RIP Roberta Bean

[BDA]

I just heard over at the lotuseuropa group that Roberta Bean, Dave Bean's wife, had passed away Sunday morning. Here is a snippet from that thread:

From: 'Kiyoshi H' via Evergreen Lotus Car Club (ELCC) <elcc_org@googlegroups.com>
To: Evergreen Lotus Car Club (ELCC) <elcc_org@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 01:53:48 PM PST

Subject: Re: [ELCC] Roberta Bean

To share a bit more news... Roberta passed peacefully this past Sunday morning. Friends and family were near and had been visiting her the past week.

It's still too early to know what's planned to celebrate Roberta. The family will share those plans in the coming days.
 
Dave Bean Engineering will operate as usual led by Ken. It will likely be a few months before any longer term plans are made for the business. It's a great time to support DBE!

Kiyoshi

On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 11:08:35 AM UTC-8 Doug Jackson wrote:

    Hello Don:

    Thank you for forwarding this message that was sent out by the San Francisco Bay Area, Golden Gate Lotus Club (GGLC).

    It definitely is sad news. After the devastating wildfire loss of their home not too long ago, Dave Bean's death not long after that and now with Roberta dying, it's pretty obvious that family has suffered more than their share of bad news.

    As was mentioned in the e-mail from the GGLC, Dave Bean Engineering (DBE) was their "go to" source for Lotus parts and knowledge of classic Lotus cars, and I'm hoping the Ken and the other people who work there will continue the business. I've purchased quite a few things from DBE and I know that many other members of our club have too.

    Doug Jackson

    From: elcc...@googlegroups.com <elcc...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Don Christopher <don.chr...@comcast.net>
    Sent: Monday, November 7, 2022 5:50 AM
    To: elcc...@googlegroups.com <elcc...@googlegroups.com>
    Subject: [ELCC] Roberta Bean

    From the Golden Gate Lotus Club:

    “ We have sad news to report. Roberta Bean has passed. She and Dave were our go to source for parts and knowledge of classic Lotus cars.

    Our hearts and prayers go out to her friends, family and the loyal steadfast folks that make up Dave Bean Engineering.

    RIP Roberta. We loved you and we'll miss you dearly...”

[lotusfanatic]

Sad news,

my condolences to all her friends and family

Mark

[Bainford]

R.I.P. Roberta. My condolences to her friends and family.

[Mid-EngineEnthusiast]

I was saddened to read (two years after the fact), that the Beans have both passed.  Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I remember hearing from friends who owned Elans that the company was the go-to source for vintage Lotus parts in the US. 

Is the company still in business?  The website seems not to work.

If the company is gone, then where might one find parts for Europa S2s (other than ordering from Banks in the UK) and service (street and race prep) on the West Coast?

It's obvious that I came late to the Lotus party, having deferred buying one for over 50 years.

Condolences (belated) to the Bean family and their Lotus family and friends.

[TurboFource]

 
RD Enterprises on the East coast. rdent.com

[Grumblebuns]

You can still call Ken Gray at DBE directly for parts, just ordered rear flex brake lines for my S2 a few weeks back at (209) 754-5802. What part of San Diego are you at?

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca

[cazman]

I Thought that Ken was an owner now? Maybe not.

[BDA]

Ken is not the owner. He’s anxious to retire but he’ll stay till the new owner(s) take over. I’ve talked to Ken about it and he’s told me a little bit about it. Don’t trust me on the details because I only asked out of curiosity and I don’t know all the legal ins and outs but I believe DBE is being held in trust while the succession works its way through probate. As far as I know, there is no timeline for the future owner(s) taking possession but I would suppose it is sooner rather than later but I can’t provide any guidance for what “sooner” or “later” mean. He said that we would probably be satisfied with the kind of people who will run it and he seems to think it will be in good hands.

Hopefully, the new owner(s) will have some of the drive Dave had and maybe grow it beyond the purely parts business that it is now. There was a time when Lotus asked if  Dave would be a car dealer, which he turned down. DBE also had a machine shop and dyno (DBE built and dyno’ed my BDA back in 1980). They used to sell Stromberg heads converted to Weber heads but they didn’t develop them, Omnitech did. Ken thought that Dave developed the cassette water pump but surprisingly he didn’t seem positive when I asked him about it. Maybe it was a bigger operation than and didn’t have much visibility into it or maybe he wasn’t with DBE at the time (I believe he left DBE for a time and came back). Anyway, my point is that DBE was more active in different aspects of Lotus and, in fact some other Brit cars, than they are now and it would be nice to get back to being more than a parts supplier. Hopefully they’ll update or start a new website!

I’ve dealt with most of the current Lotus suppliers and have only good things to say about all of them but DBE is my primary source even though they are across the country. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of their prices and then they still supply parts for my BDA and I guess that has engendered a bit of loyalty.

[BDA]

I just noticed that this was your first post so...

   Mid-EngineEnthusiast!!!

I think most of your questions have been answered but I thought I'd direct you to a couple of things:

JB and I posted a list of useful suppliers and sources of information:
https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1389.msg12289#msg12289

The one page every Europa owner should have bookmarked whch includes searchable workshop and parts manuals, color coded wiring diagrams, interesting mods... A LOT of great information:
http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/

And I should mention that our own Bryan Boyle made a mirror of it incase there are problems getting to it:
http://www.lotuseuropa.us/lotus-europa.com/manuals/   (It's that good a page that a mirror is a very nice thing!)

[cazman]

Another resource is the Dave Bean Catalog. When I first ordered it, I wondered why a company would charge money for their own catalog but I ordered it anyway. It is well worth the small amount charged for it - even if you never order anything. The tips and recommendations for alternative parts in it are extraordinary and show just how involved Dave Bean was in the support of these cars. If that disappears, it will be another loss.

[BDA]

I have them too and I agree with you, cazman! It must have been a Herculean effort to put them together! They are well worth whatever they ask for them.