It must have been a long time ago because C&SC was in Somerset House in Teddington, a horrible outpost only out-horribled by the constantly twilit Waldegrave Road office, which we also occupied for a bit before moving to our current, lovely Teddington Studios location.
I was visited by a man who was writing a book on Lotus. He didn't seem at all convinced of its appeal and even seemed surprised that I had heard of him.
That man was Peter Ross (pictured above in his Lotus Eleven at Le Mans in 1958 with his sister, plus Colin and Hazel Chapman).
There was no doubt that Peter knew his own mind and that he didn't suffer fools gladly, but there was also a deep-rooted humility and modesty that was thoroughly engaging.
As a result, we had a fantastic chat about his days working (gratis) with Colin Chapman, racing his way around Europe surviving on start money and his then-booming involvement in the Historic Lotus Register.
We co-operated on using some of the material from his masterwork in C&SC and helping to promote it in the process.
And Lotus - The Early Years is a remarkable book. Published by Coterie (who else?) and reviewed in the October 2004 issue of C&SC, it is the definitive inside line on the marque from its inception to 1954.