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It was August that year that
we decided that we had to get the Lotus finished as soon as possible
as otherwise it was going to disappear. You know how things,
when they are disassembled have a habit of not all being there
when you need them for reassembly. The chassis went off to Arch
down in Cambridge. They rebuilt the chassis (where necessary)
and reskinned the car. In the meantime I went through all the
components and overhauled what I could and replaced what couldn't
be saved.
 The chassis came back just before Christmas
2001 and went straight on to the dining room table for a complete
rewire. (It was too cold in the garage) We didn't have Christmas
dinner on the dining table that year and for a while it looked
liked we might not have there the year after. The chassis went
back into the garage in the beginning of Feb. 2002 and slowly
the suspension and drive train was fitted. The engine and gearbox,
with their starship mileage on them were reconditioned and refitted.
The front fibre glass wings were repaired and refitted after
being resprayed. New nosecone and rear wings resprayed and fitted.
The car is now completely restored
to its original form having removed most of Geoff's modifications,
although I must confess to keeping the engine and further tuning
the car. It now produces nearly 70bhp at the back wheels, oh
that poor axle. Finally after its 1/4 of a million mile service
it was ready for another 1/4 of a million miles.
Pictures above taken late 2002.
After a couple of holidays in the car around the S.E. and S.W.
of England. Another 5,000 miles on the clock, (bringing the total
current mileage to 248,223) and we discover to our delight that
my wife is pregnant with our 1st child. Could this be history
repeating itself? I think I had better go and start restoring
the roof rack!
William Gearing March 2003
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