LocostUSA.com

OMG! All I can say is THANK YOU for everyone who came out today!!!

The turnout was great...I think we had about 15 people here throughout the day, with two-and-a-half Locosts in attendance. The morning was spent mostly in the shop poking at my almost-roller, then out front admiring Nate's nearly-complete-and-very-driveable build and Chet's bad-ass flat-black build.

Then a super lunch (thank you Sweetie aka Janine), more hangar flying (that's aviation for "shop talk"), then the highlight of the day, the road trip to a parking lot behind an abandoned shopping mall not far away for a little thrashing.

I advised Chet and Nate to play it cool and not attract too much attention. They both nodded and proceeded to deposit a few pounds of rubber in tidy little circles all over the lot. Ok, fine, whatever!

Both of our heroes were eager to let anyone with a desire take their cars for a blat.

WHATAFREAKINHOOT!!! OMG!!! IGOTTABUILDWANNATHOSE! OH WAIT, I am BUILDING ONE OF THOSE! IGOTTAFINISHMYBUILDRIGHTAWAYNOWNOWNOW!

[ed: the exclamation point has been hereby disabled for the reminder of this post!]

I'd ridden about 2 minutes in Mark Rivera's 7 prior today...never driven one. It was so gratifying to see just how much fun I am setting myself up for.

We came back to the house to chat for another few hours, on everything from progressive rate springs and turbos to registration strategies and gun control laws. Then we assaulted BW3's for dinner, and visited just a bit longer in the street before everyone headed back home.



It was very exciting hearing comments from several intending builders today. The theme was, "Okay...I'm ready to start my build now." I think that may well be the most bestest result of the day. I mean, everyone learned a little and some of us learned a lot, but to see three cars at three distinct phases of completeness gelled the idea that it really begins when you cut that first piece of metal. That's my opinion, anyway. It gets easier from there.


Several people thanked Janine and I for putting this together. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: All we did was pick a date, say, "Come on over!" and cook a small pile of food. (Okay..."we" didn't cook, Janine cooked...which means all I did was say, "Come on over!") The rest took care of itself.

What I'm getting at here is that you can do the same thing. Even if you're the only builder in 200 miles (or so you think!) or you're still just a pie-in-the-sky dreamer, just pick a date and open your doors! If one person shows up or 20, connections and progress will be made. I know I'd be eager to drive 2 or 3 hours for a lunch with fellow enthusiasts.


Thank you, everyone!

-dave and janine

_________________
...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

I'm posting this group photo full-size here for everyone who wants a copy. I may resize them down to more browser-friendly size in a few days, so save it now if you want it.

If anyone wants to Photoshop one or both to touch up light levels and such, please feel free and repost, and I'll replace these images. That would be great. Also, please post other photos/videos for the day, or perhaps link to the photos hosted on other sites (Flickr, etc.)

I *think* I can name everyone here...please correct me if I do as poorly as I did this morning...

In the cars are Nate and Chet.

From left to right:

Greg, Jack, Ryan, Jim, Debbie, David, Gene, Pete, Daniel, Jessie, and James. (Hey...Jessie James...whoda thunk it?) Janine is not pictured behind the camera.

-dave


[EDIT - I put smaller versions of the photos up. If you want the full-size images, send me a PM. -dave]

_________________
...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

I'm happy for you guys, Hope I can make it someday.

My Locost may look like the one on the left when it's done....

_________________
Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

That was a lot of fun. It was the first time I've gotten to really step on it with my car, and I abused the tires as much as possible.

Thanks for the lunch, Dave and Janine.

I'd like to see something a little closer to my area sometime--the ride was long and hard. Thankfully Pete B was with me and drove the way back, as I was exhausted.

The Seven GTR sits in the garage as I write, no damage other than tire shredding.

The rest of the pictures I took.















Videos start here. They are uploading slowly, there should be 7 total eventually. Nothing great, but fun to watch none-the-less.

It seems I have one more digital camera than I did Friday!

If you have one less, send me a PM and maybe we can regain equilibrium.

-dave

_________________
...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

Fester,

You should post the movie clips on Photobucket--that way people can download them as well.

Hats off to Chet and Nate for their generosity in bringing their cars and allowing anyone to drive, and to Dave and Janine for opening their home (yes, that's a pretty big deal). It was great that the U of K was nearby with a large pole-less parking lot that was empty even on a busy Saturday. Some random observations:

• It was interesting that most of the attendees were large in girth and/or height. The girth guys did OK driving the cars with their 15.5" Kirkey seats; the two ultra-talls (6'6"-ish) were a no-go though Jim (6'4"?) was able to drive Nate's car with its more cut-away dashboard. I squeezed my ultra-tall 280lb self into Chet's 14.5" passenger seat for a ride around the block and was glad it was no more than that. Loved the car, however. Today I jog.
• Speaking of size, the 442s look large in pictures next to normal 7s, but Dave's car is still quite small in person. Conclusion: big people need not worry about losing out on the Seven experience.
• Sevens look great on the street. I was surprised that Chet's car didn't draw more pedestrians' attention, but I guess that in a college town people see it all. On the way home, a whole family pulled of the highway while we were gassing up in southern Ohio just to ask about Nate's car, which was charming.
• We should start calling Jack McCornack "Uncle Jack". It was incredibly kind of him to not only fly out to the event, but to stick around to play Fairy Godmother to help Dave hopefully have a driver for the Midwest gathering next week.
• Locosters are a very good-natured and cooperative bunch and things get done pretty easily and spontaneously, though most are individualists. One could wax philosophical.

I forgot to mention it to you yesterday Pete, but I recognized you from your Avatar. Talk about a dead ringer.

_________________
He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Hahaha. My younger son (15) and I were fooling around with a South Park avatar maker and he LOLed when I made that one of myself so I thought I'd use it here. Thicker glasses and a little more gray in the plastic dog crap hair would really nail it.

I recognized you by your car, of course!

See if this works. I've never used Photobucket for videos before. One video was too big for Photobucket.

Just finished the kids 4 AM feeding and have somewhat recovered. Again thanks Dave for the invite it was a good day. Have Jack post the shots of my car behind Chets 7.