End of July my beloved '92 Camaro Z28 reached the point of no return --now sold to someone with more mechanical skills and interest than I have to keep it going.
Heavy in mourning, next day I started talking with a guy at work, who said, "Why not consider something different?" --same psychology, I guess, for handling someone who just had their dog put to sleep.
Anyway, he brought up the Lotus web site. I laughed and said "You're kidding. There are no local dealers, they are finicky machines and very expensive" to which he said, "well, they may not be that expensive" --note he did not address the other concerns!
So he brought up the Ebay web site--I have never looked at it before and certainly never bid. But nine days later I was driving home from Berryville, VA with a racing green 2007 Elise with touring package and some extras with less than 9000 miles and in brand new condition--the first hit we got with our search online-- and have never stopped since. Should anyone ever want to deal with Chris at Berryvile Motors, he's quite a great guy and I can not recommend him enough.
Highlight so far was going for dinner at the snooty Circular Dining Room at the Hershey Hotel where the parking attendents always looked down their noses at my Chevy products. Well, they gawked a bit and the bravest came over and said, "gee, sir, I never drove a car like that." I said "It's okay kid--neither did I 'till five days ago".
Yes, Elise gets everyone's attention. I finally figured out why people are waving cell phones at me since I do not use them myself as a camera. And now that school's started again, I really created a hassle for a bus driver yesterday. I was following a bus with middle school aged kids when one of the boys in the rear turned around and saw me in the Lotus while they were stopped to drop off a kid. In seconds all the kids on the bus were pressed against the back window to stare, chattering and waving hi signs to me. It took several minutes for them to get back to their seats and the bus to start up again.
I share these as something a bit different--I guess everyone on the forum knows the fun of taking curves at 90 and all that. You tube videos I've seen since I got the car hardly do the experience justice
What I could use is the name of someone close by who can do the routine maintenance and PA inspections--got the first one done after "importing" from VA/MD by calling in a favor from the garage who could not get the Camaro running again!
Best to all--am looking forward to hearing from you all and sharing the glow of that sweet zone
around 6K rpms.
--Kevin
Newbee notes from Mechanicsburg PA
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