Ann Arbor Cars & Coffee 9/23

Ohh - nice Sunbeam Tiger and Volvo ES1800 - two of my favorite once affordable cars. Any other Speedsters other than yours?

No other Speedsters. Lots of actual new Porsches.

That pointy one belongs in the "too much" thread.

The owner of the pointy car also has a very nice Pantera.

I need a Viper. I really do.

9/23? Are you from the future? That’s next week! 🙃

I meant Sept. 2023. I think I would rather be from the past.

On Sept. 23 I will be embarking on my 6-state New England road trip with my wife and 95-year-old mother-in-law.  Unfortunately,  not in the Speedster but in a rental car.

Once again I’m the only one who thinks I’m funny…….

@Michael McKelvey posted:

I meant Sept. 2023. I think I would rather be from the past.

On Sept. 23 I will be embarking on my 6-state New England road trip with my wife and 95-year-old mother-in-law.  Unfortunately,  not in the Speedster but in a rental car.

We're very familiar with Kennebunkport, Wells, Ogunquit area in Maine. Been going there for over 40 years. Bush senior's place is in K-port. The whole area is nice.

We're going to fly to Boston, then drive through Ogunquit, Portland, to Bar Harbor, and spend time at Acadia National Park. Then, we will head west through North Conway, Lincoln, to Stowe.  Then, we go south to Mystic Seaport and on through Newport to the tip of Cape Cod.

Godspeed, Michael.

Thanks, Ed.

@Michael McKelvey, I've met your mother-in-law and while she's not a large person by any means, fitting her into the Speedster with you and your wife would be problematic.  You're better off in the rental car.

My sister-in law and mother-in-law both live in Kennebunk now.  It's a lovely place.  Coastal Maine is gorgeous.

Any Lotus 7's there ?  Would love to have one !..............Bruce

No 7s.  English cars included MGs, Healeys, and the TVR.

@aircooled posted:

Any Lotus 7's there ?  Would love to have one !..............Bruce

I have several friends with 7s.   There are strict size limits for driver and passenger, particularly in the footbox.

Yup, they're pretty tight.  I fit in two that I tried on.  There's one with a little wider body. I'd like to try that one on one day. I couple owners have mentioned that as well and said it was much nicer.............Bruce

Bruce, the one that's a little wider/bigger was at Carlisle one year. I don't have the foggiest idea what the company name was. That was back when the show was a replica show rather than an import event, say 2010 to 2015 or so.

Caterham, who Colin Chapman sold the rights to build the 7 to, made (maybe still makes) a model called the SV, which is the larger, roomier body.

I think you and I were looking at the 7s together, Lane. There may have been beer involved...

@Michael McKelvey posted:

It is nice to see a TVR although I prefer the newer ones.

My older brother had a yellow 72 (pre horrific rubber bumpers) 2500M for a bit. (TR-6 motor)

Pretty nice little sports car if a bit cramped. A lot more solid feeling than a Lotus Elan.

Re: Lotus/Caterham/et al 7

I know that as a car guy, I'm supposed to love the 7 with an undying passion. I know it's "pure" and light weight and altogether awesome. I must confess: I don't.

Why? Because it looks like a soap-box derby car assembled by a 10 year old with 1/4" luan plywood and Elmers glue. There's not a curve on it. Indeed, the coachwork looks like a rolling coffin. It's ugly in a way that "ugly" doesn't begin to cover.

I know it's light and nimble and has been simplified and sprinkled with lightness. So has an Ariel Atom, and that car will eat a 7 for a snack, and look good doing it.

Here I stand, I can do no other. To whom do I forfeit my car-guy card?

It’s a Lamborghini Miura compared to Lotus 1.

@Michael McKelvey Was ist dos? I can see from another pic it’s a GT, but what motor is that?   (I love 3 cylinders I have two, one car, one bike)

I believe I see a bit of a fourth coil pack peeking out from under the cowl.  Still can't identify it.

It looks like a Lotus Elan or Miata engine, but hard to tell for sure.

It's a four cylinder.  The decal on the under side of the hood says OPEL, but that's not an Opel engine.

It looks like a turbo Miata motor to me.

@Stan Galat I agree, 7s are ugly. But cool in their own minimalist way.

I respect them, but have never wanted one.

