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I grew up in suburban Detroit
where my father Harold Lance was a founding and active member
of the SCCA from the late 40's through the early 60's. After
many years as an MG-TC owner he purchased Super Seven SB.1393
in the spring of 1962. Actually, he arranged for the purchase
of two cars, one for himself and another SB.1394 for his good
friend Rollin Titsworth also a Detroiter and TC owner.
The first color photo at left
is SB 1393 (my fathers car) in the summer of 1962. My mother
had knitted those sweaters after making her own pattern of the
Lotus emblem. This car was before my driving days but my fondest
memories are rides to the Dairy Queen on warm summer nights along
North Woodward Avenue in suburban Detroit. Among the heavy metal
of that time the Seven was quite the attention getter and could
surprise many a street racer when provoked!
The Seven was used for many time
trials and gymkhanas during the summer of '62 and also for some
club races at Waterford Hills. The first black and white
picture at left is at Waterford Hills in 1962, Harold is the
driver and my brother Jeffery has the victory flag. At that time
1393 and 1394 were the only Super Sevens in the Detroit area
and after the first one or two gymkhanas Dad and my brother were
forced to run for FTD only as none of the local sports car clubs
would let them compete in the designated production class.
In the fall of '62 Dad was negotiating
for the purchase of a new 1500cc Super Seven and 1393 was
sold to local Detroit racer Glenn Lyall who continued to race
for several additional years before selling it to Craig Johnston
of Birmingham MI, after that I have no knowledge of its history.
Because of the SCCA's indecision
as to the classification of the new 1500cc Super (it was eventually
assigned to B-Production with the Corvette and XKE) Dad decided
to pass on the new Seven and purchased a 2 year old race/rally
prepared Lotus Elite from the UK. The Elite remains in his custody
today some 35 years on! With it's original owner the Elite
had finished 2nd in class at the 1961 Monte Carlo Rally.
Many other Loti have passed through
the Lance garages over the years. Two different Super Sevens,
two Elites, an Eleven and a Mk 51 Formula Ford for my brother
Jeffery; a Lotus Eleven, a Mk 20 Formula Junior, a 1955 Mark
Nine and a C-Production prepared Elan for myself; plus numerous
street Elans and at least three Lotus Cortinas that I recall.
I raced the Elan actively around the midwest from 1973 through
1977 (Waterford Hills, Grattan, Mid-Ohio, Elkhark Lake, Blackhawk
Farms etc.).
The second color picture is SB
1393 in September of '62 when it was sold to Glenn Lyall. This
was the season final race weekend at Waterford Hills, Dad had
loaned the car to Glenn for a test race. With no practice
Glenn started at the back of the grid in the feature race, he
charged to the front and then crashed on the last turn of the
last lap! At that time the sale was final.
The possibility for finding SB
1393 is quite compelling. In a similar manner back in 1993 we
were able to bring Dad's original 1948 MG-TC back into the family
after a 29 year absence.
In the last photo, the yellow-orange
car is the Super 7 owned by my brother Jeffery from 1970 to '72.
This is the car formerly owned and raced by Fred Carpenter. It
was covered with green flocking because of Fred's Hush Puppy
shoe connection/sponsorship. Jeffery traded it to Larry Dent
(a Regional Officer in the SCCA at the time) from South Bend,
IN for a Lotus Elite.
It would appear that SB1659 retains
the the roll bar added back in its racing days (see Louis
Olds' entry on SimpleSevens)
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