Found: One Lotus Elise

    I had been looking at the Lotus Elise for a long time now. My kids are grown now and the need for a back seat is no longer a necessity so the time was right to start looking. The Lotus Elise's do not come up for sale that often as most people buy them as a weekend car or a collectors item so I was thrilled when I found this one for sale in Chicago that met all my personal requirements. The Lotus Elise is a two seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engine roadster released by the English manufacturer Lotus Cars. The car has a hand-finished fiberglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminum chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight to a minimum at under 2000lbs. It is powered by an all-aluminum 189 horsepower 1.8L engine with a twin-cam head offering variable valve timing on both intake and exhaust valvetrain, and a 6 speed manual Lotus gearbox.
     I had planned to drive up to Chicago on my own since the dealer was going to buy my RX8 but my wife and kids decided to make it a family trip and followed me in my wife's truck. The weather in Chicago was forecast to get pretty bad by the weekend so we headed out on a Thursday afternoon in order to get up there and beat the storm.
    The farther we drove, the farther down the outside temperature on my dash got. It started as a comfortable 60 degrees in Florence and by the time we reached Chicago it was -6. We passed several accidents and a huge pileup on the 65 that claimed two lives and the weather hadn't even started yet! That morning we woke to discover that the storm had arrived early in the form of high winds making the temperature with the wind chill a lovely -20 degrees so we called the dealership and he was nice enough to come in early so we could complete the transaction in order to get us on the road home before the snow started. That was not to be the case.
    The Lotus Elise is by all means, a race car made for the track and came with stock track tires that are definitely not made for cold weather let alone snow and ice so I was in a rush to get ahead of the storm. As soon as the transaction was done and the doors opened for me to drive out of the dealership, the snow had started and I slipped and slid a little but not enough for me to question making it home. About an hour into the drive however, I was questioning my sanity and wondered if I had made a huge mistake because mother nature unleashed her fury and caused a near whiteout on the freeway. The slipping and sliding was getting much worse and my death grip on the steering wheel was making my hands sore and it was only getting worse outside. Cars were in the ditch at almost every mile marker and larger trucks just gave up all together and were parked along the highway. The snow was blowing across the highway like sand and at times, the road was not even visible for several miles at a time which hid the enormous pot holes that are indicative to northern roads. At one point I hit a hidden pot hole so hard that it caused my front blinker to pop out and begin flapping and smacking all over the front of my car only being held on by the light bulb connection. I pulled over and in 30 mph winds and below zero temps, popped the blinker back in. We deiced to make it as far south as we could and to where the snow was no longer falling which happened to be Nashville. At every bridge that I crossed, the back end of the car would start to drift sideways and snap back after I hit asphalt again. This went on over and over again for hours and at times I was sure I was going to slide into the ditch. I had prepared myself to do just that and have no idea how I managed to make it without spinning off the highway. I guess I will chalk it up to my excellent driving skills! (more likely it was luck or I had someone in my passenger seat looking out for me).
    We made it to Nashville and I was mentally exhausted. I was so relieved to be driving on dry roads and once we checked into the hotel I immediately felt the fatigue set in. I ran my hands under warm water as they were so sore from gripping the wheel and had no idea how tense I was until I woke the next morning as all my upper body muscles were killing me. Sore and still tired I opened the blinds and what I saw made me let out a louder than intended "Oh no!" and woke the rest of the family. It had snowed over night and my car was covered in it. We were too tired to immediately take off and go through all that stress again so we left the car at the hotel and took in a little sightseeing in Nashville. After a couple hours of putting off the inevitable, we headed out again on slick icy roads towards Asheville. It was just as bad if not worse through the mountains and again, cars were wrecked on both sides and I was slipping and sliding even more than before due to the black ice. At one point I ended up behind a truck that was laying down salt and it sounded like my car was in a hail storm. I wondered how my car was going to look when I finally made it home. I was going to destroy it before I even had a chance to enjoy driving it and believe me, I was not enjoying the drive thus far at all!
     We made it to Asheville and finally, no snow or ice. We checked out Asheville and did some more sightseeing and then headed to Florence. This was by far the best part of the trip and I was finally able to relax and get to know my car. My kids now decided it was safe to ride shotgun and fought over who was going to ride in it first so I made my oldest drive the truck and my wife got the first ride.

Warnings why NOT to use "E15" gas in your car:
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2000862202001/

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Classic Mopars of the Pee Dee
"Classic Mopars of the Pee Dee is a non-profit organization of enthusiasts of vehicles built by the Chrysler Corporation."

1980 Mercedes 4-Dr Sedan
In really good shape. $4,000 Call Marylin at 843-665-6227

*Good for hot rods of the future, maybe?
*Farmer builds a mini-Lamborgini from scraps!

Incoming...  to CruisersAll@PalmettoCruisers.org

Invite/posting of car show
Friday, January 10, 2014 9:30 PM

   My name is Ken Bachewicz and I would like to invite all members of your car club to join us at the first annual “Level Field” car show in Walterboro, SC on March 15, 2014 at the Coastal Shrine Club. Also would it be possible to post the event on your website?
    This event is unique in many ways: (1) All vehicles will be judged in the same class. (2) We are limiting the number of entries to 100. (3) Applications will be placed in a container. Ten will be drawn out and the last one will be best of show. (1 in 10 odds of placing!) (4) Winners choice of trophies or CASH. Full details attached and available online on our FACEBOOK page, OMAR’S Coastal Shrine Club. Apply soon as we are expecting a sellout as first place is winner’s choice of $500.00 or a trophy (similar cash and or trophies for all other winners).

Ken Bachewicz
2014 President, Coastal Shrine Club
bachewicz@att.net
Via E-mail

Click HERE to download a copy of the MARCH, 2014, Palmetto Cruisers News Letter (.pdf document).

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How well do you know your cars... QUESTION: To what vehicles was Chrysler Corporations vice president for product planning and development referring when, in April of 1966, he said, "We do not intend to sell the vehicles. When we finish the testing, we will destroy them."? Answers are anonymous, so if you'd like to get credit for your correct answer, add your name to the answer before you submit it. Click HERE to see Question&Answer from previous months.