Lotus Europa Forums > Off Topic Subjects

RIP Roberta Bean

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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...

 :Welcome:  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.

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