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Feb 2000
After settling in Norwich, England, my wife Giselle and I, decided
to approach Geoff and ask if we could have a go at restoring
40 UPE. It had now been sat in the shed for nearly 20 years untouched,
and we had found out from Geoff that the shed roof was leaking.
Geoff agreed to let us have a go but was somewhat apprehensive
at first. I think he was concerned that we would try and rebuild
it into a modern day Caterham replica. He kept warning us, "The
axle can't take any more power". With reference to the standard
10 back axle, which has a history of, cracks and leaks. We picked
the car up in March of that year and I planned to get the car
finished in time for its 40th birthday.
Unfortunately as with most things
involving the car it was turning into an epic. Just about everything
was rotten. I had stripped the car down completely and almost
every component looked like it had to be replaced. 2000 flashed
by and so did the first 6 months of 2001, with very little accomplished.
We were both busy decorating and renovating the house. Occasionally
I would go out into the garage and look at the naked lotus chassis,
which had now become a work stand, (our new bathroom had been
built on it) and I would think, "where do I start?"
then I would run back to the house and decorate the next room,
whether it needed it or not.
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