10 replies to this topic

[VanAndy]

Does anyone know if such a thing exists?

I've read his bio on your site, Dennis, and its a great capsule summary, but I'd also be intrigued to read a full treatment on this guy...

Thanks,

Andy

[Felix Muelas]

Well, I do not know if you call "full-lenght" a 369 pages one, but if that's the case, the "authorized biography" of Chapman seems to be the Gerard Crombac 1986 one, "Colin Chapman, The Man and his cars", foreworded by Enzo Ferrari and published by PSL.
Ah ! yes, it has an ISBN number (I hope this is useful...) 0-85059-733-1
Loyal to his lifetime friend, Crombac finds some difficulty dealing with the tough episodes, but I can assure you that, over some "off the record" conversations with the author, he is fully aware of that "softness", whilst being an extremelly valid inside witness.
Anyway, a book not to miss, in my humble opinion...
:-)
Felix

[Don Capps]

Wow, Felix, beat me to it. Overall, it is a very good book despite softshoeing past a few tough episodes. However, Jabby is up front about things and it makes for a fascinating read. I wish I still had my copy.

------------------
Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…

[Eric McLoughlin]

VanAndy

I think the "fullest" book available is "Colin Chapman - the Man and his Cars" by Jabby Crombac. It dates from around 1986 and is pretty comprehensive. On a slightly more irreverent note, Channel 4 TV in the UK broadcast a documentary on Chapman's life about two years ago which revealed some of the more shady aspects of his character, partcicularly relating to the De Lorean affair. I doubt if it is available on video - I'm surprised they were'nt sued.
I am a big Lotus and Chapman fan by the way.
(I own a Caterham 7).

[VanAndy]

Thanks to all of you. It looks like Crombac's the man, and yes 369 pp. should suffice!

Eric, if you (or anyone else) knows anything about that Channel 4 documentary and its availability, by all means pass the info along. It sounds interesting, and I'll be the first to confess a morbid curiosity about the DeLorean affair. I haven't seen Speedvision, but it sounds like the kind of thing they could/should program, does it not?

Ok, and thanks again,

Andy

[VanAndy]

P.S.

Based on what I know ofthe legend, I'm a fan myself.

[Eric McLoughlin]

VanAndy

On the subject of videos and TV, Duke Video in the UK have produced a very good four part history of Team Lotus. I'm sure this should be available commercially in the US or Canada. Its certainly less contoversial than the Channel 4 documentary. However, some of Chapman's famous "bust ups" are covered in depth, eg. his dismissal of Innes Ireland and his falling out with the original US importer of Lotus cars, Jay Chamberlain. The videos feature lots of interviews with Hazel Chapman, Betty Hill, Cliff Allison, Trevor Taylor, Keith Duckworh, Peter Lovely etc. Good stuff!

[Ray Bell]

Two men who figured in the drawing room at Lotus at times are Australians, John Joyce, who went on to build Bowin cars here, and Tony Caldersmith, whose connection was in the mid to late fifties. Both have interesting stories to tell about "The Old Man."

Eric, you're online now, please email me on raybell@eisa.net.au

[Jonathan]

VanAndy -

Another rather indirect source of information on Lotus you might be interested in is a book about John Delorean called "Grand Delusions" by Hillel Levin.

I might not have all the details entirely correct, but basically Delorean in an effort to get his car company off the ground as quickly as possible commissioned Lotus to do all the enginering on the production Delorean sports car. Rather than pay Chapman or Lotus directly for this effort, and incure a whopping tax liablity, approximatly 18 million US dollars went into a Swiss Bank account using an acronym "GPD" that I think ment something like Grand Prix Drivers Association. (?) The details here are very merky at best.

As very little engineering actually went into the production Delorean (which basically "borrowed" much of the existing Lotus Esprit X-frame chassis and Fibre-glass body structure tecnology). I think, reading between the lines here, that in essence much of the Delorean engineering & delelopment money went straight into Chapman's F1 team (both for Mario's Salary and for development of the JPS-Lotus 77,78 and/or 79).

(This is only an assumption I drew from reading this book several years ago. Some of you may have other sources of information that may or may not support this conclusion, however...)

[VanAndy]

Thanks, Jonathan, that's another angle to pursue for the DeLorean end of the story

Andy

[Eric McLoughlin]

Colin Chapman was attracted to the De Lorean project, not because he considered the car to be any good (he didn't)but the notion of getting his hands on UK Government grants appealed to him. Chapman, like many entepreneurs, resented having to pay taxes (the Lotus 7 was devised as a dodge around the old Purchase Tax which didn't apply to kit-cars)and rather liked the idea of receiving money from the government instead of paying it over. He also was quite angry that his own applications for grants in helping expand Lotus had been turned down and was quite happy to ride on the coat tails of the De Lorean project. The grants were being administered through the North of Ireland's industrial agency, the Industrial Development Board (IDB). Originally John De Lorean had approached the Republic of Ireland's similar body, the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) who had turned him down on the basis that the project was too risky. To compound the British Government's embarrasment, when De Lorean collapsed, the site in Belfast was offered to an even riskier project, an all carbon fibre executive turboprop aircraft called the Lear Fan. Needless to say, this failed as well meaning even more British taxpayers' money had been lost.

By the way, GPD stands for Grand Prix Developments.