At long last, the bare bodyshell of 4688R is nearly ready for collection. The ex Lotus bodyshop people in Attleborough (about 10 miles south west of Hethel) tell me to collect the car on 18th, when I will give them 3089R to start work on.
It seems 4688R had been sitting in a Lotus dealers garage for about 35 years near Chicago. It had a bad front right and rear right accident which damaged the floor at the front and rear also, and the right door and left front wheel arch. The chassis was too badly bent on the main front section, so a new chassis was needed. It only had 15,000 miles showing on the speedo, so it was probably crashed in 1976/7.
When the Chicago Lotus dealer sadly died, the car and a heap of other stuff including 4483R, were sold to a chap in Houston. It seems he made a start on building up the new chassis, and then he too sadly died. Maybe 4688R is jinxed.
The whole lot was then sold to another chap in Louisiana, who gave up on the projects and sold the whole lot to me.
When the 40ft container arrived, the contents looked very second hand, but the potential for 2 late TCS was there.
I can only see 1 TCS later than 4688R, (being 4696R which is supposed to be in Austria) on the TCS Registry, and the man at Lotus records told me the last 10 went to Japan. So as the last Federal car made was 4710R, presumably 4700R is the last that went to the USA. So 4688R has the potential to be one of the latest Federal cars left running.
Well, the bodyshop spent 220 hours mending and painting the shell back in its original Lagoon Blue. I have told them not to put the pin stripes on, as I am not sure whether it looks better with gold, silver or no pin stripes. The Lagoon Blue is a very rich colour which I think looks excellent on the small car. When 3089R comes back changed from Tawny Brown to Lagoon Blue, with gold pin stripes, I will see which I prefer, with or without.
If her indoors gets to find out how much that lot cost, I will be in big bother, but once you have started on a crashed basket case project, albeit with huge potential, you have to do it completely right, or not at all. A crappy paint job or a botched fibreglass repair would ruin a really good car.
Meanwhile the alli metal fabricator in Loughborough says he will get on to making the two seat shells in alli soon. The two that were in 3089R we submerged for years, and the bottoms had rusted away, so the new alli seats will go into 4688R and 4688R's steel seats will go back into 3089R.
I will post photos as the car takes shape. Today it is 1'C (34'F) so outside working on cars is not an enticing idea. It snowed a little last night in Norfolk. As all the 7 cars are outside, progress during cold months is non-existent.
Alex in Norfolk.
