Guess The Car..
Discussion
bigfoot7 said:
Elan?
Bingo!As noted - here are the clue meanings:
Clue #1 - Designed by a man with more than a passing interest in his workmates, spawned a million thread replies on PH.
This was meant to be cryptic - I apologise if you think it was too cryptic.
The Lotus Elan was designed by Ron Hickman, who also designed the Black and Decker Workmate.
The Elan's spiritual successor was the MX5, which of course is the standard reply to any "What car" thread on PH.
Example, from today: http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Mazda did do testing with a pair of Elans while developing the MX5.
I intentionally chose a car lots of people would think Colin Chapman designed.
Clue #2 - The designer of the car in question made a lot of money starting about 9 years after the car was introduced.
The Elan was launched in 1962.
The Workmate was finally licensed (about £1 royalty per sale to the inventor, from the manufacturer - Black and Decker) in 1971.
Estimates of the number of workmates sold vary from 30 million to 100 million - either way, he made a lot of money, and mostly from his invention rather than from designing the Elan for Lotus.
Clue #3 - A cryptic clue is about the designer, but you're looking to guess the car.
This was just me trying to get people to guess the car rather than guessing the designer.
Clue #4 - In the story of this car, there's a link with Tesco.
At the time of launch (1962), Lotus were making cars in Delamere Road, Cheshunt.
That's also where Tesco were and are based - across the street.
Here's a link to a google map: http://goo.gl/maps/ZgK4S
A photo of the old factory on this page, taken from a helicopter shows it hasn't changed much since: http://www.lotus7register.co.uk/lss9.htm
For the record, Lotus moved to Hethel in 1966.
Clue #5 - I like this brand of car. Coincidentally, I bought my first one at 26.
Look at the garage on my profile - I've owned an Elise. That's a clue that it's a Lotus.
The other clue here is the totally incidental number 26. The Elan's Lotus mark number is Mk.26.
I didn't make this up by the way - I did actually buy my Lotus at 26 years old. That's not a clue
Clue #6 - Catsuit.
The Elan was driven in the 1960's TV show "The Avengers", by the actress Diana Rigg.
She was playing the character "Emma Peel", who wore a black leather catsuit in the show.
Example: http://youtu.be/P41clz5_Rp0
Also: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/in...
Bonus clue:
Dusty964 guessed "Delorean".
I replied that was "getting warmer" on account of the Lotus-Delorean connection (Lotus largely engineered the delorean).
More info on that over here http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EHistory/DeLorean....
CraigyMc said:
Seems to have killed the thread somewhat though, eh?
C
Not at all; I think the main protagonists have been busy. Certainly I've been on trains between Bristol and Cambridge a lot, which is why I've only just found out my Beetle guess was way off the mark! C
Since bigfoot's not chipped in yet, I'll reboot the thread; I think this is too good to die.
So here goes...
Clue One: A lot of cars could be said to change the way we drive but in a single day, this one could be said to have affected the political landscape of Europe.
blearyeyedboy said:
Clue One: A lot of cars could be said to change the way we drive but in a single day, this one could be said to have affected the political landscape of Europe.
Hitler favoured Mercedes, but the defective satnav (Von Braun was still working on the rocket) would only go as far as Poland....Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff