The Europa and the Exotic Car Food Chain

[literarymadness]

Pfreen and I were approved to participate in one of the most elite car shows on the planet: "Exotics on Las Olas."  250 uber exotic vehicles all on one street.  Mercedes AMGs need not apply nor anything as mundane as any Audi RS or BMW M series.  This was a show for the big guns: supercars and hypercars only (and a few token classics).  There were at least 30+ Lamborghinis, if not more. The same for Ferrari.  20+ McLarens.  A dozen or so Aston Martins. A half dozen or so Bugattis. A couple of Paganis and Koeniseggs. There was even  a Glickenhause.  What is an exotic car show without at least one Glickenhause. Not a Jaguar in sight!  No regular Porsches were allowed.  Just 918s, or 911 GT2s and so on. Oh yeah and two Lotus Europa Twin Cam Specials. We were in the classic section with cars like a Ferrari F40, a mid-sixties Lamborghini 350 GT and a BMW M1 (The only other BMW was an i8) and other crazy exotics. The main reason pfreen and I were approved was: the young woman in charge of the selection committee (Lily) happened to be a big fan of Lotus and felt our Europas were significant vehicles. She told me there were objections by other members but in the end she convinced them. Both pfreen and my TCS received more than a fair amount of intention which made me feel like we belonged there.  Lily told me that some people just don't get what a Lotus was all about but that she did. She is right; Colin Chapman contributed as much, if not more, than some of those elite manufacturers to the sport of racing and to the automotive world.  It was great show.

[Certified Lotus]

WOW! What a car show! Lilly is one cool lady having the knowledge of how special Lotus is to the exotic sports car world.  I’ve never seen a Glickenhause on the road. Pretty special. Glad the two of you were invited to show the Lotus flag. 

[surfguitar58]

If they had an award for "Lowest Price of Admission" you would have won hands down! Thanks Wesley and Paul for doing your part to promote our underappreciated cars!
Tom

[dakazman]

   What a great synoptic of a fantastic day! Thank for the pics.
It definitely raises the public interest every time you get guys exhibit your cars . Looking forward to running in the pack one day.
  I second surfs award!
Dakazman

[BDA]

How incredibly cool and what an honor! Congratulations to you and Pfreen for holding up the classic Lotus end among some very heady company so well and thanks to Lilly for pressing the issue!

 

[Pfreen]

Here are a few more photos of the event.  After seeing all the beautiful women posing in front of the exotic cars, I thought to myself, I can do that.   

[dakazman]

   My wife says she loves your pose.  I’m still lmao. 
 
  Looks like you guys had fun. Thanks for all the pictures.
Dakazman

[BDA]

Great car porn, Pfreen!! Your pose... well not as much! 

Since I saw one in person, I've thought the Miura was maybe the most beautiful cars ever made.

[tedtaylor]

Paul, how funny, as i'm wearing that same exact Lotus shirt myself today ( although a different color)

[literarymadness]

There are quite a few videos posted of the show posted on youtube.  This video is a little long but it shows my car and Paul's right around the 5 minute mark.  They had everyone leave at the same time.  Paul and I are driving off around the 20 minute mark.  BDA: at the very end of the video, you can hear and see the Miura SV driving off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwEHqeYMb-I That engine sounds sweet.

[Broadside]

I think its the other wannabe supercar owners that should be honoured to be in the presence of true automotive innovation and heritage! well done for representing the brand! 

[4129R]

Great car porn, Pfreen!! Your pose... well not as much! 

Since I saw one in person, I've thought the Miura was maybe the most beautiful cars ever made.

V12 E-Type Roadster is not too far behind. It was very good value back in its day.

[BDA]

I'm watching the video now. There are some really fantastic cars there (sorry, I can't get into the orange Cobra GT replica with the snake painted on it. They should all be blue and white!) but there are a few that were not so pretentious that your Europas were out of place.

In fact the only time I've seen a Miura was at a Walter Mitty race many years ago. I was surprised not only how beautiful it was but how low it was!

Are you all going to Amelia Island this March? Roger Penske's cars are featured.

That was a great video but I think there were a couple of real dogs like the cannabis car and the lizard car... I prefer the orange Cobra GT to them by a lot!

Again, congratulations for your participation approval and being the only Loti there (from what I could tell). That means your cars were much more rare than some of those Lamborghinis!

[BDA]

V12 E-Type Roadster is not too far behind. It was very good value back in its day.

Quite right! I think Enzo was right that it was the most beautiful car (at the time) and I wouldn't (or shouldn't) try to compare them as they are from different eras.

[Rosco5000]

I have to agree with the crowd on how beautiful the Lamborghini Miura is, what a stunning machine.  I have not seen one in person but my Dad always has talked about it being his favourite car since he worked on one back the 70s until the car was supposedly lost in a card game  .  Absolutely stunning.  As for Lotus heritage, if Lotus isn't allowed to hang with the best of Formula 1 manufacturers who is?  Colin did amazing things, his thriftiness just got in the way of propelling the supercar industry.  The Elite was the first monocoque chassis car like we know them today.  Every single one of those carbon fiber beauties could credit Colin's teams work at Lotus in having the car industry head in the direction that has allowed for the amazing cars we have today.
Ross