924Board.org

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

Well, this past Sunday board member Brockoli and I attended a casual gathering and drive called the End of Summer Euro Drive. It involves a parking lot gathering for a couple of hours where everyone checks out all the cool cars. Then we all head outside the city with our course notes for an enthusiastic drive through the country with a drive-in burger joint end point. Its been growing each year, and this year there were over 70 cars. The best thing about the event is that you can bring anything, as long as it is from Europe. The result is always an interesting mix of new and old from various factories.

Brockoli's car was in pieces until minutes before the event, he had to replace the pilot bearing. I was shocked he made it to say the least, but his 924 was flawless throughout the day. My 951 was in pieces until the week before the event, I was able to do a few test drives before hand, but not as much as I'd like. Regardless, the 951 did well and didn't leak anything it shouldn't!

I arrived early to get a good parking spot, and boy did I, beside one of my dream cars, a 1970 Lotus 7:

Eventually more people showed up, can you spot Brockoli's 924?

And now a random sampling of some cars I found neat:

One guy always shows up in a Euro tank of some kind (not kidding), this year it was a full-track Jaguar armoured personel carrer:

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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

Some more pictures from the drive and also some video should be filtering out soon from various folks, I'll post as it is available.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11733 Location: PacNW

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

LOTUS = Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious

I was talking to the owner, he's had the engine out 7 times in the last 5 years!

OK, an original may not be in the budget, or reliable. But I'd love a replica version, Flying Miata does a wesfield frame with a miata engine, so cool.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

sgloki · Joined: 23 Aug 2008 Posts: 53 Location: Bellingham, WA

weren't most of the early lotus low cost kits based on ford escort engines and transmissions?.....

Yuck! lol.

Awesome pics, I want to get to a car show sometime soon! Last time I tried to make it to the canadian/american hotrod show my car caught on fire on the way.
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All work and no speeding makes jack a dull boy.

Khal · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:33 am Post subject:

Cool gathering

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

I would agree Khal, they must be seriously quick, they weigh nothing at all, and with a modern engine with around 150 hp they'd be tough to beat. I have been seriously considering a low cost version for years, and seeing a real one in the flesh really fired me up again.

The originals did have a ford based engine, it was based on the formula ford block but heavily worked over by lotus.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

Yep, quick and severely limited by aerodynamics. Also the "wing" fenders that the above picture Seven uses cause lift at speed. On the front wheels. At speed.

Check out the wiki entry on the Locost Seven, which is a generic term for Lotus Seven knock-offs built by various people on the cheap, hence Lo-Cost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locost
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

macBdog · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:43 am Post subject:

Locost's rule. I have all the steel for the spaceframe chassis for one just begging to be cut and welded. Now all I have to do is win the lottery, quit my job, estrange my family and dump my girlfriend. THEN I'll have time to build the thing.
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1979 931 with a 350 chev
1973 911E with EFI

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

The key is balancing the time spent working on the car with time spent with the family.

In my mind, if you're out working on the car then she knows where you are and you won't have any money to spend on anything

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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

Slam · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:09 am Post subject:

Neat pics. Sorry I missed the run - sigh. What did Scott drive that day?
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'88 944 Auto - may or may not resurrect

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

Yeah, you have to come out next year for sure, it can't be all work and no play!

Scott was driving a 90's black 2 seat Benz convertable, not sure the exact type, I am not up on Benz's at all. Needless to say, it had a giant V8 and was very nice, automatic though. Still, I was following him on the drive for a while and it had no issues doing burnouts from a standstill.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

Slam · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:21 am Post subject:

Speaking of Lotus, he's got a Lotus Esprit, too. I haven't seen it yet but he describes it as a beast. He also says there's no way I'd fit my 6'2" frame in it. So there goes that idea...

How did the 951 behave? It looks gorgeous. And I really like the D-90s on it.
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'88 944 Auto - may or may not resurrect

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

Definitely a Benz, I've seen his Bentley a few times before. He said he traded a 7 series straight across to a dealer in town to get the Benz just recently.

The 951 did very well, minor issue with the ABS warning light which I've tracked down to a faulty wheel speed sensor, now I just need to figure out which wheel! Other than that she did very well, fast as hell. Not as charming as the 924, not as light and squirmy around the bends. Sort of like the difference between a toy-makers hammer and a sledge hammer.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan