A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Sorry to hear about your wreck! Hmm, what about a new CF front clam???
If you look at the photos of the wreck SweetDaddyD does what I do when I pull up behind somebody, shift WAY over to left if at all possible so you are visible in the side mirrors. I know some people say if the side mirrors are set correctly you aren't looking down the side of the car, but most poeple don't do this. 99% of the cars I pull up behind, if I shift over to the left, I can see the driver in the side mirror. Also I tend to leave a LOT of room in front of me when I stop.
There is a nasty spot near a light on a curve with a center turn lane that has a wreck at least once a week by my house. The wrecks are caused by people pulling through a gap of waiting cars in the center turn lane to get into a gas station. People can't see oncoming cars as they pull through so they just start rolling slowly and hope the oncoming cars stop! I have done it before in my truck, but I am up high enough I can see oncoming traffic. I would never attempt it in the Elise! I almost got plowed by a Tahoe pulling through a gap there the other day. Luckily she was going slow and saw me in time to slam on the brakes.
A:
Dude!!!
no way! I am so sorry that happened to you - arrgggg.... hope she gets well soon
A:
Keith,
First and foremost, it is great that you are uninjured. Our cars, as much as we (most if not all of us) truely love them and the joy they bring to us are usually fixable or replaceable. The inconvenience of driving another car will only make you more fond of the Lotus.
Like Lancer360 mentions above, I was looking at the photos you posted and it looks like your position is off-center to the drivers left which should have made you visible by the lady. This is of course if she had her side mirros adjusted properly and used them. She likely only used her inside rear view mirror.
I usually do the same thing, at lights or other stops, position my car to the left just enough so I can see the drivers face in their outside left mirror.
Anyway, good luck with the repairs and you will be back on the road soon.
Robert
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Keith,
Sorry to hear about this and I'm glad you're okay. Think of the brighter side of the issue. Push for a CF clam or an Exige front clam. It would be awesome if it could be done on the Insurance company's dime!
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Keith, that totally sucks... so sorry about your Elise.
Scary that this is happening so much!
A:
Well got it to the body shop where 2 other Elises were in for repair and 2 just left. He said be prepared to wait- the one had been there 2 months waiting on parts. Bummer. Wow, if I drive the Chrysler 300 for that long i really will have that race car feeling again. Wow, the 300 is so uneliselike. In the 3 miles I've driven it, it really does have that school bus feel. Also came up on a light that changed to yellow so being clear behind me I romped the brakes pretty good. I'm really going to have to get used to giving myself an extra good distance to stop this thing. lol.
I am going to have all the vents and louvers painted black while it's in there, and have the spot where it was egged a long time back fixed. Come to think of it, this is a pretty good time of year to be stuck in a rental. Maybe I'll drop the NOS bottle off and have it color matched, even though it will be 99.7% covered by the heater and blanket.
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Sorry about the car, Sweet Daddy. Boy a lot of us have had damage in this car, I wonder how we compare with other sports cars in terms of insurance claims etc....
A:
Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
I am going to have all the vents and louvers painted black while it's in there, and have the spot where it was egged a long time back fixed.
Now is a good time to think about any mods you might want to do that either require the front clam to come off or are a lot easier to do with the clam off.
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To those of you who have USAA: Do NOT tell them you track your car (if you do the track thing). They dropped my policy just for me ASKING about HPDE events. I had been with them for 24 years without a single claim or even a single traffic citation. But, just for ASKING, I got dropped.
Mike
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Sorry to hear about your car.
Glad your OK.
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Bummer....but you should be able to rent an Elise now! Would seem fair to me...
Jim
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Originally Posted by MickOpalak
My condolences. About a year ago a lady in a Suburban backed into my Elise. In my case she told the police it was my fault because she couldn't see me sitting behind her.
I really don't mean to make light of your misfortune but that's really funny. How about an IQ test as a prerequisite to getting a license? A room temperature result would be nice.
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Sorry to hear and see. Soccer moms and SUV's need to be banned!!!
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another thing you could do with the new clam is have them fill the holes where the reflectors are on the front wheel arches... seems like lots of people don't care for the reflectors.
A:
Originally Posted by psionix
another thing you could do with the new clam is have them fill the holes where the reflectors are on the front wheel arches... seems like lots of people don't care for the reflectors.
True, then I'd probably have to do the rear ones to match. I don't mind them a whole lot. This car is hard enough (obviously) to see anyway. Someone suggested jokingly adding a dune buggy flag, lol. I seriously thought about having the body line filled, but I think I'll leave it stock. There was discussion of this "devaluing" the vehicle as well. haha, like it's not already. I don't see insurance covering for a ton of custom mods, carbon fiber, exige fronts, etc. (Actually on the Exige I like the splitter and vents behind front tires, but don't like the grills as much as the Elise louvers).
I think I'll happy with just getting it fixed, getting the egged spot fixed, and having the louvers/vents painted black. One of the reasons I got this car was that it doesn't need a lot of mods. I've modded every other vehicle I've had, some to the extreme- and still don't plan to do anything to major to the Elise, well other than the NOS. lol.
So my rental is a big Chrysler 300C. Too bad no Hemi. It's a pretty nice car though, as far as rentals go. An interesting change. Nice guages, clunky trans. With 20K miles I could see if I owned it that some time during ownership it's destined to fail early. Effective heat and AC and a non leaking trunk should be welcome. The stereo is a concert hall compared to the Lotus. Nice ride, body roll not near as bad as I would expect. Brakes- whoa- definatly in no way Lotus-like. lol. It's almost a little scary after being so used to my orange go cart. This thing seems so huge. Driving- definatly not a lot of fun. Taking what I would of considered to be a conservative turn yesterday the tires were talking to me. hahaha. I wouldn't of thought twice about going twice the speed in the Elise. I did get it in a pretty nice little drift this morning on the inside lane of a very wide 2 lane curve (with no one else around). Highly amusing. A nice piece of transportation, but I won't miss it when it's gone and I get my Go Kart back.
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Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
saying I was the 4th person to call them that wrecked a Lotus today!
Must have been a sale going on at the local mall
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Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
True, then I'd probably have to do the rear ones to match. I don't mind them a whole lot. This car is hard enough (obviously) to see anyway. Someone suggested jokingly adding a dune buggy flag, lol.
That's exactly what my wife said the first or second day after I got the car, right after she saw the flag on my son's bicycle
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Hey guys. Just wanted to share an uber cool experience with you all. So obviously a lot of people have looked at this thread and sent a lot of kind regards, suggestions, pm's, etc. Been quite suprising actually, thank you all very much. But yesterday I got home and had an envelope. A member here read this thread, had my address from doing business in the past, and sent me a little gift all the way from California in the form of some super cool patches- Lotus and a couple tracks!
Really brightened my day and really set in the feeling of E-talk to many of us being an actually community rather than just another message board. It was pretty simple- but really blew me away and made my day.
I have plans to make a super awesome Jacket using them. Might need to pick up just one or two more- but these are going to work out about perfect.
Thanks Again!
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Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD
I have plans to make a super awesome Jacket using them. Might need to pick up just one or two more- but these are going to work out about perfect
Four Lotus patches I had sitting in a drawer are now in the mail on their way to you. Hope you can use them for your jacket project. Maybe there are other people who have some laying around that they can donate?
A:
sorry to hear about your car but at least she was not your wife so you don't have to try to act nice about it.