Alaskossie

Panamericano, Rest assured, there is a bit of Shelby Cobra decor (a print of the 427 coupe) in the other bay. Alaskossie

Mike, Thanks! Here is looking the other direction in the Seven/'Mog Bay (Skip Cannon gave me the "Just Add Lightness" clock) The workbench is littered with my cornet and trumpet cases undergoing repairs...l. I'll send you photo of the other two garade bays, once I wash the dust off a couple of non-runners.

Mike, I appreciate your weight disparity. See attached. AlaskossieSeven and 'Mog in AK.pdfSeven and 'Mog in AK.pdfSeven and 'Mog in AK.pdfSeven and 'Mog in AK.pdfSeven and 'Mog in AK.pdf

Croc, Yes, Jude Lumba was the buyer, lives in Juneau. Ii have yet to meet him. I learned that he once came from Juneau to Anchorage and back by ferry and road, but he did not contact anyone in Anchorage, so we were not aware that he had visited. I'd love to meet him, but I rarely go to Juneau.

For the record, here are three of the four Caterhams in Alaska, gathered together at one spot (Anchorage) for the first time -- My silver S3, Peter Marshall's S3 from Fairbanks, and Jim O'Malley's SV.

@The Fuselage I envy you your "Seven-heaven" twisty Vermont roads (I went to college in New Hampshire, and fell in love with that corner of the country). I've been in Alaska since 1967, where the scenery is incomparable, but the paved roads are not tight enough (with few exceptions) to properly challenge a Seven. The speeds that make our paved roads interesting are a lot higher than one would sanely choose to travel in a Seven. i urge you to put off your "octogenarian resolution" to hand off the Seven to someone younger. I'm only a year behind you (I'll be 79 in January), and I'm not ready to lean back in the rocker and put my feet up... i

I'm finally getting caught up. Yes, that is me in the video -- I've never seen it before. It was recorded at the annual British Sports Car Club Alaska concourse on the Loussac Library lawn in Anchorage. The yellow Seven is NOT Croc's former car. It is an SV owned by Dr. Jim O'Malley in Anchorage. If Croc's former yellow Seven came to Alaska, it is undoubtedly the one owned by a fellow in Juneau whose name I will have to look up. (I have never seen this car in person or in photos). There are a total of four Caterham in Alaska, to the best of my knowledge: my silver S3, a red S3 in Fairbanks, Jim's yellow SV, and the apparently-yellow one in Juneau. Alaskaossie

You must know the classic description of an MG TC -- a coffin riding on four harps.....

@rdhunt1 -- the drilled and lightened aluminum car jack is from a Porsche 944. As it turned out (after all that work lightening it), it is only a few qounces lighter than the stock Caterham (Ford?) jack.....but the ounces make the pounds...

Thanks John C. and Skip for filling in photos of the details of my luggage rack, before I could jump to it. Most of the details are apparent from those photos. The rack is fabricated from aluminum tubing, with bends made on a hand-powered pipe bender, pop-riveted together for the most part, but welded by a professional shop at a few places. The basic frame is a square tubing "ladder" that fits over the spare-tire stub mounts, and is fastened at the top by nylon web straps to the rear roll-bar mounts with a clevis-ring arrangement. So the weight of the rack and contents is divided between the spare-tire stubs and the roll-bar attachment to the car's upper frame. Then the spare tire and the detached tire mount are re-fitted to the rear of the car. Not clear from the photos is the fold-down platform right behind the spare tire. This can be used in combination with the side luggage mounts, or they can be detached and only the central rear platform used. Both this central fold-down rack and the two side racks are fitted by slip-=joints (held by stainless cross-bolts and nylock nuts) to mounting points on the ladder frame. The ladder frame is drilled for lightness, BTW. All three luggage platforms have web straps retained in place by footmen's loops, and with quick-detach Delrin buckles. The three luggage containers are all heavy-duty nylon downhill ski boot bags that I found on the internet, and I had extra slip-on waterproof nylon covers made for them. The only disadvantage when the side pods are used, is that the right-hand side luggage bag (but not the right-hand frame) must be move when filling the gas tank. I couldn't get around that fact of life.... I'm posting a couple of additional photos.

Sorry I'm late to the party. Scannon let me know that this thread was running. I've been remiss in not following USA7s more closely of late -- too busy at work, I guess. Yes, i cut my spare tire carrier off about 2 inches from the body. My purpose was not to run without my spare (I like both the balanced look and the rear-impact protection of the spare tire), as well a certain measure of flat-tire insurance (though I run different width tires front and rear). My reason for cutting the tire bracket off, and then re-installing it, was to use it to support my custom rear luggage rack set-up. The stubs that are attached to the chassis support the self-designed rear luggage rack. I drilled holes in the fixed and separated parts of the spare tire carrier, and put stainless cross-bolts and nylock nuts through both parts. I got aluminum tubes to fit snugly inside both the stubs and the separated tire carrier, and lined up and drilled the holes through the two tubes that act as ferrules inside the stubs and the detached tire carrier. Seems to be a neat solution for me, and involve no brazing or other fabrication, just cutting and drilling. I cut the tire carrier from the chassis stubs with a pipe-cutter, for a neat cut. One feature I did not preserve is a rear license plate light -- too difficult to tie in with the detachable tire mount. But I could do a work-around if required, using the method in the photos posted earlier in this thread. I can take photos of my tire carrier, if my written description is hard to visualize. I can also send photos of my luggage-rack setup, which its more extensive and "integrated" than I've seen applied to other Sevens. With it, I was able to take a 6200-mile blat without using the passenger seat as an auxiliary luggage bin..

typos corrected...... Could you give some details on the custom gas tank? I assume it is not a fuel cell, but a larger-capacity aluminum tank? I have been mentally brainstorming way I could increase the capacity of my stock tank, but have not committed anything to metal yet. Tom Meacham Anchorage