[Jeff Andrews]

Some of you may have seen my other post about considering a Caterham 7 (Lotus Super 7) as a project car. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=236941&page=1
Anyway, I went down to the local Caterham dealer today to talk with the owner for a bit about them. Well, he was really busy because I showed up at 11:30 and he was going to close in 30 mins. I spoke with him breifly and said "I realize you are short on time today so I will come back next Saturday and check it out".
At this point he tells me that he and a few of his buddies are going to the track after the shop closes. Then he invites me along. Being the polite gentleman that I am I accepted the invitation

Well, we get to the track and unload the cars. We had a Caterham 7, a Westfield, and best of all a 1967 Lotus F4.
Caterham

Westfield

F4

Well, all the cars we cool looking and the drivers/owners were very friendly. I chatted with them for a bit and helped out where I could. After a while the owner of the Caterham dealer offers me a ride in his 7. Once again being polite I accept the offer.

All I can say is WOW! That car handled beautifully. The aceleration was absolutely amazing. The entire time we were driving all I could smell was brakes.

I got a bit exhausted trying to hold onto something around the turns. That is how to sell a car ladies and gentlemen. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
Overall, this car looks awsome and performs even better. It has everything you could want in a project car. Looks, handling, and enough power to throw my helmet back against the rollbar when shifting into 3rd and sometimes 4th.

Now I must have one. Only problem is coming up with funds. Fortunatly my dad wants me to get the car as bad as I want to so he is going to help. We are selling his 74 Pontiac Grand Prix that has a 455 engine to help cover costs. The total with drivetrain will run about $40,000 but you can't put a price on happiness, can you?

On a side note, the owner of the dealer was super polite, friendly, and more than willing to answer my questions. BTW, his name is Jeff too.

http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif




[Modified by Jeff Andrews, 9:39 PM 2-9-2002]

 

[some9one]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

the seven is one of the purest form of driving on this planet - so i have heard. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Jeff Andrews]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (some9one)

I can tell you from a 1st person perspective. These cars are awsome! Some of the best fun you can have with your clothes on.

 

[Gary C]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

40 g's

sorry but i'd rather honestly build me a megabusa or something along those lines, with my own hands, and watch it take shape in my garage under my tender loving care for a fraction of the cost and then toss the remaining fundiage into tuning that sucker into one hell of a screamer.

but hey, if you got the funds and HAVE to have a caterham 7, go for it, and have fun with it. what ever floats your boat. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Jeff Andrews]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Gary C)

Well, this IS a kit car. I will persoanlly build and assemble it. It is a good choice because it is fun, fun, fun, and fast too. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Gary C]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

i know it's a "kit" i just totally worded that wrong sorry. it's been too long of a week with too few of days and too many bad things rolled into the past few months sorry.
i guess what i was trying to say was do you feel the need to spend that much for a kit using the original tooling and not a look-a-like if you will? if i'm not mistaken they are the "authorized" ones who got the original stuff from the original super 7's correct? please correct me if i'm wrong.
my knowledge lays in muscle cars/hot rods/ and kits like the cobra 427, etc. i don't have much/any knowledge really in the 7's and 7 look a like.. like the westfailia kits and such.

 

[Jeff Andrews]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Gary C)

There are tons of look-a-like Caterhams out there but only Caterham is licensed to reproduce the cars exactly.
I know there is a significant price difference between the copy-cat cars and the real Lotus, but I think it is money well spent. I would prefer having the real deal any day over an imitation. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

 

[Cooper]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

Great cars, just like in the beginning of The Prisoner. I check Lotus 7 prices in Hemmings every now and then.

 

[pig4bill]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

Holy smoke, 40 grand. The real Super 7's were dirt cheap, because there was almost nothing to them. I think they weighed 1200 pounds (or was it 900). When you opened the trunk lid you saw some spindly tubing that was the rear of the car and the ground. There was no trunk, just a lid! I took an all-day driving school years ago at Phoenix International, and there was a Super 7 in my group. I bs'ed with the guy all day and got to see everything up close, including his launches. He had road racing slicks on it, and it launched as if from a giant slingshot.

 

[Enthusiast]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (pig4bill)

The BlackBird or the R500 are what I would get if I were going to get a Catherham.
I think the BlackBird is the superlight version, and the R500 is the one with the superbike Honda engine in it that can out acclerate everything short of a Viper GTS.

