Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am sorry to hear of J. Geil's passing yesterday. As well as music, fine automobiles ran in his blood. I remember him arriving in his Elan at Don Tingle's shop in the late 70's to buy parts. Financial success with the J. Geils band saw him quickly move to vintage Ferraris. He was regular at the Wednesday lunch with the old boys, this group has a shared interest in pre-Elan Lotus cars. He started the band while he was still a mechanical engineering student and always seemed to appreciate fine mechanical details.

I am sorry to hear of his passing at age 71 also. Too bad he didn't have a much longer life.
I had no idea that he was an Elan owner who stopped at Tingle's, or a Ferrari owner.
It's interesting that he was a mechanical engineering student. Engineers were considered nerds when I was
engineering student.

Indeed - very sad. The Wednesday lunch was crowded today (including pissant!).

I don't get to the lunch often, but the last time I saw him there he mentioned the firing order of V12 Ferraris vs. Lamborghinis and the merits of the resulting sound (Ferraris being judged superior). Way outta my league!

Nice, regular guy.

RIP


(Scott Legato / Getty Images)

All together now... dah da da dah dah da,...... RIP

Whenever I hear the name J Geils, I think of the engine or at least the head that Dave Tabor of Comptune fame did for his Lotus Elite.

This was probably early 1990s and I was actively racing my Lotus Eleven, and actually was building a late firepump block into an FWE, so I listened and gleaned as much as I could of what Dave was telling me and it manifested that knowledge in my home built FWE that is still in the car, although I don't choose to race it today.

Dave Tabor left us many years ago. His son kept the business going for a few years, but alas, he did not have the skills of his father.

Roger

Sad to here the news.
A tenuous link - I saw the J Geils band support the Stones at Roundhay Park in Leeds in 1982.
And my transport to the venue was my Sprint, purchased a few months previously!
Richard

pharriso wrote:All together now... dah da da dah dah da,...... RIP

Actually the 1980's songs that earned so much money for the J. Geils band were also the source of friction within the group. J himself was a very serious student of the blues and wanted the band to stay in that genre, although I doubt he reused any residual payments for the rock and roll stuff.

The last time I saw J at the Wednesday lunch we was wearing a vey nice Hesketh Racing jacket that the took in trade for a J. Geils Band tee shirt from Le Patron, Lord Hesketh during a European tour. J was very gleeful in thinking he got the better half of the swap. He also told a hilarious story about running a recent tour event in Italy in one of his Ferraris. He and his co-driver observed a car with J. Geils Band bumper stickers, full of kids, passing in the opposite direction. They spun the Ferrari around in pursuit thinking that the kids in the other car would be dumbfounded to be caught up be the real J Geils. After a short bit of pursuit both J and the co-driver decided that the kids would never believe that the two old guys with grey hair in the Ferrari were in fact J Geils and another band member. They gave up the pursuit and rejoined the tour event.

Great story Russ, thanks for sharing!