After I saw the Rotoropa on e-Bay last week, I started thinking that someone must have dropped a rotary into an Elan at some point. Googling "Rotary Elan" didn't turn up much. Has anybody heard of one?
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April 9, 2010 9:23 p.m. Woody SuperDork
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April 9, 2010 10:23 p.m. kreb Dork
Slap yourself, son!
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April 9, 2010 10:32 p.m. grimmelshanks New Reader
i wanna see some one put a four rotor in an elise and have the spiritual successor to the 787b
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April 9, 2010 10:42 p.m. gjz30075 Reader
The common conversion is the Zetec/Duratec but I don't know the details because I don't follow that blasphemy.
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April 10, 2010 8:58 a.m. Jim Pettengill HalfDork
Randy Peck of El Paso built a very nice one about 25 years ago - ran well in E Mod at nationals. It was black with gold numbers and was featured in GRM (well, Auto-X back then), but I don't recall the issue.
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April 10, 2010 9:02 a.m. Woody SuperDork
Jim Pettengill wrote:
Randy Peck of El Paso built a very nice one about 25 years ago - ran well in E Mod at nationals. It was black with gold numbers and was featured in GRM (well, Auto-X back then), but I don't recall the issue.
Sounds like I need to figure out which back issue to order...
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April 10, 2010 10:18 a.m. billy3esq SuperDork
In reply to gjz30075:
I generally share your view, but there's an argument to be made that the Duratec with some of the Cosworth goodies is the spiritual successor to the Lotus Twin-Cam. I'd rather see it in a Ford Cortina, though. (Putting it in a Lotus Cortina would be blasphemy.)
Back towards the original topic, seeing that Rotoropa last week has been making me think how much fun one of those would be. I've always liked the Europa, but never found one all that interesting until I saw that.
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April 10, 2010 12:50 p.m. Dr. Hess SuperDork
In the early-ish 80's, someone put a rotary in a Europa. The Lotus Limited mag ReMarque had a write up on it. Before his death, one of the guys asked Chapman at some press meeting or something just as he was leaving, if I recall, "What do you think of a rotary Europa?" The old man answered "Gross!"
I saw a zetec in an original (old style) Elite at LOG 26.
Having (and still do, actually) owned a TC and having put 30K miles on one, I'm gonna say the best thing you can do with a TC is to put it on a stand in the corner and replace it with something else. Like a 2zzge, 1zzfe, 4AGE 20v, zetec, ....
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April 10, 2010 12:54 p.m. Jay Dork
Dr. Hess wrote:
In the early-ish 80's, someone put a rotary in a Europa. The Lotus Limited mag ReMarque had a write up on it. Before his death, one of the guys asked Chapman at some press meeting or something just as he was leaving, if I recall, "What do you think of a rotary Europa?" The old man answered "Gross!"
Unless he had a specific dislike of rotaries for some reason, I find that hard to believe. Chapman was never ashamed about parts bin engineering to make his cars better...
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April 10, 2010 2:20 p.m. Streetwiseguy Reader
Jim Pettengill wrote:
Randy Peck of El Paso built a very nice one about 25 years ago - ran well in E Mod at nationals. It was black with gold numbers and was featured in GRM (well, Auto-X back then), but I don't recall the issue.
Black and Gold?!? A Lotus?!?
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April 10, 2010 2:56 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork
Black and Gold?!? A Lotus?!?
Yes, and Ferraris come in another color other than red.
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April 10, 2010 4:11 p.m. pres589 Reader
Black & Gold == John Player Special livery.
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April 10, 2010 4:12 p.m. pres589 Reader
Also, Chapman should have been excited that someone was working on development of a faster car for him, I don't think he usually did more than his customers to provide a reliable automobile.
