Kitcat

Is it a Lotus or a Caterham? If a Lotus, the price is probably right. It does have a Lotus mfg plate, not Caterham, per the engine bay pix. The X-flow doesn't look like an X-flow, tho I am obviously no expert.

Too much money for what ya get (IMHO).

Yes, and what's more: "It looks silver". Kinda hard to know what to make of this. Looks pretty awesome in some ways: pristine condition, lots of CF, great power. But, the rollover bars wld prbly not pass the laugh test at most track events. Interesting side mirrors w/integrated turn signals, tho not really true to the elemental design of the car. Interesting/ugly headlights. For the right person, sure.

Lurkers/browsers: This car is not a deal.

Lurker/browser alert: This car is a deal.

I think you can make a perfectly rational argument for trading out your "fun" car every 12 months or so for something else that is fantastic. Why limit yourself to a se7en when there are so many other tantalizing cars begging to be sampled? So the Birkin/MG/Morgan route makes total sense to me.

Ya got it tough there John, that's fer sure! I, however, am enjoying a quiet Friday at work, listening to clients complain non-stop. The calls will peak late this afternoon, as they do every Friday afternoon, abt the time you will be headed up your own peak, Mt Rainier. Yes, ya got my sympathy out there suffering away like you are:).

Beautiful cars, scenery, roads, and all experienced while touring in a se7en, sounds like the perfect trip!

Congratulations SDaddy on a great car at a great price! It is nice to see the car go to a fellow forum member.

I think Southwind's 7 was titled in Ohio. And, if so, you can get a temporary tag from Ohio and drive it home.

Terry-But we are supposed to LOSE money on cars (I know I always do:)).

Winning bid $22K, per E-Bay.

Yes, that's now my car and I was well aware of its 'provenance' when I purchased it. It is quite the track beast. I did a trackday @Waterford Hills 2 days ago and it was me, a Panoz and a track prepped C6 'Vette neck and neck all day in the advanced group, no one else was close. Waterford really favors my car as it's only 1.4 miles long, really doesn't have a straight, is all wiggle waggles, and I bet I never topped 100 mph.

Ahhh, Beachman either built, or refreshed, my current Caterham.

Yes, CR500 is a great tire, tho at $450 each, hardly affordable.

Wow, beautiful car! Cant wait to see the pix of build progress and final product. And, what a pristine build environment, that will help when those little fasteners go flying.

Steve: I think the video demonstrates why you MUST get the BDA, the sooner the better:).

Chris T at Sevens and Elans in MA shd know. Grease the wheels by starting your "upgraditis" during the call:).

I paid $1K for my Duratec w/9K miles 3 months ago. Plus $2.5K to my mechanic to install. Still, pretty cheap power.

My Jenvey ITB's were added to the junkyard motor, but the Haltech ECU was just plugged back in w/prev motor's tune.

Great job Croc! How does anyone watch that video and not want one of these cars? Or, for those who do have one, how do they not head to the nearest track? The video really captures the excitement one of these cars provides in the proper environment. Especially sharp eye getting my one near big-off:)! I wasn't really waiving to my fans, tho I wld if I had any, I was waiving to corner worker who threw the checkered flag. So natually I lost concentration, forgot to drive, put 2 wheels off and showered the poor driver in the car behind me with dirt, stones, etc. I am sure Tom will appreciate the soundtrack as it adds an important dimension:).

I suspect sliders/replacement seats from Cat bolt right in, but just a guess. When I owned my 1st Cat w/standard adjustable cloth bucket seats I drove a bench seat Cat. It was very uncomfortable. I seemed to sit way too high, there was no headrest so whiplash injury was possible. Seat was not adjustable fore/aft. Basically I hated everything abt it and it wld have been the first thing I changed if I had bought it. The standard Cat cloth seat, w/an aftermarket lumbar pillow was one of the most comfortable automobile seats I have ever used.

I think Twobone is way low on his Caterham estimates. I sold my '97 Cat X-Flow here last year w/30K+ miles, for $23.5K and Zetec engined and Duratec engined Cats are typically at least $5K more. Birkins seem to be abt $5K less than a similar Cat(not a knock on the Birkin, it starts out much more affordable, so holds its value at least as well as a Cat, IMO). A nice Zetec Cat sold for $30K here in the last year. So much depends on condition, extras, options, etc. For example, Skip's Miata engined Cat is so perfect/wonderful that it wld bring top dollar if it sold.

Misc thots: I too have a '03 Zetec Caterham w/motor via Ben at Cat USA. I will get it on a dyno sometime soon and see what's what. Also will ck in w/TurboTom for one of his special Zetec tunes. As posted elsewhere here, my theoretically superior Duratec (in my Birkin) was just measured at 165 hp, 150 lbs torque. So 18 less hp, 7 more lbs torque than your Zetec. Of course, chassis dynos differ. If nothing else, the results suggest a Zetec in optimal tune makes very respectable power. Redline/fuel cut-off is 7000 rpm's on both engines. My Duratec was straight from the junkyard, no tune yet. So it will probably yield a bit more. It goes back in this fall for a tune so we'll see what that does. It "feels" more powerful the my Zetec tho, but who knows?

Thx guys; I will modify my BFH plan and be a bit more judicious w/the tapping, and more generous w/the lubing.