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I wore my SweetDaddyD provided "Power to Weight" Elise T-shirt to my 7yo daughter's softball game tonight, but drove the Honda (with twenty 50lbs bags of concrete loaded in it :nanner
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While waiting for the game to start I hear a child's voice, "Cool. A Lotus." So I look over at the parking lot knowing it can't be mine, hopeful that someone else owns a Lotus here in town, only to see 3 little boys aged 5-9 standing in front of me pointing at my shirt.
"Yeah, it's a Lotus," says I, only mildly surprised, but very happy that he could recognize the car even though the shirt doesn't say Lotus anywhere on it. "How did you know it was a Lotus?" I followed, fully expecting to hear about the Elise from his video games.
"I love Lotus," responds the oldest boy.
"Yeah? Which is your favorite?" I ask, somewhat calling him out thinking he knows nothing other than what he has seen from his video games.
"V8 Esprit. But I like the Stevens body also. And don't get me wrong, I'd take a Giugiaro bodied Esprit anyday, but I do like the power of the V8. It's sweeeeeeeet, Thomson designed it beautifully, and it still handles like a Lotus."
I'm thinking "WTF did this kid just say to me? There's no way he said what I just heard." He even pronounced Giugiaro correctly, without stumbling, which I can't do.
So I start quizzing this 9 year old kid on Lotus history. He absolutely kicked my @$$ in Lotus knowledge. We had a 30 minute discussion about various Lotus models and differences in years of cars. Well, it was more like this kid talking for 30 minutes about Lotus. He described the changes to the Elan and Seven over the production years. He apparently has a Lotus Matchbox collection with about 60 or so cars and multiple Lotus books, but doesn't have any video games at all.
Dumbfounded, I had nothing to add to this kid, as I certainly couldn't teach him anything, other than to offer him a ride in a Seven or an Elise after one of the softball games (Yes, his mother was right there, his sister plays on my daughter's team. No, I don't have a "free candy" sign on my paneled van). He opted for the Seven as he had never seen one in person. When I asked if he had ever seen an Elise in person, he starts describing this "grey Elise that a doctor friend" of his Dad has that he has seen driving around. Ha, Ha. Turns out I know his father. Small world with very pleasant surprises today. I think I'm about to have a son as I'm going to talk to his Dad about starting the adoption process.
.While waiting for the game to start I hear a child's voice, "Cool. A Lotus." So I look over at the parking lot knowing it can't be mine, hopeful that someone else owns a Lotus here in town, only to see 3 little boys aged 5-9 standing in front of me pointing at my shirt.
"Yeah, it's a Lotus," says I, only mildly surprised, but very happy that he could recognize the car even though the shirt doesn't say Lotus anywhere on it. "How did you know it was a Lotus?" I followed, fully expecting to hear about the Elise from his video games.
"I love Lotus," responds the oldest boy.
"Yeah? Which is your favorite?" I ask, somewhat calling him out thinking he knows nothing other than what he has seen from his video games.
"V8 Esprit. But I like the Stevens body also. And don't get me wrong, I'd take a Giugiaro bodied Esprit anyday, but I do like the power of the V8. It's sweeeeeeeet, Thomson designed it beautifully, and it still handles like a Lotus."
I'm thinking "WTF did this kid just say to me? There's no way he said what I just heard." He even pronounced Giugiaro correctly, without stumbling, which I can't do.
So I start quizzing this 9 year old kid on Lotus history. He absolutely kicked my @$$ in Lotus knowledge. We had a 30 minute discussion about various Lotus models and differences in years of cars. Well, it was more like this kid talking for 30 minutes about Lotus. He described the changes to the Elan and Seven over the production years. He apparently has a Lotus Matchbox collection with about 60 or so cars and multiple Lotus books, but doesn't have any video games at all.
Dumbfounded, I had nothing to add to this kid, as I certainly couldn't teach him anything, other than to offer him a ride in a Seven or an Elise after one of the softball games (Yes, his mother was right there, his sister plays on my daughter's team. No, I don't have a "free candy" sign on my paneled van). He opted for the Seven as he had never seen one in person. When I asked if he had ever seen an Elise in person, he starts describing this "grey Elise that a doctor friend" of his Dad has that he has seen driving around. Ha, Ha. Turns out I know his father. Small world with very pleasant surprises today. I think I'm about to have a son as I'm going to talk to his Dad about starting the adoption process.