 

[vapor]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Enthusiast)

i had an oppertunity to take a race prepared lotus super 7 for a couple laps around Lime Rock. Its hard to imagine a better handling car. plus they look gorgeous.

 

[AKADriver]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

...droool...
Someday I want to build my own Lotus-Valiant out of a Westfield. That's a 182hp, 2.8L Chrysler inline six...

 

[Chris V]

Re: Holy Crap! The Caterham 7 is awsome! (Jeff Andrews)

quote:[HR][/HR]There are tons of look-a-like Caterhams out there but only Caterham is licensed to reproduce the cars exactly.
I know there is a significant price difference between the copy-cat cars and the real Lotus, but I think it is money well spent. I would prefer having the real deal any day over an imitation. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif [HR][/HR]​

Only the name is the same as the originals, and even then, it's slightly different.
I can understand wanting a "real one", but the Caterham is still technically a replica, even if it's built by the people who supplied the original chassis. Much like the curent A.C. Cobra is still a replica, even though its being sold by the compnay that originally built the basic shells and chassis for the Shelby Cobra. Spending and extra 20+ grand just to get a name seems financially silly, considering that you want the car for the way it works. Badge snobbery seems so out of place with this type of car (which was really designed to combat badge snobbery...). the chassis is differnt than the original 7s, as is the suspension and drivetrain. You could spend less and get a real Lotus Seven...
Here's an excerpt from a member of the Seven Group:
"For some of us, a Seven is more a spirit, an attitude, rather than a historical relic with certificates of authenticity. It's the Prisoner refusing the bureaucracy. It's us refusing the "sanitized plastic cocoons" that clog our roads nowadays. It's what brings us the sympathy of hard-core bikers who share the enjoyment of being exposed to the elements, to the noise and to the gravel, in exchange of top level acceleration and handling.
A Seven, it's that bit of rebellion against the obsession of comfort and security that chokes individuals and corners them in some sad resignation before the apparently ineluctable and boring order of things. Resistance isn't futile: the sight of a Seven will bring a spark of life in the eye of the most extinct commuter sitting in his comfy chair, drinking some fade bottled capuccino from the local coffee chain, listing to insipid radio advertisements and surrounded by thousands of other motionless vehicles.
The Seven is what brings cheers from kids of all ages and vituperation from others, waving their cane as a threat to life that is passing by before their very eyes.
It smells gasoline and tire dust, it's noisy and it's fast. It is NOT a symbol of wealth and shouldn't ever be so. That's why people come to us with happy faces whereas they ignore Ferraris and Porsches.
The "Chapman concept", according to which you drive to the track, set the day's lap record and drive back home with the same vehicle, can't be reduced to some depressing authorship or branding equity issue. If you read the book of Ron Champion, and particularily his introduction, you'll realize that Chapman was just one amongst the dozen of boys who came up with more or less the same superb idea of lightweight, strikingly simple car with extremely modest budget. He was simply a notch more advanced with that concept, and with luck helping he got the recognition we know. I bet that if he was still around, he wouldn't reply to "copies" of the Seven with judicial attacks. He would make a better car instead.
I don't give a damn wether my Seven comes from Caterham, Fraser, Birkin or even myself (following the book of Ron Champion). Anyway "Caterham" doesn't sound anything like "Lotus", whatever their legal claims are, and afterall that's the combination of ultimate performance on track and on the road that interests me.
I don't dismiss the intellectual investment Caterham engineers have put into improving the Seven over the years. I just think others too have worked hard, their finished product is outstanding as well, if not better on some aspects, and they are offered at a better price. I totally agree with Karsten on both pricing and image issues when he says:
I'm sure Caterham could compete with other cars on both pricing and performance without needing to invoke judicial power. However, to do so they need to get organized. It goes for making a decent assembly guide (instead of the current bunch of typographed sheets), to deliver the right parts in reasonable time, as well as to organize their factory and stocks so that they can lower the prices (the retail price of others is the proof that it isn't a bunch of welded tubes, bushes and some aluminium skin that costs so much).
I'm sorry but I still can't see $37K in what I received from them, either service, documentation or hardware.

Pierre
Pierre Demartines, Ph.D