Another gold nugget from the dumpster...

And inside one one of the Lotus books,  there was a Bill of Sale for a 1967 Mini Cooper S. The selling price was listed as $250 in 1974.

I think the dumpster is telling you what you need to buy to put those brown Recaros in....

In reply to 02Pilot :

They’d never fit. 

In reply to 02Pilot :

Coincidentally though, one of his Europas was brown. 

Well, if you have trouble finding something to stuff them into, I'd be more than happy to put them in my 2002. I'm sure they'd fit just fine.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I bought a book on 2002s yesterday, just in case. 

It's hard to believe that Lotus offered a warranty on these things. Probably not a strong business move.

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I was just in Millerton last week. I wonder where the Lotus dealer was located....

“Connecticut CONSPIRACY of Sports Car Clubs”.  That is so cool.  Like Safety Fast.  

In reply to A 401 CJ :

It was sort of a goof on the actual Connecticut Council of Sports Car Clubs (of which there were several), which organized autocrosses, track days and rallies back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. At the end of the season, there was Tri-State Autocross Championship held with New York and New Jersey. Each state took turns hosting the events. The last time I was involved was probably 1990.

The Lotus dealer was in an old gas station (really!)

In reply to Don49 (Forum Supporter) :

Do you know which one or where in the town? I found this old photo of the Dutchess Auto and Supply Co, which could be the same business - the building is still there, though it looks somewhat different now.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

It's hard to believe that Lotus offered a warranty on these things. Probably not a strong business move.

Yeah, but they'd probably make you pay to ship it back to England before they'd do the warranty work. 

Lotus East/ Duchess Auto was originally on the right side when traveling north/east on RT44 immediately before turning right onto Main st to follow 44. Passed it many times on the way to Lime Rock from NJ. Google Earth shows the building mostly as rubble now. Near the end of their tender as Lotus distributors they moved to the other side of town, not sure of location. The business principle's name was Peter Pulver.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

OK, that's the back of the building shown in the photo I posted above. All that's left of the side facing 44 is the foundations (which are now home to some sort of metalworking operation), but the side facing Main St. is still there and has the same arrangement of windows and doors as shown in the old photo. The roofline is different, and it's bare brick rather than painted white.

On the other side of town there's still a small Ford dealer - may have been in the same area. There's been more redevelopment over there though.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I looked through everything, hoping to find an address or even a name, but there's nothing.

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

There's some info in this thread that builds on what TurnerX19 posted above. The photos are not showing, unfortunately.

This page, which appears to have been copied into the thread above, shows an aerial photo of the later building. I think it may have been taken down since the post was written.

Here's a Hemmings article with some more info on the dealership.

Two photos I took that relate to the linked stories above. First, Peter Pulver and pit crew push his Elan out of the tech line before engine start up time, August 1970. Second is Newt Davis' personal Elite in the spectator area with a friend of mine  posing, Trans Am 1970

crystalmu2005 said:

Google Earth shows the building mostly as rubble now. Near the end of their tender as Lotus distributors they moved to the other side of town, not sure of location.

That's a very canoe like observation (that is a verbatim repetition of TurnerX19's post)

In reply to TurnerX19 :

It is interesting to note that "pit crews" were significantly more attractive back then.

Don49 (Forum Supporter) said:

The Lotus dealer was in an old gas station (really!)

During the 50s,60s,into the 70s the majority of non American dealerships up here were located at repair shops etc.

my great grandfather was involved with homewood motors here in Edmonton it was a standard triumph dealer but primarily a repair shop. When it closed in the early 60s it became ital motors which is still in business there. It was a dealer for Italian cars and later lada cars but still primarily a repair shop.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

The distributor for the entire USA for NSU cars worked from a two bay gas station in Elizabeth NJ, so not just a Lotus or a Canada thing.