Kitcat

Worth considering. One of THE automotive "happenings" every year. It's just a long day trip from Cincy, so it's feasible. Doesn't it ALWAYS rain?

Build it and I will come (Or at least try to). The Montana/Yellowstone site is wonderful but my memory is that there are lots of wide open spaces and straight roads out there. We drove Going to The Sun road in Glacier Nat'l Park and it's full of twisties but also full of mobile homes, bicycles etc.. Scenic, breathtaking, but not much fun to drive. Its also abt 1800 miles from Cincy-in a Seven? Yikes! It's about 1100 miles from Cincy to Denver. Its hard for us Eastern types to get a feel for just how big the west is. Keith has kindly offered to run an auto-x or track day. But it is about another 4-5 hours from Denver to Grand Junction. Ditto Bozeman up to Glacier National Park. The farthest I have ever driven my Seven in a day was 380 miles and I felt like a hero. To get out west, I will have to double that daily amount, to stay within the time I may have available. And the car will have to demonstrate a level of reliability heretofore never experienced. So I vote for the closest site to Cincy (the Ozarks) but will be happy to give the other places a shot. Perhaps a Seven "convoy" could be arranged from the east and we could share spare parts, repair manuals, tow ropes etc.. Maybe even a tow vehicle with an empty trailer??? Or a tow vehicle with a seven that could be swapped out for a broken down car and driven to the nearest repair shop?

I had a Fiat 128 (wh/I think the X-19 was based on). Bought it new in 1970 as my daily driver. Toss-up on reliability vs. the Seven. Since my Seven is 10 years old and hadn't been used much in recent years, many of the problems have been age & disuse related. So maybe the Seven is more reliable. On the other hand the Seven is mostly a garage queen-maybe 6K miles a year of driving (tho always spirited or track days), whereas the Fiat was on the road more (when it wasn't in the repair shop) so the Seven has had less opportunity to break or for things to fall off. Honorable mention in the unreliability sweepstakes shd be given to the Austin-Healey Sprite I bought new in '67. Any distance farther than a large parking lot & I was looking for trouble .

My 3 categories: Stuff I fixed last week Stuff I fixed 3 months ago Stuff I fixed 6 months ago My 2 supplemental categories: Stuff that has never broken on any other car Stuff I didnt know existed.

My favorite Seven simile is: The car corners like it's on rails. (Am I missing something here?)

Why upgrade? You have a car now that can be reliably driven and enjoyed. It also has an astonishing performance envelop. Finally, it looks fantastic. If after a year you are tired of driving the fastest, coolest vehicle in your area, then upgrade.(IMHO).

Feff: Don't be shy, feel free to list your organization's trackday events at the "Roadracing" section of this forum.

May 2008 bring much joy in blattting and may Southwind get his car, EdburgE constuct his kit cat, Athens7 master his engine woes and Slingshot finalize construction of his monster!

P.S. If you decide to tell the Yahoos you are dealing w/to shove off, I notice that wirewheels.com has a '84 Birkin listed for $12.9K ("runs well, needs cosmetics") as well as a Zetec engined Superperformance Seven for $21K. Or, perhaps if the current seller/broker knew you had some immediate options and were about to take your money and go home, they'd find it in their interest to honor their promises?

If the deal falls through, the broker is on the hook for the difference between the value of what you agreed to pay and the actual cost to you of a comparable replacement. Example: Texas car is offered at $10K & you agree to that, then Texas owner backs out. You find a similar car (same model, condition etc.) and it costs $15K, which you pay. Broker owes the difference of $5K. It makes no difference if he had actual authority to sell the car on the terms he presented or not-since he represented to you that he had that authority. If he in fact had the authority, he then has a claim against the owner who developed cold feet. But it seems to me your claim is against the broker. Like you, I would rather have a solution than a lawsuit. But these guys are really pushing the limit. If you got the deal of the century, it probably makes sense to think about an attorney. If all you did was save a few thousand dollars, maybe not.

