I’ve been fairly fortunate in that I have been able to part with various cars in my life, with a minimal amount of pain and sense of loss. I remember when I sold my Lotus 51, my grandfather commented, “How can you sell it after spending all those countless hours restoring it?” I really didn’t have a good answer for him. I had bought it as a 30-year-old derelict hulk with a couple of boxes of loose parts and over the course of a year, turned it into a concours winner. And yet, when someone came along with a fistful of money, how could I refuse? The Lotus moved on to a new home and I moved on to my next project car.
