Family trying to restore Elan for father with cancer

[Dave240]

I saw this on Jalopnik this morning. Two sons are trying to raise money to complete the restoration of their father's Lotus Elan. He has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkins Lymphoma.

If you would like to donate, click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fund-a-family-s-dream

I'm going to try to contact the sons to direct them to the site, as I'm sure the expertise and knowledge on this forum will come in handy. Some people may have the parts they are after too.

More details:

Overview

Our father, Robert, is currently battling stage III Hodgkins Lymphoma, and has been for several months. While the family always tries to provide him with our support and love during these difficult and uncertain times, we are hopeful that the generosity of others will allow us to bring to reality a dream our father has had for years.

In the early 1980s, Robert purchased a 1965 Lotus Elan as a project and, at that time, spent several months restoring it in preparation for the vehicle to be driven on the street. Unfortunately, near the end of the restoration, the challenges of being a father, husband, and student prevented him from finishing the car. What began as a small hiatus stretched into a two decade long break.

While Robert's plan was always to finish the car, various aspects of life constantly prevented it from happening. And when his time was free, he was always eager to help others with their projects, whether it was teaching me rust-repair and bodywork on my first car, an '89 Volkswagen Golf GTI, helping my brother rebuild countless engines, or even lending a hand to my friends when they had automotive troubles.

Just when it started to look like time and resources would allow our father to resume work on the Lotus and see his dream become a reality, tragedy struck. The next two years would prove to be the toughest chapter for him and our family. In early 2012 he was laid-off from his job working in the automotive industry which delivered a damaging blow to our family and our houseold. Then in the late summer of 2013, Robert was diagnosed with stage III Hodgkins Lymphoma. He has undergone an excruciating number of tests and procedures and completed 8/10 rounds of chemotherapy. Just as we thought we could look to the future, the cancer stopped responding to the final rounds of chemotherapy treatment and currently we sit in limbo waiting for more biopsies, test results, and countless procedures.

Our Plan

What we hope to do is generate enough funds to start buying parts to complete this project. My brother and I are both full-time students and simply don't have the income required to purchase all of the parts needed to get the Lotus back on the road. We are, however, armed with the man power, know how, and determination to complete our fathers project. This car means the world to him and we want to be able to give this project an honest shot so he can finally drive the car of his dreams.

Once progress is underway, we plan on updating this page with entertaining and fun-to-watch videos of our progress. Through the camera, we will bring you into our garage and our family so you, as a contributor, can see your money hard at work, restoring our fathers vintage racer.

The Impact

The impact of this campaign is two-fold. It will give our family and friends the opportunity to relieve stress, bond, and spend more time together. Also, if any funds remain after the completion of this project, they will be put towards our fathers medical bills.

[trw99]

Nice idea, I wish them luck in achieving all their dreams.

Tim

[Elan45]

I wonder where in the world they are located. I'm sure some of this group's experts would be glad to help.

Roger

[Dave240]

I wonder where in the world they are located. I'm sure some of this group's experts would be glad to help.

Roger

According to their profile, they are from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

[xcoldricex]

Hello, I'm new here but will probably be referencing these forums a lot to help rebuild a Cosworth powered Lotus Elan. For now, I hope you can help with this cause!

Six years ago, I first became involved in the car enthusiast community not even knowing how to change my own oil. I never thought I would meet some of my best friends through the shared passion of cars. I first met Justin and his father when I reached out to a local car forum to help me fix something on my own car that I had botched in my novice hands. Justin offered to help and his father, Rob, lent us his tools and his knowledge. Since that day, I have spent many days and nights in their garage and Rob was always willing to share his knowledge while we worked on our various projects. He has also influenced my tastes in cars - I started with the modern tuner cars - now all I lust for is vintage roadsters! (so for now, I am satiating my lust with a Miata until I can afford a proper roadster!)

Rob's own project, a 1965 Lotus Elan, has always sat proudly in the garage as we worked - but life and its priorities have prevented it's completion. He is now battling advanced stage lymphoma which has unfortunately been refractory to initial chemotherapy. His friends and family would like to bring the Elan out from its dust covers and bring it back to the race track. Working on the Elan would provide an opportunity for the family and friends to come together and support each other through this difficult time and would fulfill one of Rob's own dreams.

Help fund a man's dream, who isbattling lymphoma: the restoration of a Lotus Elan

and I was able to get some support from Jalopnik:
http://jalopnik.com/lets-help-a-man-wit ... 1489948481

He has a complete excel sheet detailing every part he has and needs - I haven't reviewed it all myself, but I imagine it being over $15k? You guys probably have a better idea on the costs of restoration. The indiegogo goal was set low because we didn't expect so much support! I hope this community will help me source some of the harder to find parts and help with the knowledge and history I'll need to properly help rebuild i.

I've donated to this great forum, hopefully I will get to know the lotus community over the course of this build and many years to come. Thanks in advance, I look forward to participating in this forum.

[xcoldricex]

I wonder where in the world they are located. I'm sure some of this group's experts would be glad to help.

Roger

According to their profile, they are from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Hello! I'm Derrick, a friend of the family. I actually just submitted a forum post about this, glad to see someone beat me to it.

I joined and donated to the forum hoping to be able to use the resources on the forum to help rebuild the Lotus and acquire the proper parts - he has a complete excel sheet detailing his inventory of parts and the parts he needs so it will be easier for us to get things going. We are in Ann Arbor, MI - any one in the community local?