My Lotus is VIN # SCCFC20A4GHF60851. This is my reconstruction of its ownership history, as best as I've been able to generate from public records and CarFax, and interviews of Steve Vandergrift, Don Harvey, Kris Konopka and George Harvey, the four most recent previous owners. I have all of the paperwork from which this information came, except to the extent it comes from Kris, Don, Steve, George or their mechanics.
My car began its life as a lease:
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 9/1986-8/1988 | 200-7,651 | Manhattan Leasing Group Inc. |
It came off lease after two years. Its second owner had it for four years.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 8/1988-9/1992 | 7,651-23,431 | Unknown New Jersey Owner |
It then moved to a sunnier climate, where it lived two uneventful years.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 9/1992-2/1994 | 23,431-25,897 | Unknown Florida Owner |
Then the excitement began: the car was stolen. The thieves removed its engine, and had partially disassembled the transmission before car was recovered. The insurance claim was paid to the owner, and ownership of the recovered car passed to State Farm Insurance.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 2/1994-10/1994 | 25,897-25,900 | State Farm Insurance Co. |
It was then sold as a rebuilder.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 10/1994-? | 25,900-? | Terry Blankenship East Linton Auto Sales, Kentucky |
Blankenship/East Linton purchased and rebuilt a 1985 engine for this 1986 car. That involved adding piston liners, forged pistons, Bosch injection and other components to upgrade the 1985 engine to 1986 specifications. East Linton also rebuilt the transmission. The paperwork from the transmission work is in my collection because it was filed with Kentucky when the car was retitled with a Kentucky salvage title.
East Linton had put 300 miles on my car by the time it was seen by Florida car dealer George Harvey at a car show in Knoxville, TN.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| ?-7/1995 | ?-27,626 | George Harvey Roswell Motor Sports |
Harvey never retitled the car since he bought it to resell, and probably also because the car had a salvage title and he wanted to be very clear on what the story was with the car to the next owner. George didn't have the car for long, though, because he sold it to his friend Kris Konopka, a collector and restorer.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 7/1995-11/1996 | 27,626-28,907 | Kris Konopka |
Konopka is a stickler on restoring cars. He did a full restore on the car, and took second at the Atlanta Car show with the car.
When he got car, the original red paint was faded toward pink and the motor had a "noise". He repainted the entire car (took panels off car to paint) with a Deltron acrylic red. Then he inspected the engine and found that the front thrust bearing had fallen out, causing the crank shaft to rub on its casing. Knopka had Arne Johnson at Lotus USA do full rebuild: new crank shaft, new bearing, also replaced intake cam, new hoses. The car still bears the Lotus road test stickers from this rebuild. According to Steve, when this work was done, the car ran like a top.
Konopka also put in new adjustable shocks and lowered the car. This is a good thing, since it is no longer possible to get 15" Z-rated tires with the correct outer diameter. With the car lowered the slightly smaller tires look correct.
Konopka also worked on the interior, replacing the center console and window switches with something akin to the center console on the Elan, and recovered the driver's seat.
Konopka sold the car to Don Harvey, who kept it for about 20,000 miles.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 11/1996-~1998 | 28,907-? | Don Harvey |
Don Harvey didn't do much work and said he had a very easy time with the car.
At one time, Harvey he had an idle problem - the car just dying out - this was diagnosed by Ultimate Motor Works in Longwood, FL. They found a vacuum problem - a pinhole in the Turbo inlet hose.
Other than this one issue, Harvey just did oil, filter and plug changes. Once he changed the tranny oil. He also replaced the alternator once because he experienced a short. Arne Johnson of Lotus USA said that ground wire frayed and fried the alternator. Johnson gave him a completely new alternator and wire.
Harvey experienced the shifting problems (i.e., clutch catches and does not disengage) typical of the "red hose" problem, but he did not take action to fix the problem.
Harvey had one other issue, with the vacuum line at top of injection port - it is an L shaped hose, 3-4 inches long, that wraps around to front and connects to the top of the intake. It had popped off the fitting a few times, making for serious rough running.
Harvey sold the car to Steve Vandergrift in Florida.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| ~1998-10/2001 | ?-45420 | Stephen Vandergrift |
Vandergrift passed the car fairly regularly through Steve Smith, his mechanic in Florida. Vandergrift replaced the clutch line w/stainless to eliminate the "red hose" problem. He also refurbished the A/C.
He polished the wheels for extra curb appeal.
Vandergrift sold the car to me in October of 2001.
| Dates | Mileage | Owner |
| 10/2001-present | 45,420-present | Tom Humphrey |