Discussion
Not sure about the boards and clubs for Viper. The local club here has two Viper drivers, but my home town is a bit strange. Only a small number of us actually drive our cars, so we formed our own club covering multiple makes and models...
A Viper is sure a totally different beast from an Esprit... anything particular that lead you to Viper? Great car, just curious as to what made you go with Viper from Esprit instead of some of the other marks like Ferrari, Porsche, NSX or Vettes?
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
A Viper is sure a totally different beast from an Esprit... anything particular that lead you to Viper? Great car, just curious as to what made you go with Viper from Esprit instead of some of the other marks like Ferrari, Porsche, NSX or Vettes?
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
Just wanted something different. Prior to the Lotus we had an '88 Vette. Ferrari's were considered but we didn't find anything as new as the 2001 (with only 5600 miles) in our price range. Based on our research, maintenance for the Viper is pretty reasonable, if you discount 10 qts of synthetic at oil change time. We'll see a year from now if this holds true.
Good luck to you.
As side note I sold by car a while ago and the present owner lent me the Esprit to take it Wings and Wheels which is one of larger fly/drive adult toy shows in the Midwest. About a thousand cars showed up of various makes. The present owner wanted his car in the show but was unable to make it so he asked me if I wanted to drive it there. It was like old times and everyone joked about maybe there is a track day that he would like the car to attend that he could not attend. I have a real good relationship with the present owner and still work on the car as time permits at no charge. Somewhat like a pseudo warranty, he supplies parts, pizzas, beer and we supply labor. Had a lot of fun driving up in an Esprit group.
A club member brought his new car a 2005 GT40
Saw a lot of Vipers there.
Calvin
As side note I sold by car a while ago and the present owner lent me the Esprit to take it Wings and Wheels which is one of larger fly/drive adult toy shows in the Midwest. About a thousand cars showed up of various makes. The present owner wanted his car in the show but was unable to make it so he asked me if I wanted to drive it there. It was like old times and everyone joked about maybe there is a track day that he would like the car to attend that he could not attend. I have a real good relationship with the present owner and still work on the car as time permits at no charge. Somewhat like a pseudo warranty, he supplies parts, pizzas, beer and we supply labor. Had a lot of fun driving up in an Esprit group.
A club member brought his new car a 2005 GT40
Saw a lot of Vipers there.
Calvin
The event is sponsored by Motorbooks publishing. I suppose they are one of the larger book companies for the auto and aircraft hobby.
www.motorbooks.com/Store/CustomPage_7274.ncm
This is the air field you will be flying into
www.osceolaaero.com/airport.html
If you are going one of these days meet us at the show as the Lotus club is always there. You can meet some of the people from the turbo list that are quite well known like Tim Engel, Dave Cammack, Keen Young, Jim Mcfadden, and others.
Oh forgot, they also have a large art and craft fair at the same time in a different part of town that a lot of the wives attend while the guys are off to the airport and car show. Shuttle buses run between all of the venues.
Calvin
www.motorbooks.com/Store/CustomPage_7274.ncm
This is the air field you will be flying into
www.osceolaaero.com/airport.html
If you are going one of these days meet us at the show as the Lotus club is always there. You can meet some of the people from the turbo list that are quite well known like Tim Engel, Dave Cammack, Keen Young, Jim Mcfadden, and others.
Oh forgot, they also have a large art and craft fair at the same time in a different part of town that a lot of the wives attend while the guys are off to the airport and car show. Shuttle buses run between all of the venues.
Calvin
Edited by cnh1990 on Tuesday 12th September 19:04
Thanks for the information. Looks like a great event. Trip would probably be about 5hrs flight time.
Thanks also for the tip on the crafts. However, I'm a lucky guy in that my wife prefers fast cars and high horsepower engines over that stuff. She'd hide my car keys if I suggested that she go anywhere other than the flight line or the car area. I usually order an F1 calendar for her from Motorbooks but I hadn't seen any advertisements for this event.
Now the difficult part will be making the free time and asking the weather to cooperate. It would be great to meet you guys. So we would definitely stop by the Lotus venue.
What did you buy to replace the Lotus?
