LocostUSA.com

Okay, I have a big time crunch to deal with and got an informal nod toward using the Lola Mk 1 body basics, as long as I don't make something that can be mistaken for a real Lola Mk 1, so I'm galloping down that path.

I'm calling this car the Lalo. I'm following the naming tradition Ron Champion started with the Locost--a combination descriptive term and parody of its inspiration (Lalo, get it? Pronounced with a long A and long O = lay low) plus I've already got the theme music written.

Ahem. To the tune of the chorus of the Eric Clapton/Derek and the Dominoes song "Layla":

Lalo
-It comes up to your knees
Lalo
-When winter comes you'll freeze
Lalo
-Barely room to squeeze in your behiiIIIND...

It'll be a trifle bigger (wider and longer and taller) than the Lola but I think it will have the look and feel of the late '50s, early '60s sports racers--a lot of them shared the same styling cues (Birdcage Maserati for example) of deep rounded fenders etc. But Curtis Unlimited has Lola Mk 1 molds so that's my starting point.

Jack-
The new bodywork looks very interesting.
With regard to the song lyrics... The new bodywork looks very interesting!

Sorry for your loss, but I -for one, of many- am sure glad to see you back at it again. Your presence within this board and this "hobby" (Obsession? Curse?) is invaluable.


JD Kemp

VERY cool Jack!

...It's a nice teaser, but I don't think anybody would turn down more details about the specifics on Max/Lalo's sex change operation. Is it "just a re-body" or do you have more planned?



And an alternative theme song:

Her name was Lalo. She was a racecar.
With yellow pinstripes down her side, and tires slick and wide.
She would lap racetracks, and do the autox.

THAT does it! I'm gonna petition Chet, get an amendment to the rules: No political discussions and NO BARRY MANILOW!

Max looks like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Is all of Max under there? It fits quite well. I can't wait to see what the tail end of the lalo will look like and not look like the Lola.

On another note....Welcome back Jack!

I'm concerned that the shape of the stripe in front of the driver will cause them to constantly turn left. Perhaps even driving on oval tracks. There is a reason those driver stripes are straight.

I think interchangeable bodies are a great idea. You sell them the car (kit), then you keep selling them more bodies...

I don't think that's a stripe, it looks like the bodywork has been cut to make it wider. Notice the C-clamps and strips of wood holding it together.

It's the Emperor's New Racing Strip! Only made of the FINEST of materials for the most discerning racers.

It's really light weight, too!

Colin Chapman would highly approve.

Aero-bro, what can I say - may need to start actually using the reading glasses.

Thanks

Yo, Horizen-
Once ya take 'em off and lay 'em down somewhere, can ya see good enough to find 'em again?

JD "I can't" Kemp

No, it's a racing stripe all right, it just looks odd because I painted it with clear paint.

Sadly I have to enlarge the bubble to fit the turbo and plumbing on the Kubota. For the Miata motor version I plan to make a more Lotusish sped bump (it'll need some space under there) but I was hoping the Kubota motor would fit without mods. If it had, I would have shortened the control arms an inch and a half and left the nose unmodified.

Gad. If I'd thought things would escalate to Barry Manilow, I wouldn't have started the ball rolling with the Layla parody.

This one is a sheep in wolf's clothing, but when the time comes to make a Miata-powered Lalo, it'll be a wolf in wolf's clothing.

Updates will come, right now I'm catching up on a bunch of stuff but the Lalo will be my front burner project soon. I have a cross country green car rally to attend in August.

The wide Lola body is cool. What is the ass end gonna look like? Also Lola?

I'll keep my comments to my self about the song.

The stern is going to look much like the sterns of half the sports racers of The Day. The majority of late '50s/early '60s open two seat racers had rounded raised fenders, higher than the rest of the body work (in front, a hood line as low as the engine allowed, and higher than the back of the cockpit in the rear), a too-rounded-for-optimum-streamlining tail section, and a head fairing for the driver. Lola, Ferrari, Scarab, Maserati...you had to be a fan to tell them apart. The Lalo is going to be sort of a generic 1959 sports racer, with aerodynamic improvements subtle enough not to jar the viewer.

To make width variable, the plan is to make compound curved rear fenders joined with a simple curved sheetmetal "trunk" section. Much as with my avatar, the complex body parts will be joined with simple sheet body parts, so wheelbase and track and height can be adjusted to fit the chassis.