I owned a Caterham Super 7. Had a 210hp expanded 2.1L Ford Zetec with Kent cams and 4 EFI throttle bodies. Absolutely BEST 5 speed ever created. Wrist shifting. No arm movement. That car would drive circles around my very fast Suby Spyder. Car weighed about 1100 pounds. Yes it’s very ugly. But one of the best performance cars ever. A real giant killer. And if you are Stan size you can tell them to super size it. They make a plus size Super 7.

@Stan Galat posted:

Re: Lotus/Caterham/et al 7

I know that as a car guy, I'm supposed to love the 7 with an undying passion. I know it's "pure" and light weight and altogether awesome. I must confess: I don't.

Why? Because it looks like a soap-box derby car assembled by a 10 year old with 1/4" luan plywood and Elmers glue. There's not a curve on it. Indeed, the coachwork looks like a rolling coffin. It's ugly in a way that "ugly" doesn't begin to cover.

I know it's light and nimble and has been simplified and sprinkled with lightness. So has an Ariel Atom, and that car will eat a 7 for a snack, and look good doing it.

Here I stand, I can do no other. To whom do I forfeit my car-guy card?

Keep it! I think they're ugly as well, but my mom always said.......... Thanks Stan for allowing me to express my feelings. There is a reason they call it a 7, cuz' it ain't no 10.

"There is a reason they call it a 7, cuz' it ain't no 10."

Ok, now that's funny.  I don't care who ya are.  (name that American philosopher)

Larry the cable Guy ??

@aircooled posted:

Larry the cable Guy ??

Winner winner. And I see you answered in the form of a question.........sort of. Alex would approve.

Love TVRs.  Kind of a production line kit car (meaning crude in many respects).  I looked at a TVR 2800 Tasmin years ago.  It had a 6 cylinder but not the heavy TR6 lump.  It had a German V6 2800 cc fuel-injected engine.  Same engine was in the Ford/Mercury Capri, Pinto/Bobcat and others in the US - so parts available.  It wasn't a very pretty car though.

Wheeler Dealers had a show on replacing the rusted out tube chassis on a TVR Cerbre (sp?).  Like building a Speedster but with hole drilled already.  It was back when Edd China was the grease monkey back then.  It was an attractive car.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

It looks like a Lotus Elan or Miata engine, but hard to tell for sure.

It's a four cylinder.  The decal on the under side of the hood says OPEL, but that's not an Opel engine.

It’s definitely an Opel GT. You can see it next to the Cobra in the fourth and last pictures in the OP.  Lane’s correct, it does look like there’s a fourth coil under the cowl. FWIW, the GT was billed as a “front, mid-engined” car, with the weight of the engine behind the front axle.

@Robert M posted:

. There is a reason they call it a 7, cuz' it ain't no 10.

Your logic is flawed. The Lotus XI may not be the ugliest Lotus ever, but it’s certainly no “11.”

It is an Opel GT. The picture I took of the whole car didn't turn out. I must have pointed my phone at the ground just as I pressed to take the picture.

I wish I had talked to the owner about the engine. It looked so tidy.

@WOLFGANG posted:

Wheeler Dealers had a show on replacing the rusted out tube chassis on a TVR Cerbre (sp?).  Like building a Speedster but with hole drilled already.  It was back when Edd China was the grease monkey back then.  It was an attractive car.

There was a guy on a motorcycle forum I’m on that lived around the corner from one of the top TVR restoration outfits in the UK. They pretty much entirely rebuild them including a new, modernized frame. And looking it up on google, it looks like there are ~10 such places in the UK. When he first posted about them, I looked at some and, at the time, you could get a fully restored M Series or 90’s Chimera (fully importable) for ~$20-$35K. A friend of Jack’s just bought this one off Cars and Bids for $20K.

@Michael McKelvey posted:

It is an Opel GT. The picture I took of the whole car didn't turn out. I must have pointed my phone at the ground just as I pressed to take the picture.

I wish I had talked to the owner about the engine. It looked so tidy.

I’m guessing it’s some variety of Honda or Toyota motor. I know nothing about them so I couldn’t tell one from a Smart (Mitsubishi) 3 cylinder (obviously) but they seem to be pretty popular swaps for older sports cars.

It sure looks like the Mazda MX5 Miata dual cam 2000 cc - down to cast dual OHC cover and the coil packs.  The original GT had a 1900 cc SOHC producing about 90 hp --- the Mazda is 2x that at 181 hp.  Bet getting all electronics to work was PITA.  Wonder if it has the Mazda 6 speed MT too?