Where to file is interesting legal issue. Mite be possible to file in Ohio but safest (tho less convenient) to file in Texas. Hopefully a "friendly" letter explaining the facts of life and signed by an attorney would do the trick. I would be happy to review the documents or e-mails relative to this and offer my opinion on whether a deal was made, so you can decide whether its worth contacting an attorney. I will be leaving for 5 day vacation and will not be near a computer as much so any opinion I offer may be delayed. Mike

A deal is a deal. If you have an agreed-on price and you have paid that price it's over-he owes you a car. If there were weasel clauses that give the seller, or you, the right to back out, then you may be screwed. My hunch is that there have been tons of e-mails back and forth and they may or may not establish there was a deal. I had a somewhat similar situation on the car I almost bought just prior to the one I ended up with: The seller gave a fixed price, OBO. I offered what he asked & thought a deal was consummated. Then another bidder got involved and the price started escalating (It never occurred to me that OBO-or-best-offer) meant the price could go up. So I offered more than the other person's bid,. Then new conditions were added. I had to agree to transport the car home from Florida via trailer, I had to do it all by a certain date, I had to agree to haul a bunch of spare parts that I didn't need with me, etc., etc. It just kept getting worse and I felt like I was being ripped off. So I bowed out after the agreed-upon price again increased. I have to say I am very happy with the car I ended up with (a week later). The seller was very accomodating, no hassles, no games. As far as I can tell, the seller has interpreted your willingness to accommodate his idiosyncrasies as a sign of weakness. If you have a deal, and it is a good one for you, then its time to lawyer up. You need a Texas lawyer, who lives where the seller does. Call the local bar association for a referral. It should only take a friendly letter to wise the seller up. As an attorney, when I evaluate what cases to take, I always look for something where the facts are compelling. Your facts make me want strangle the seller. That can only help if it goes to court. The alternative is to take your money and walk away. There is a nice Birkin listed on elisetalk.com and I think the Vauxhall-engined Caterham listed in the for-sale section on this very site is a good deal.

Mine has gotten progressively less odoriferous as the days have passed. Keeping it in the open where the leather can "breath" seems to help-it's like a fine french wine!

Put it in Hemmings. Also list it at elisetalk.com, a gathering place for mostly Lotus Elise/Exide owners. But there are a smattering of Sevens owners there and Caterhams occasionally pop up on their Lotus cars for-sale section. Your price is fair, tho maybe $27-28K is more realistic. Winter can be a hard time to sell a Seven. Last year a 3 year old Superlight with 220 hp, carbon fiber everything, 11K miles sold for $32K on the Elise Talk site. I wish I had bought it! I watched prices on these for years before taking the plunge. The prices for nice Kent-engined Cats seems to be $22-25K, for Zetec versions add about $3-10K depending on power, options, condition, mileage, usage, etc. Of course, truly special cars have higher value. Yours is a bit of an odd-ball in the states because of the engine type but is clearly comparable to the Zetec cars.

From a purely theoretical perspective, how much $ for an engine like yours and are they available from Cosworth in Torrance, CA? Can the T9 transmission handle 240 hp? Your car is carbureted, not turbo-charged?

First hole (smallest size).

Kudos to the designer!

I run 20-50 weight oil in my Crossflow. Should I change to a lighter weight oil in the winter? I try to "exercise" my Seven 1-2x a month if the roads are dry & salt-free. With the top up and the heater blasting, outside temperatures are irrelevant. But, am I risking damage to the engine by starting it in such cold conditions when the already thick oil might take a long time to warm up and do its job? If lighter oil is warranted, what weight?

All three boys (ages 18-31) were thrilled that Santa brought them each a Tony V "Seven" t-shirt. Hopefully that means I will get mine back sometime soon!

I switched from 3 point to 5 point belts a few months ago and the new belts have made the car much more enjoyable. Instead of feeling precariously attached to the car, I now feel glued to it. So I am much more in tune to what it is doing and can take full advantage of its responsiveness. Sure. it is a bit of a hassle to belt up every time but this is offset by the opportunity for another Walter Mitty experience (Here's the intrepid Le Mans racer now, belting in for what promises to be a historic drive....).

Bidding ended at $22.8K, no sale.

Since it was nearly 60 degrees in Cincy yesterday, I decided to forgo X-mas shopping one more day and take the Seven out. It was great to see all the smiles again from adults and the waving and pointing from the under-12 crowd. What a car!

Thanks, Mike. I will order some once the holiday hub-bub dies down. Mike

Are the watches being sent directly to those of us who ordered them, or to some central person (Mazda?) who is then going to forward them to the individuals ?

Steve: "Excellence" magazine has a nice section on used Porsche prices each month. Take a look. This month's magazine (Feb '08) features 89-98 911's, some of which fall in your price range. Mike