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was
just over-excited in his selling efforts, but it was funny hearing about
the 500+ rear wheel horsepower coming out of a stock V6 from a production
car, and the factory lightweight body panels when they were poor quality
fiberglass panels, etc., etc., etc. It was pretty strange indeed,
but just another example of the kinds of things one runs into during the
historics in Monterey. Then again, maybe the margaritas were
just affecting me, or him, or all of us. Who knows, but it was a
fun weekend!
Plans for the
Holiday Party are being finalized, so mark your calendars. The Holiday
Party is on Saturday December 15 at 7 PM. It will be at a restaurant
called Acorn, located in Menlo Park. It will be very similar
in format, price, etc. to previous ones, and more details will be published
here in the Chapman Report.
It is too bad
that the All British Car Meet has been canceled this year! We are
trying to figure out an alternative venue/activity for us, so look elsewhere
here in the Chapman report for details, since as of this writing, we haven't
decided. And remember, just a little over a month until our
next track day. Get signed up and your cars ready, as the weather
should be perfect, and it will be a blast! |
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I'm
finally recovering from Monterey! Many of your readers know all about
the annual car Mecca there in mid-August every year, but for those readers
who don't, you won't find a weekend more filled with car stuff; races,
car shows, auctions, and just hundreds of cool cars cruising around.
So if you've never gone, plan on going next year. However, many people
don't return year after year because of the crowds. This year wasn't
as crowded as usual, and that was nice, since there are ususally just too
many people in too small an area. I noticed the car auctions seemed
a little off this year also, and that is probably because the economy is
down and more people are selling cars. I'm doing some warehouse
cleaning myself. I did miss seeing the Lotus tent outside
of the Friday Concours at Quail Lodge, and it is too bad Lotus didn't have
a presence there since that is probably one of my favorite events.
We had a good
turn out of Lotuses at the track on Saturday. Last month's
meeting in the Lotus corral was well attended by Lotus cars, but not by
too many people since I guess the people were too excited to see the race
cars to wait around for the meeting. There are always many Lotuses
competing at the historic races, especially 23's and a few Elans and always
a few F1 cars. I love to see the Lotuses dominate on the track.
One year I especially enjoyed an Elan 26R outrunning Cobras and other big
engine beasts.
This Monterey
story is too strange not to share. After spending most of the day
at the Concours at Quail Lodge on Friday, we did the usual and went over
to Baja Cantina to cool off and drink a margarita or two or three.
Of course, many people park their cool cars right in front, and it was
interesting to see a small crowd of people gathered around |
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one
particular car. I'll leave out the specifics to protect the innocent/guilty
here (ask me in person and I'll tell you more details), but I was surprised
to see the lead singer for a modern/alternative rock band talking up a
particular car. I recognized the guy because I had seen them in concert
a while back, but something looked funny about the car. On closer
inspection, the car turned out to be a rough-looking, poorly finished reproduction
of an exotic car, and he was trying to sell it for huge bucks. He
said they used it for music videos and other productions, and also as a
track car. The money was going to a charitable cause benefiting children
in some way or another, so I liked the cause, but I couldn't understand
why he was there pitching the car. His band's fan base is mostly
high school or college aged, and most of the people at the car show were
older, and probably didn't know him or of the band, although their children
probably might have, so the fame part wasn't really working. And
what he was saying about the car was complete salesmanship, is you know
what I mean. Maybe he |
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