History of the Lotus 23 book by Graham Capel has arrived

Just received my copy of the Lotus 23 History by Graham Capel. 132 pages of Lotus history,memories and articles regarding this fantastic car. Well worth reading. It also has the listing of all chassis numbers to their original sales owners for reference.

I bought it through Victory Lane Magazine

or Graham Capel at;

Historic Lotus Books
PO Box 7
Horley Surrey RH6 7AA
England
info@lotushistory.co.uk

http://i50.photobuck...s23book0002.jpg

Nick

At least 500 genuine Lotus 23 owners are going to sue the publisher for spreading lies about the chassis numbers...

Originally posted by T54
At least 500 genuine Lotus 23 owners are going to sue the publisher for spreading lies about the chassis numbers...

Isn't that the truth!

This one is the real thing, anyway: Perth, 2005. Current owner has had it for over 30 years.

That only takes you back to ............................1976 !!!!!!!!

For the doughting Teds out there ,

That is 23-S-40 , came to Australia with Brabham BT2's , FJ-8-62 and FJ-12-62 , all on the same boat , for Frank Gardner , then sold to Len Deaton , Charlie Smith , Paul Bolton then about 1966 went to Western Australia , has been with current owner Murray Charnley in Western Australia for about 30 years.
Bulletproof provenence that one.

Bryan.

Originally posted by T54
At least 500 genuine Lotus 23 owners are going to sue the publisher for spreading lies about the chassis numbers...

Nah, the problem isn't with the original list. Those records have been published for years. The problem is with those claiming theirs is one on that list. The problem is the same whether it is a big block corvette or an untitled race car.

Merry Christmas


Nick

The Murray Charnley car was raced by Roger Fielding for about 1-2 years at Caversham before Murraybougbt it in about 1968 and has owned it ever since. In the pic, Murray is the guy in the red and white driving suit.

Their are several nice cars here in CA. The first one here is the way mine looks today. The second picture is what it looked like in 1968 when Bill Overhauser owned it.




Cheers

Nick

Nick and Ted here is one for you guys. John Miller installed a Ferrari engine in a Lotus 23.

I don't know how much power it put out. It sure looks sweet and probably sounded wild.

photos lent site Richard Macon-courtesy John Miller Family Collection

Jerry, that must have been fun. The body looks like the "C" variant that so many had. Phil Ribbs car at the Wine Country event in Sonoma last June had a similar style to it.

Nick

Originally posted by NGSmith
Jerry, that must have been fun. The body looks like the "C" variant that so many had. Phil Ribbs car at the Wine Country event in Sonoma last June had a similar style to it.

Nick

6 bolt front wheels are also a "C" feature.

I assume the engine is a 6 cylinder, e.g. Dino engine?

Peter

Originally posted by NGSmith
Jerry, that must have been fun. The body looks like the "C" variant that so many had. Phil Ribbs car at the Wine Country event in Sonoma last June had a similar style to it.

Nick

According to the Graham Capel book there never was a C variant

not just Graham Capel - the historic lotus register agree with him (which given the history between them is quite incredible!) Having onced owned Graham's old XI which he turned into a GT and having met him I would say that his version is probably correct.

Hi All, since my lat apeearance on the board I have started acting as the UK/European registrar for the Lotus 23 Register which is operating under the Historic Lotus Register. While I can't lay claim to 500 cars registered to date we are already well over the 131 so often quoted, so life is proving pretty exciting as you may imagine! None the less, if any of you have a 23 or know someone who has please contact us via the HLR so we can add to the list. We seem to have a pretty good handle on cars in the USA and Australia courtesy of my fellow co-registrars Bill Steagall and Marc Schagen, it's the UK and Europe that still harbour the most unregistered cars.

I haven't seen the Ferrari engined car before, any clues as to where it is now or what happened to it? I am also interested in the photo of Nick's car in California in '68. The car in the background carries number 66; is it Doc Molle? I own an ex-Molle car, or maybe I should say I think I do....

With regard to the great C debate, all I can say is we have not to date seen any clear evidence that such a spec was ever officially released by Lotus. The factory records show that about 110 23's were built between early '62 and the end of '64, with the final 20 or so coming out in dribs and drabs thereafter through to early 66. These last cars have various notes against their records including comments about stiffened chassis and the like, plus one or two mentions of uprated brakes, hubs and wider wheels. The important point is these cars would appear to have been built to individual customer specification and do not seem to follow a fairly common spec unlike the earlier cars. It therefore seems unlikely the 23 C nomenclature was ever released by Lotus, but more likely was applied by the later owners to make their cars sound more up to date.... One way or another it became commonly used, possibly in much the same way that the 23B name was finally adopted by all, including Lotus who initially referred to the twincam engined cars as 23 series 2 in line with their other products. I recently spoke with Bob Dance and a few other old boys from Cheshunt and none of them remembered the 23C as such. I am however, only to happy to be proven wrong!

Best Wishes, Nick Adams

Richard Macon's Lotus 23 in the day. His Lovely wife Fay Hewitt Bridges standing along side his tow truck.
photo lent site Richard Macon.

I haven't seen the Ferrari engined car before, any clues as to where it is now or what happened to it? I am also interested in the photo of Nick's car in California in '68. The car in the background carries number 66; is it Doc Molle? I own an ex-Molle car, or maybe I should say I think I do....

Nick

I asked Bill Overhauser and he said the picture was taken at Cotati Raceway up around Santa Roca CA in 1969. It was an SCCA SF Region race but he does not recall the driver.

Nick Smith