LCR Forum

I have been chatting with the owner of this car (1970) and he wonders whether it's still around?

'My '65 Lotus Cortina reg. plate was CND7C. When I had it, it was finished in metallic Malibu Gold, which was claimed as an original colour and that was the paint code on the chassis plate and in the original green folding log book. I think there was white paint underneath the gold though, so how the colour change was made is a complete mystery. I bought it for £425 in 1970 from a garage in Langley Vale, near Epsom'.

'I sold it in 1978 to a man in Guildford for £250. He kept it for several years, then started to restore it, had it painted white and green and lost interest I think. About 20 years later I had a call from a chap in Southampton who had bought it from him and was planning to restore it from the ground up. I wrote up all the history I knew about the car and sent that and a box of tappet shims. About three years later I phoned him to see if he had made any progress. Sadly he said that he had split up with his girlfriend, had made no progress and that the car was just stored in a shed'.

So if you are able to find out any more about the car I would be interested.

Hi Dave C,
The car is still with that owner in Southampton and the promise of it being fully restored one day along with a few other toys of his?
Andy M

Ron Bryan was the owner of this car in 1970 and he has sent me this pic of him with it in Banstead. (He apologised for the hair). I added that we all looked like that in those days--frightening!
The colour concurs with the chassis plate?

That bike is fab!

I was once told a tale of a Gold mk1 Lotus that was supposedly originally owned by Terrys Chocolate and was specially ordered that colour (Terrys All Gold). Is this that car or was the tale just a load of old bulls**t?
Tommy

Tommy, I asked Ron and this was his reply:
Hi Dave

Thanks for the link. I've been browsing around the site and there is some interesting stuff there.

I can neither confirm or deny the Terrys All Gold story. We need sight of the original green log book, which I gave to the next owner. It had been superceded by then, but I passed it on anyway as it showed the car's history. The only thing I can remember from the log book was that the previous owner to me was Mike Finch, the son of the proprietor of Langley Vale Garage. He crashed it on the Guildford by-pass and I bought it after it was repaired. There were a couple of owners before Mike.

Maybe if AndyM is still in contact with the current owner in Southampton, he could ask him to disclose the original owner in the log book.

Regards

Ron

I was in contact in an old boy in the USA a few year back. I can't remember his name but I'm sure he was Rev so and so.

Anyway he also owned a Gold painted MK1 many moons ago and swears it had always been that colour. If I remember rightly is was also RHD.

I'm sure it wasn't this car , but i seems there were a few gold ones around.

Wasn't there a story about Colin Chapman or his wife having a gold one - but was it a MK11?

ND are letters for a Manchester registration and if the car was new to Terrys Chocolate would it not have a Yorkshire registration (Terrys of York), so maybe the tale was bull after all.
Tommy

It might have been Cadbury's - or was that CDM ?

There is a guy here in Sweden that says he have owned a LC in the mid 70´s that he says was silver. He owned it for just a couple of days and he is color blind. He once said to me he had a Granada GHIA in silver but it was gold when he showed it to me, I was interested in buying a silver one, that was when I learned he is color blind. The Cortina was imported from UK by a friend of him a year or so earlier.
I have never followed up this, maybe it is time to do so.

this is my first time on this site,and the tale of cnd 7c made me chuckle.i bought cnd in 1990 at 1 o clock in the morning from a well to do gent,importer of fine wines,from hindhead in surrey.it was and still is white but inside the car malabu gold can be clearly seen.a sweet manafacturor w h mills and son,longsight manchester ordered the car for the md"s wife.i believe manchester garages supplied it and took the car back a year or so later.the second owner i spoke to said he bought it because of its unusal colour and that the car had been to ian walker racing for rear suspension mods and engine upgrade.7th owner i visited at his home and fowarded the photos you see.ive the green logbook,origional chassis plate paint code CG,loads of old mot"S,5 page letter from ron bryan reliving his happy and sad times with cnd. yes ime the one thats gonna restore her,i did split with the other half at the time,and its still sat in the shed like many other L/C. i have a photo copy of a page from a diary from the factory that shows that on 2nd of april 1965 a metallic gold lotus mk1 chassis no 59072 left the factory on a silcot and collins transporter!!! dave mudd from bournemoth turned up in his mk1 to our escort meet.1965 car a bracket,i said to him i bet your chassis number is close to mine,we looked at the chassis num then looked at each other in dissbelief,ONE digit apart been busy with my escort, kryten posted a pic at the nec on the board of it,seems the older you get the less time you seem to have, still plan to restore the old girl one day every car tells a story this is part of CND 7C.cheers kev

Hi Kev,
Welcome to the site. Nice to hear your still alive and kicking!
Andy M

Hi Kev

What state is CND in, is it in need of a total restro ie basket case or something minor? can you post up some pics?

Regards
Kev Also

Slightly off topic, but a gold mk2 LC believed to of been used by Colin Chapman was still going strong and looking very nice in the U.S. I don't think the owner was on here but I was sent some pics a couple of years ago from a member of the Golden gate lotus club.

kevflight wrote:Hi Kev

What state is CND in, is it in need of a total restro ie basket case or something minor? can you post up some pics?

Regards
Kev Also

hi kev ,cnd is very presentable if re assembled,its had all those repairs,strut tops outriggers,arches but i decided to collect every panel i could get cause i want it as new when i start it.the only panel ime missing is an inner wheel tub,cant remember wot side now.its buried at the mo,when i get some pics i wll post them. cheers kev