nice thought but maybe they were for Ron Petterson 's death ? ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "B Philbrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 7:26 PM Subject: Re: [lotus-cars] Black badges
> > The black Lotus badge - as factory fitted. I > understood that it was in memory of Jim Clark who was > killed in 1968. > > Conduct a search in Yahoo using - "Jim Clark black > Lotus badge" for more details. > > Thanks - Bruce Philbrick > > --- Ed Law <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> >> my 64 has a black badge came to me that way ed >> law >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Mike Causer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 10:05 AM >> 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 > > > > > > > > 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/
