Phil - The Elite 503's from the factory had the black badge. - Bruce.
--- "Mitchell, Philip S" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Mike, > > My JPS Esprits have black/gold badges. My '86 Esprit > hci has a black badge. > > My Europa TCs, JPS Europa and 61 FF have > green/yellow badges. I don't > remember what my Elite 503 has. > > Phil Mitchell > Maryland > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Causer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 10:06 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [lotus-cars] Black badges > > > > There are a number of different stories about the > black badges fitted to > Lotus, generally disagreeing with each other. So, > to fill a rainy > afternoon I decided to see if there is any usable > evidence of the use of > different coloured badges. Time travelling back to > look at the > production lines proved too difficult, but there is > a form of time > travel available in the collected books of magazine > road tests, mainly > published by Brooklands Books -- and conveniently to > hand following > another investigation ;-) > > Now we have to make some assumptions, but I think > quite reasonable ones. > First, a car supplied by Lotus for a magazine to > test will have the > badging used in production at the time it was made > and registered. (We > know their engines weren't always standard, but > that's a different > concern.) There is a caveat here, an importer > might decide to change > badging to fit their own preference, but at the time > in question Lotus > had different importers for the East and West coasts > of the USA, so any > switches probably won't be consistent. > > Another possibility is that Lotus themselves > switched badges to reflect > the current production, but this isn't borne out out > by the tests wich > invariably show that any individual car has the same > badge all through > its active life of up to a year. > > Is the frequency of published tests enough to give a > good picture of > production? From 1962 to 1982 I've found 160 tests, > and 8 a year would > seem to be adequate. Only tests of "new" cars are > taken into account, > those that have been modified by dealers (eg BRM, > Else, B&C) are not > taken into account, nor are articles about used > cars. > > > Let's clear one other problem area -- the very first > black badge was > made specially for Sales Director Graham Arnold, and > fitted to his > personal car which also had non-standard black > paintwork and > non-standard red leather interior. Plus a > well-tweaked engine of > course... > > > > OK, now for my findings..... > > 62 - mid 68 everywhere yellow/green > mid 68 - mid 71 UK & AUS black/silver, USA > mainly yellow/green > mid 71 - 74 everywhere mainly > yellow/green > 74 - 83 everywhere black/silver for > Elite/Eclat/Esprit > > Yes, most of the tests of USA-spec cars in the USA > had yellow/green badges > while the rest of the world had black/silver for > three years. And, > *all* Elite/Eclat/Excel/Esprit had black/silver > badges, not one had > yellow/green. > > Does this account for the perception in the USA that > black badged cars > are rare, while the UK thinks they're pretty common? > > > > Let the cries of "Burn the heretic!" begin ;-) > > > Mike > -- > Mike Causer Email - > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > GPG KeyID 1C2DDA07 WWW - > http://www.mikecauser.com > Flood the fen again! - Wicken Fen enlargement - > http://www.wicken.org.uk > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lotus-cars/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