Thanks also for the tip on the crafts. However, I'm a lucky guy in that my wife prefers fast cars and high horsepower engines over that stuff. She'd hide my car keys if I suggested that she go anywhere other than the flight line or the car area. I usually order an F1 calendar for her from Motorbooks but I hadn't seen any advertisements for this event.
Now the difficult part will be making the free time and asking the weather to cooperate. It would be great to meet you guys. So we would definitely stop by the Lotus venue.
What did you buy to replace the Lotus?
Sad to say nothing hss replaced the Lotus yet.
That particular Esprit I owned was built under a lucky star as the car has been in Minnesota for about 7 years and nothing major has gone wrong with it. Oh it has had all the regular issues but all the work was done by either myself or with an assist by local Lotus gurus that many on the various lists and forums seek their combined wisdom. While all are very good each person has areas that they are better at than some. When 4-6 people of this caliber get together for a wrenching party it is an awesome event and is something many will never experience. In all the years of ownership I had only 2k USD in actual out of pocket expense many which were optional expenditures that were not really required but was something nice to do.
We are epecially fortunate to have Dave Cammack's Toybox a warehouse type structure with many car bays with multiple lifts and every type of tool one can imagine. He has never charged for the use of such a wonderful facility other than refeshments. Work is so much of a joy in a heated enviroment that rivals many professional garages.
Dave Cammack is also a pilot as was his late brother Bill Cammack. You might have read about Bill who crashed after passing out at high altitude and running out of fuel in a Beechcraft Baron. Bill did his share of auto racing too and was a great guy.
While I miss the Esprit the people who I met through the Local Lotus club are priceless and it is not something I have experienced with other makes of cars. So while we have both sold our Esprit's we still have the bond of being former owners and that is an experience we will keep long after our cars.
I hope you will keep in touch. For when you visit so we can have a nice chat about cars and aircraft. I will message you with my email so if you ever make to the upper midwest you can look us up.
Also all are welcome to visit and if you bring a car and the weather is nice we cn go for a nice group ride along rolling hills of the river valley were one can still drive a 100 twisty miles and not see another car.
Regards,
Calvin
That particular Esprit I owned was built under a lucky star as the car has been in Minnesota for about 7 years and nothing major has gone wrong with it. Oh it has had all the regular issues but all the work was done by either myself or with an assist by local Lotus gurus that many on the various lists and forums seek their combined wisdom. While all are very good each person has areas that they are better at than some. When 4-6 people of this caliber get together for a wrenching party it is an awesome event and is something many will never experience. In all the years of ownership I had only 2k USD in actual out of pocket expense many which were optional expenditures that were not really required but was something nice to do.
We are epecially fortunate to have Dave Cammack's Toybox a warehouse type structure with many car bays with multiple lifts and every type of tool one can imagine. He has never charged for the use of such a wonderful facility other than refeshments. Work is so much of a joy in a heated enviroment that rivals many professional garages.
Dave Cammack is also a pilot as was his late brother Bill Cammack. You might have read about Bill who crashed after passing out at high altitude and running out of fuel in a Beechcraft Baron. Bill did his share of auto racing too and was a great guy.
While I miss the Esprit the people who I met through the Local Lotus club are priceless and it is not something I have experienced with other makes of cars. So while we have both sold our Esprit's we still have the bond of being former owners and that is an experience we will keep long after our cars.
I hope you will keep in touch. For when you visit so we can have a nice chat about cars and aircraft. I will message you with my email so if you ever make to the upper midwest you can look us up.
Also all are welcome to visit and if you bring a car and the weather is nice we cn go for a nice group ride along rolling hills of the river valley were one can still drive a 100 twisty miles and not see another car.
Regards,
Calvin
i am also looking for my next toy.. and I am just amazed at how expensive a clean used modena cost.. around here a clean 02 can cost $160k or more!! I have around $100k to spend on a car and will either go for a V8 vantage or a 911 turbo. I love the viper but had the worst scare of my life behind the wheel of one.. car is just such an animal makes the esprit feel almost tame. Saw a black/tan V8 vantage on the road and i needed a kleenex and some privacy the thing looks so hot.
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