hysterics were not the success that they were last year. Success means two hours to get your car parked on a Sunday morning. Last year, there were multiple access roads to the parking at Laguna Seca, but SCRAMP had all lines funnel into a single car line before you entered the parking area. Two hours from the highway to a parking spot!!

FOR SALE

1969 Lotus Elan S3. Excellent orig cond, no evidence of crash repair. New front suspension bushings, steering joints, shocks, brakes, etc. Weber head, 145 psi compression, new radiator, oil and fuel pumps. A reliable, fast and very tight example with no known problems. This car is reluctantly for sale because a restoration project is finally coming home and garage space is limited. $12,500.

Felix Brunot (415) 258-9331

September

Elan body section, 69 coupe minus roof, nose, and tail. An aborted project desperately seeking a home - best offer. Four old Avons. 6.5x13, fantastic when warm, miserable when cold, unpredictable in-between. These are sure to awaken even the most dormant adrenalin glands. Only $100 for 4 Rasputin (415) 386-0967

1990 Lotus Esprit SE; silver paint (factory optional metallic); gray interior leather in excellent condition; 34,000 miles; new Yoko AVS front tires; 70% life left on OEM Goodyear rear tires; new Spax adjustable rear shocks; new brakes all around; Sony removable-face stereo; registration paid through April 2000; new paint on front and rear bumpers; best offer around $30K; Victor @ (650)347-4795 or e-mail @ vholtorf@investorfacts.com

Europa Parts Wanted fresh air vents that mount in the dashboard of Europa. Must be in very good or excellent condition. Also need a spring clip to hold the ashtray into the ashtray holder for Europa. John (650) 368-9105 Motofab@wenet.net

1960 Lotus 18 Formula Jr , restoration in 1996 with less than 20 hours, log book, VARA, HMSA, and SCCA, All sorts of new parts and spare magnesium wheels, includes custom trailer with tie downs and fuel bottles. E. Moles (408) 268-3239

74 Europa Special, 38k miles, original, tired, not running, 99% assembled, all smog equipment, too many cars, $7K. Tom Minnich (562) 697-0547

Europa Parts for Sale Full set of original front lower A-arms in very good condition with black powdercoat and new bushings; header for Renault motor - $200; brake booster good cond. -$50; set of hubcaps and trim rings, beautiful new chrome -$200. Call John (650) 368-9105 motofab@wenet.net

The Chapman Report is published monthly by the Golden Gate Lotus Club, PO Box 117303, Burlingame, CA 94011. The GGLC is a non-profit incorporated car club and is not affiliated with Group Lotus, Team Lotus, or Lotus Cars USA. The GGLC's annual membership dues are $20.00.

Opinions expressed in the Chapman Report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the GGLC or its officers. Technical advise should be used at your own risk.

Submissions to the Chapman Report are accepted. Please E-mail them to motofab@wenet.net in Word Perfect or ASCII DOS text. Submissions may also be mailed to The Chapman Report at 3507 Edison Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1815.

1999 GGLC officers are: President: Scott Hogben, Vice President: Mike Schlict, Secretary: Bruce Weinberg, Treasurer: Laura Hamai, Event Coordinator: Victor Holtorf, Membership Chairman: David Anderson, Social Director: John Ridley.

Chapman Report Staff: Editors: John Zender/Daren Stone, Circulation Manager: Tom Carney, Advertising Manager: Mel Boss, .