Lotus 7/Locost Aero Rebody

[jamesqf]

Been there, done, that - sorta, anyway, and without benefit of GPS. If you're driving California's Hwy 1 through Mendocino County, Hwy 20 will take you inland to US 101, then north a bit and Hwy 162 branches off to the east. And if you look at a road map, there's 162 on the other side of the Coast Range, joining I5 at Willows. So wouldn't any reasonable person think that it's a nice, paved 2-lane state highway all the way through?

It isn't. It's a logging road that is pretty rough, and which goes up & down some pretty steep mountains. But you can drive in an Insight :-)

Of course California highway numbering does not make sense. For instance, there's a stretch of road not a hundred miles from here which is both Hwy 89 north and 49 south.

[The Toecutter]

80 mpg!!?? Nice...

What does it accelerate like? Did you time the 0-60?

What is the fastest you have driven it?

How much did it cost to build?

I want one so bad... especially a coupe version with plenty of attention to aero... and perhaps a Jetta TDI engine would be a good fit...

[JackMcCornack]

> 80 mpg!!?? Nice...

Yeah, and it got 85 mpg on the way home. I did drop about 3000 feet, but that's not much, and I set to "fastest route" so I got a lot of highway and not much stop-and-go.

> What does it accelerate like? Did you time the 0-60?

Adequately, much like a cheap sports car (AH Sprite for example) circa 1960. I haven't measured 0-60 because it's really pretty hard to do that with a GPS (I don't have a conventional speedo).

> What is the fastest you have driven it?

72-1/2 mph. It has a governor set to 3000 rpm. Going up hill it bogs down to...72 mph.

> How much did it cost to build?

Not counting the earlier body (I presume you only need one body, right?) about eight grand retail. More than half that was the engine, $4500. How much is a totalled jetta TDI these days?

It didn't cost me quite that 'cause a lot of the parts were things I make/supply for other homebuilders, but when I quote costs I prefer to quote retail 'cause saying "It'll only cost you $7400" real loud and then saying"...if you have an auto parts business" real quiet doesn't seem quite right.

[miket]

Whats your time on the quarter mile?

[JackMcCornack]

Don't know. If I were bracket racing with a UPS truck, I wouldn't give him more than a car length. You know the expression, "For the quarter mile, you'd better pack a lunch"? Not this car. I you were willing to settle for a garden salad and a cold cut sandwich, you could make a lunch in a quarter mile.

Nobody has ever had to slow down for me, and I've never had any merging problems, but I look before I leap...and I doubt most spectators know that, when I'm doing my leisurely acceleration up the on-ramp, I'm giving it all she's got.

[robertwb70]

There's something to be said for having a vehicle you can drive as hard as it will go and not get in trouble doing it.

[miket]

Well you could always throw a lasso onto a vehicle passing you.

[TEiN]

Originally Posted by robertwb70

There's something to be said for having a vehicle you can drive as hard as it will go and not get in trouble doing it.

There's a LOT to be said for that. I've driven a lot of supercars (track & street) and it's WAY more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow. One of the funnest cars I had was a Mini Cooper that you could drive flat out everywhere you went, have fun doing it, and not go over the speed limit.

[Bicycle Bob]

Amen to that. Fast cars are for closed courses; Sports cars are for fun transportation.

[jamesqf]

You know, this has given me an idea for Jack's next project. How about a rough dirt road capable sports car? Think something like the Stutz Bearcat Stutz Bearcat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia might have become if people hadn't started paving roads.