Restoration Wednesday – I Wish I Was Big

I did a pretty good job matching the angle in these shots, yes? It’s a little habit of mine, matching angles. No, I mean going to ebay to look for Matchbox cars of the big ones I own, and then typically use them as key chains. Got crazy lucky with the color match for my basket case 1974 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special. I picked it up a couple months ago in Kentucky. The story goes that it was in the process of being restored by a doctor type fellow. He fell ill, maybe died, and donated the entire project to a high school. The high school didn’t know what to do to it thanks to a lack of commitment to the trades. So one kid who fell in love with the car, convinced his dad to bring the project home. There it sat for 20 years. I guess his love was only skin deep.

The gentleman dad was a car guy so they could have gone the distance. He had a couple of vintage hot rods from the 1930’s that he built when I picked the Lotus up. The car has a rebuilt motor with Dave Bean Engineering receipts that has never run. There are new shocks, rebuilt calipers and a whole lot of missing puzzle pieces that I wish were under the couch. I thought it would be quick to put it back together but as I dug in I discovered it was a slapped together roller. The castle nut on the front hub was missing a cotter pin. With that in mind, everything that was put together needs to come apart. I wish it was small. A smaller project that is. But this car has been a high school dream of somebody else. Me. I’ll get it back on the road.