[Oldpaint]

I finally got around to sorting out my pictures from last weeks British Car Day at the Museum of Transportation in Brookline MA.

Here are four of the more relevant ones. License Plates have been obscured to protect the guilty.


Anyone here own the green mini?

How about this red one?

I like the side mounted radiator.


This is what I was showing.

It was a terrific day. Over 270 cars were shown. Mini and Micro car day is July 10th. I can't make it but if any of you go please post some pictures

[GadgetGav]

The side radiator was a design feature so that rain could easily enter the grille and wash all over the spark plugs and wires..!! The most important aftermarket purchase for any Mini owner is a jumbo can of WD-40..!
Like the car you were showing; is it a Westfield or a Caterham..? It's not old enough to be a Lotus, right..?
EDIT;
Wow..! I've just checked out your gallery and it is a Lotus isn't it...! It's in great shape..! Must be a blast to drive, but very different to the MINI..!

[Poisonedwell]

Looks like fun...any more pics?

[pbraun]

Nice pics !.......Looks like it was a nice event!

[Oldpaint]

The most exciting part of the weekend was driving home on 128 and route 3 in heavy traffic 3 inches off the ground.

Here are some more pics in order from most relavent to least:


Remember the car (3 wheeler) Mr. Bean shoved out of the way with his mini?


An overall view of roughly half of the cars

And one of two Mclaren Can Am cars - Three front seats. The driver in the center and slightly. forward. Navigator and Mechanic in the other two?

[GadgetGav]

Drool...! I SO want a McLaren F1. Do you know who's that one was..? Was it the LM special..? There are only something like 5 or 6 of those anywhere.

That 3 wheeler was sold as a car for the wheelchair-bound, hence the easy access door. Haven't seen one of those in a long time!

[Actual Size]

Quote: Originally Posted by GadgetGav

Wow..! I've just checked out your gallery and it is a Lotus isn't it...! It's in great shape..! Must be a blast to drive, but very different to the MINI..!

They sure are! I had a 1962 Series II Seven (chassis #25). If you think the MINI corners great, wait until you strap yourself into one of these and hit some twisty roads.

[Oldpaint]

That might be the F1 - people around the car were saying there were only 5 made. (I'm not a Maclaren expert) Another one was there also. It was black and arrived and departed with the orange one. They had Massachusetts repair plates on them.

[GadgetGav]

I'm pretty sure one of them is owned by the guy who owns / runs Turner Motorsport, maybe he has two..! Turner are big BMW tuners / racers and the F1 had a BMW engine in it (before McLaren teamed up with Mercedes for their race cars). I'm also pretty sure that the orange one is the LM, especially if they were saying there are only 5. They were made to comemorate winning their class in the Le Mans 24 hour race.

[GBMINI]

That F1 is the Turner one - you can read the sticker on the wiper arm if you look carefully - same as this one:


That I saw at the BMWCCA meeting back in January.
Not so hot to look at inside:

[GadgetGav]

You've got a problem with that interior..??
That's real carbon fiber, not stick on trim OK, no mod cons, but for a road legal racing car, it's pretty neat.

[Oldpaint]

Looks like you've identified it.

[GadgetGav]

So now we've got the McLaren out of the way, tell us more about your Seven..!

[Oldpaint]

Its a 1965 Lotus Super Seven with the 1498 cc (precrossflow) engine. Live rear axle. Two DCOE 40 Webers (alhough the car originally had only one - it wasn't a Cosworth). Added feature- rear sway bar from DSK in Marblehead.

It weighs 1100 lbs according to the truck scale at the dump out here.

[GadgetGav]

Cool!
Do you do anything like autocross or track days in it, or is it strictly a fine days and show car..?

[Oldpaint]

Although it would be great for autocross its strictly a drive around the island car. The ferry ride to America is $175 dollars. Reservations are also difficult to get - The British Car day reservation I made in February. There is a standby line, but I wouldn't want to leave it for a steamship guy to drive on and off.

[GadgetGav]

$175 for the ferry!! Now I know why I've never been to Nantucket! How far is it..? You could probably catapult a MINI that far couldn't you..!?!

[Oldpaint]

Its 26 miles and takes 2 hours of actual forward motion travel time (not including tieing up and unloading). The $175 is the roundtrip discount rate for registered Islanders. The rate for everyone else is $175 one way + $14 for the driver and each passenger. If you leave the car in standby and the steamship people drive it on - thats $10. If they drive it off its another $10. It's amazing to me that Minis only have a delivery charge of $550.

[GadgetGav]

That's about the same as the English Channel, and there's no Duty Free when I get to Nantucket..! P&O Ferries charge 48 pounds each way, so that's less than half the price and no charge per person either.
You're right that the $550 delivery fee seems like a bargain, but then they do all the driving and they get a few more cars on each boat than the steamship company!