DWhitesdJr@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 8/4/00 1:18:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> flarsen@earthlink.net writes:
>
> << My Lotus Seven was shipped assembled from Lotus,
> and the identification plate says Lotus Components.
>
> Other, contemporary cars like the Lotus Elites have
> plates saying Lotus Cars. >>
>
> Lotus Components was the racing division and assembled and sold the racing
> cars. Lotus Cars sold the road cars. Chances are that your Seven was
> assembled by the racing division. Just as possible is that one division ran
> out of plates and "borrowed" some from the other division.
I was going to disagree with this paragraph but I found some information
to
explain it. I thought there were three ID plates; Lotus Racing, Lotus
Components,
and Lotus Cars. Here's an explanation of what went on at Lotus
Components from
Page 37, Tipler ,"Lotus and Caterham Seven, Racers for the Road"
"Peter Brand recalls:
It was us and them at Cheshunt, and there were two separate buildings:
one where the Lotus road cars were built, and ours, Lotus Components,
where we made Sevens and the racing cars sold to customers - as opposed
to Team Lotus cars. So you had Formula Juniors, 18s, 19s, 23s, and
Formula 1 stuff, as well as racing Cortinas and Elans, being put
together
in one building."
It was my understanding that Lotus kits would have "Lotus Components"
and
factory assembled cars would have "Lotus Cars". So Flemming's Seven and
mine (SB2080) probably came from the same building. But mine says
Lotus Cars. Looks like the id plates don't mean as much as I thought
they did. It looks like Seven production was accomplished wherever
it fit. But it looks like it wasn't part of Team Lotus but usually
associated with the customer racing cars.
Steve Shipley
Seattle, WA
>
> I assume everyone on this list is aware of the Lotus habit of duplicate
> serial numbers for cars sold "across the pond." This mostly applied to
> racing cars, but there is one story of Graham Arnold being dispatched to the
> states with a briefcase full of replacement plates after the Feds got wind of
> this Lotus "habit".
>
> David Whiteside
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