Arnie Johnson Tribute No. 35

From Robert Morey…

Few organizations are ever gifted with the likes of Arnold A. Johnson. It’s one thing for a company to have a driven professional at the helm pushing that company to new heights and generating dividends for investors, but persons in those situations are almost universally lacking any “connectedness” with the product beyond their paycheck. Not so with Arnie: he lived and breathed Lotus cars, sticking with the company and loving the cars through thick and mostly thin!

Having met him at several Lotus events and having him sponsor a few things for our “Lotus Drive to the Beach” event and his having paid me to do warranty work on behalf of Lotus on new car clients’ cars at my shop in Myrtle Beach, he even offered to put me through the Lotus tech school at the Lawrenceville, GA headquarters. It was at that location and at that wheels for my M100 (he was critical of Lotus for not putting them in right from the factory}, we sat in his office for some time talking about the history and future of Lotus meeting when I really got to see his enthusiasm. After touring the facility, sitting in the silver Bugatti EB110 and grabbing some Lotus logo hubcaps right out of some new
Esprit wheels for my M100 (he was critical of Lotus for not putting them in right from the factory), we sat in his office for some time talking about the history and future of Lotus cars, his feet up on the desk as he tilted back in his chair. That image is how I remember him “happy and enthusiastic.” Let’s hope for more like him!