Fort Worth, Texas - Wheels for Wellness

[supraholic]

I participated in a charity car show this weekend in downtown Fort Worth, Texas along with a couple of our local Celica Supra owners. My friend took a few photos if anyone is curious.

Wheels for Wellness - September 16, 2023

My buddy Nick has a blue 83 Supra (which has the same exterior door handles) and had pre-registered to bring it but was unable to finish a repair in time. We'll try to do that at a future event. Still it was kinda fun pointing out to people at the show some of the common interior parts between the Excel and these 84-85 Supras.

[Hawaiis0]

Great photos. How was the interest in the exotic?

[supraholic]

I got a lot of questions about the Excel and it seemed that nobody knew what it was. But that's what was so fun about it. I've been entering car shows for 36 years with mostly Mustangs and Corvettes but its always the same old domestic muscle cars and hot rods. Nobody ever stops to ask me about my Corvette anymore (except people who own one) because everybody has seen it or at least seen one like it. I'm guilty myself, walking right by the rows and rows of Chevrolet Camaros without so much as a head turn. I'm quite sure I've seen every combination of options and colors ever offered on the first generation Camaro and then some. But when you take a car like the Lotus Excel that nobody has seen before, then most everybody stops to take a better look and a good percentage of them will ask a question or give a compliment.

[supraholic]

We have a little shop here that sells uniquely British goods imported from the UK. They hold a British car show every Fall and I took the Lotus.



A man came up to me very excited to see the Lotus. He said that he didn't know anything about the car show, that he'd just come to pick up a pizza at a nearby shop and spotted the Lotus. He explained that he grew up in England and that his father had bought a brand new Lotus Excel when he was young and that he'd practically grown up in it. He had fond memories of traveling all over England in that Lotus. He even showed me a picture of it on his phone. I was impressed because who has scans of old snapshots of their family cars from the 1990s on their phone - he must've really liked it a lot. I asked him about getting in and out of that back seat. He said he didn't remember it being a big deal, that he was just a kid and that it was probably just more important that his father had a cool car. He said his father kept it for eight years and traded it in on a Porsche. I've run into a couple of people so far who owned Eclats in the past, but first time I've met anyone here who owned an Excel (or technically whose family had one).

[MetBlue]

Small world.
Nice yo have such a unique talking point.
Tony

[Tanz]

Great pictures. A lot more modified cars than you see at UK car shows. That MGB looked nice. Certainly better than it left the factory!