>Question for you. Am I the only one with artifacts of my fixation in my
>work place?
Nope. I've got:
- A 3' x 4' poster of every Cosworth-powered F1 winner from the
inaugural race t the Dutch GP in Zandvoort, 1967 (Jim Clark, Lotus 49)
to the 150th win in the Austrian GP at the Oesterreichring, 1982
(Elio de Angelis, Lotus 91). It does have a couple of non-British
cars in it (hey Steve, there's a Matra! Zandvoort 1968!) but it's
a pretty cool thing to have. I got it at an autocross held at a
Ford Aerospace plant in southern California four years ago. Big
fun, including a cutaway drawing of the Cosworth DFV.
- Books: "Mini Guide to Purchase & DIY Restoration," "How to Modify
your Mini," and "The Land Rover 1948-1988." The last book is
Chris Kent's; the first two I brought in when he was interested in
getting a Mini. Oh, there's also the Practical Classics guide to
Mini restoration, hiding behind a Special Interests Car Parts
catalogue.
- Photos: Three pix of me with the race car, one with Torrey sitting
on the fender next to me at driver's school (and a Union Jack just
visible in the upper corner), one of me about to head on course at
the exit of pre-grid, and one of me leaning on the roll cage of the
race car with the street B behind us. (I do have five pictures of
my family as well, not counting the one of Torrey on the race car.
You may now issue exclamations of approval or distaste, as your
own circumstances prefer.)
- Trophies: The lower A-arm from my MGB, with the nice 50% cut in the
bolt that goes through the kingpin.
- Memorabilia: My old open-faced Snell 1980 helmet.
I just took my cool new toy home, though -- a chrome-bumpered MGB, in
British Racing Green with a tan interior no less (though they did it
wrong and gave it black seats and tan carpets and dash; my car is
just the other way round), about 3/4" long, which I got from Miq Millman
who bought it in a combination set that also included a yellow Frogeye
Sprite. (I almost bought the whole set, since my Frogeye was yellow.)
Great fun. I've got a blue Lotus Seven model at home somewhere, done
by Tamiya or one of the other high-quality model companies. I managed
NOT to paint it BRG with a yellow nose and a reg plate reading KAR 120 C
(speaking of Lotuses in British TV shows...); instead, it's dark blue
with yellow headlight buckets. Not a bad combination, rather like the
Penske Camaros. And I need to finish my yellow Frogeye metal/plastic
combination kit. I modified that one heavily, though, slicing the bonnet
so that it would open (from the rear, of course -- it's a stock Frogeye)
and using the engine left over from a Mini model kit to make it look
more authentic. Those two (oh, plus the really bad Lindbergh model of
the Spridget, painted like my '74 Midget) are in 1/24 scale.
Model cars... On the one hand, they're cheaper, easier to work on, and
take up a lot less space. On the other hand, they don't run. But since
there have been times where that made them no different from my real
cars, it's been tempting!
--Scott
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