[DeTomaso] Hello Again!

[J. Sean Keane]

> In a message dated 3/14/07 20:17:26, spleen at spamcop.net writes:
>
> << I'm not sure if anyone but Mike Drew remembers me, but I'm back from 
> living in England for four years.  
>
>   
>>>> Welcome back, JSK!
>>>>         
Thanks, Mike! I knew I could count on you to remember me.
>> It's great to be back in the States, 
>>     
> but unfortunately four years in storage has taken its toll on my 1974 
> L-model.  
>
>   
>>>> Where, and how was it stored?
>>>>         
At a local outdoor storage lot, right next to where the U.S. Air Force 
stores many of their planes that are in "mothballs", ready to be put 
back into service when needed.  Dry desert air and all that.

In retrospect, that may not have been a great decision.  But a coworker 
who utilized an indoor lot paid five times as much to store his BMW, and 
they ended up leaving it outside - with the windows rolled down! - which 
completely ruined the interior.  The rest is a long story, but the 
result was that my company ended up paying for the repairs.  The place I 
used started up the engine every two weeks and moved the car to another 
place on the lot to keep the tires from sitting on one spot, keep the 
gaskets lubed, etc.  It seemed like the better choice than draining the 
fluids and putting it in indoor storage.  What can I say?  I made the 
wrong decision.  On the other hand, the paint was a little tired when I 
put it in storage, so I might have been looking at a paint job now 
anyway.  This forces the issue, and I may be glad in the end that I now 
have a strong impetus to get it done.  At least that's how I'm selling 
it to my wife. <g>

>> There's a lot of little problems, and a couple of big ones.  
>>     
> The interior is dusty as hell; easy to fix, but I put in new carpets and 
> floor mats before I left, and they just don't look new anymore.  Maybe a 
> steam clean will fix that (is that a bad idea from a rust standpoint?)  
>
>   
>>>> Certainly not if you're in Arizona.  Pull the seats, vacuum and if 
>>>>         
> necessary, clean the carpets, then let it dry in the sun.
>   
Sounds good.  That's what I'll do, particularly now that it's getting 
pretty warm here.
>   
>> The hazard light stays on unless I remove the little red plastic piece 
>>     
> that screws into it.  With that gone, it will stay in the off position 
> when depressed, but it looks bad.  
>
>   
>>>> When you say 'the light stays on', do you mean that the red hazard light 
>>>>         
> button glows with the ignition on?  That's a feature, not a bug.  I can't 
> remember if it's the early or late cars that came wired that way.  It should go out 
> with the ignition turned off though.
>   
No, the hazard lights flash and I can't turn them off, key in or key 
out.  Several list members have already responded privately with 
suggestions for a fix, so I think I'm in good shape.  Thanks, guys!
>   
>> The driver's seat has a split on the 
>>     
> back part, and both seats look old and tired.  The driver's seat belt 
> won't click into place.  The short strap with the button mechanism is a 
> pretty standard Ford part, right?  I'm hoping to pick up another one at 
> a junk yard.
>
>   
>>>> Sorry, but the seat belts are Italian and unobtanium.  Fortunately the 
>>>>         
> Pantera vendors sell excellent replacement street three-point belt setups that 
> aren't overly expensive, and are a fairly straightforward bolt-in replacement.
>   

Hooray for the Pantera vendors.  It's one of the things I love about 
owning this car.  I'll swap the still functioning passenger's belt with 
the driver's until I can order the replacement.  Then I can drive the 
car without fear of a traffic ticket (or, at least, one for not wearing 
a seat belt.)


>   
>> The good news is that I've got it running pretty well now.  The bad news 
>>     
> is that the paint is shot.  This car didn't have a speck of rust on it 
> that I could see four years ago.  It definitely has some now, although I 
> think it's all surface rust.  Guess I need to start saving for a paint 
> job...
>
>   
>>>> It sounds like the car was stored in a very unsympathetic manner. :<(
>>>>         
I hate to admit it, but it might have been due to my decision to use a 
car cover rather than just letting the desert have its way with it.  I 
bought a pretty expensive cover that was supposed to breathe, but it may 
have trapped water which led to the rust.  Live and learn.
>
>   
>> I know that Las Vegas is coming up, but I've got a work conflict that I 
>>     
> can't get out of.  
>
>   
>>>> Dude, I have managed to get out of WARS to make it to Vegas.  War is 
>>>>         
> generally the biggest work conflict that you can imagine.  If I can sweet-talk my 
> way out of a war for a few days, you should be able to negotiate your way out 
> of whatever conflict you are faced with. :>)
>   
Good point.  What are the details on Vegas this year?
>   
>> Oh, and Mike, I enjoyed the Esprit so much that I brought one back with 
>>     
> me.  It's a right-hand drive Turbo with a dry sump engine.  I look 
> forward to letting you drive it some day.  The curse is long gone, right? >>
>
>   
>>>> Not bloody likely!
>>>>         
>
> How did you manage to import that car into the USA?  Was it an involved 
> process?
>
> And was it the car you were driving while you were in the UK, or did you buy 
> another one to bring back?
>   
A bit of a long story here, but I'll try to keep the answer just shy of 
a novel.  I bought a Stephen's body 1988 Esprit Turbo shortly after 
moving to England in 2002, with the intention of driving it until I was 
ready to leave, and selling it before I returned.  After a couple of 
months,  I decided that I couldn't live without it, and looked into 
bringing it back.  Since it wasn't Federalized (i.e. built to U.S. 
safety specs), that was pretty much impossible.  I even got a letter 
from Lotus detailing the differences between the European and U.S. 
models, and it would be impossible to modify that car to satisfy the 
NHTSA.  However, reading the fine print, it turns out that if the car is 
25 years old or older, all of those rules are void.  I didn't want a 
normally aspirated Esprit, I wanted a turbo.  Those began production in 
1980, but they were the Essex models which almost never go on sale (and 
I couldn't afford one if they did.)  But 1981 saw just shy of 100 Turbo 
Esprits (as opposed to the Stephen's Esprit Turbo, the one I had) for 
sale, so I began looking for one.  They were rare, but I finally bagged 
one out if Wiggan, UK.  It was a mess, exactly the kind of Esprit you 
*don't* want to buy, but it was the only one I had seen for sale for 
months.  I sold the 1988 Esprit Turbo to buy the 1981 Turbo Esprit, and 
began fixing it up.  Suffice it to say that for the 24 months I owned 
that car in England, it was in my possession (rather than a mechanic's 
or body shop) for exactly 12 days.  But in that time, the suspension was 
fixed and upgraded with modern parts, the body had several flaws 
corrected and was repainted, including a clear coat, and the leather 
interior was completely recovered, top to bottom, front to back - *by 
Lotus*.  The engine was supposed to be completely refurbished as well, 
but time ran short and I need to get that done here in the U.S. now.

Given that the car was 25 years old, importation was a breeze.  My 
overseas contract let me import it on my company's dime.  Otherwise, 
that would have been about $3000 more (it was imported in its own 
container.)  If it hadn't been for my special circumstances, I'm not 
sure I could have afforded to bring it back with me.  I doubt there is a 
viable market for importing old Esprits, but I'm sure glad I have mine.  <g>

Regards,

J. Sean Keane