Alaskossie

A Freudian slip in my last post above -- the really great Brit enthusiast magazine from the late 1950's was "Sports Car & Lotus Owner," not "Sports Cart & Lotus Owner" -- no, it was not about Morgans! I believe this magazine, when it was first published, was simply named "Sports Car." But after the Lotus Six and the early Lotus competition cars appeared, the name was quickly clanged to add "Lotus Owner," and it became, for a time, the one place where you could get all the latest Lotus news and road tests. All the "Lotus-specialist" garages advertised in this magazine, including the little racing shop and dealership at Caterham-on-the-Hill in Surrey. In its focus primarily on one make of car, SC&LO preceded such widely-circulated publications as Excellence and Bimmer and other single-make magazines by several decades.... too bad it didn't survive. Single issues of SC&LO are sometimes available from booksellers in UK (and I guess on eBay), and they make fascinating reading today -- a window into the sports car world of the late 1950's that no longer exists....

There are several Brooklands Books Seven magazine road test compilations. I think this is a current list: Lotus Seven 1957-1980 Lotus Seven Collection No. 1 Lotus Seven Gold Portfolio 1957-1973 Lotus & Caterham Gold Portfolio 1957-1989 Lotus Caterham Seven Gold Portfolio 1974-1995 In addition, here's an Osprey Classic Marques book that hasn't been mentioned: Lotus Seven and Caterham, by Andrew Morland In 1978-1980, before Brooklands started publishing its road test compilations, I was spending time in Washinghton, DC, and in the evenings I would go to the Library of Congress, get a stack pass on the pretext of doing "transportation research," and go deep in the stacks for 2 or 3 hours each evening to search out the volumes of the British Autocar magazine and Motor magazine, and review and copy Lotus Seven articles and tests. The best magazine was Sports Cart & Lotus Owner, from the late 1950's-early 1960's. The raw enthusiasm for new Lotus models was really infectious. I made Xerox copies of all of those articles, some of which have later appeared in the Brooklands books. Unfortunately the Xerox process at the time was not very good, and the copies are not the best. I've got them all in a ring binder somewhere....

Jeff Ball's dad Bobby Ball started his racing career racing stockers and midgets in Arizona, and he raced the Indy 500 twice, I believe. He later lost his life in an open-wheel racing accident in Phoenix. You're right, Jeff's 1970 Lotus Seven SS Twin Cam is one of only 13 ever built, and one of only two that made it to the US. In the photo, the giveaways are the drastically-lowered headlamps, the rectangular SS badge on the bonnet, and the nicely-bolstered bench seats. In the rear, you would have seen the rectangular "Britax trailer house lights" that Caterham still uses today, but recessed neatly into the fiberglass rear wing. Road & Track tested Jeff's Lotus T/C SS in the October 1970 issue (check out the tailored hippie shirt that Jeff is wearing as he crouches to enter the car with the hood up!!). After the test appeared in print, the US Customs wrote a letter that was reprinted in R&T, saying in essence, "Don't anybody else try to import a car like the way Mr. Johnson (Ball) did this one!" But they never came to take his car away. I met Jeff a decade and a half later through this very car. He posted a For Sale ad in the R&T classifieds, and the area code for his phone was my old home town of Loveland, Colorado. So on my next visit to my folks' home, I contacted Jeff in Loveland, and he gave me a ride in his SS. The exhaust pipe fell off during our drive, so we let it cool, and i held it outside the passenger side while we drove home. I wish Jeff had been able to keep that car! (Or alternatively, I wish I had been able to buy it from him!). I had no idea at the time that this car was the pinnacle of vintage Seven collecting. I'll never have a chance to make that mistake again.......

i don't think the Caterham headlamp brackets are "new." The cars have had that surprised, frog-eyed look ever since the EU headlamp height regs came into effect a number of years ago. I have a set of the lowered,single-post Caterham brackets to sell, as I am going with a cottage-industry bracket that has an auxiliary support bar to the front A-arm bolt, like the stock Caterham ones have; but the mounting boss for the lamp is much lower than stock.

For the USA7a archives, here is a series of six photos showing a quick and accurate way to solve the three-dimensional puzzle of locating the body-side opening for the exhaust header exit on a LSIS, as performed by old Caterham hand Nathan Down. The rule seems to be: measure twice (or more), cut once, enlarge incrementally.

Slngsht, I may have been discouraged and desperate, but not THAT discouraged and desperate! I view my move as only a detour -- on a smoother and more direct road -- to my ultimate goal. (But that is antithetical to the Seven driving experience, no?).

Pretty neat solution! However, on my car, that's right where my Brise dry-sump tank is located....

Yellowss7, The Duratec is a tight fit, and whether it fits or not without modifications to the footwells depends in part on whether a long-output shaft transmission (Caterham 6-speed) or short-shaft transmission (Type 9 5-speed) is used. I did not need to make any mods in that regard. My alternator will be relocated to the exhaust side, as it looks likely to interfere with the steering shaft-- but I've just learned from Nathan that a lug on the timing-belt cover will present some complications in that relocation. (The cover can't be removed or replaced without getting into some possible Cosworth warranty issues). I consider myself fairly mechanically-minded (at least theoretically), but with not a lot of hands-on experience. I just got tired of trying to figure out how the clutch and slave cylinder should be installed, where to locate the battery (after a couple of logical but impractical hole-drilling and time-wasting attempts), buying and then deciding not to use parts like an air-oil cooler, pressure valve, triple-pass radiator with outlet and inlet unsuitable for the Duratec, ordering parts from UK cottage industries and then wondering where they were, losing and misplacing parts myself between Alaska and Colorado, and getting bogged down in details that could have been easily solved if I could just pop out to the garage every evening after dinner. So with the Seven in Nathan's hands, we'll see some real progress at last.

My error -- "Slomove" instead of "Kitcat" has been the western tour organizer. And my error even after I met you and your wife at Scannon's last week. My apologies, Gert, it was nearly midnight last night when I posted my tale of woe... Alaskossie

Scannon, I have a big bale of the MLI scraps and pieces that you gave me to use, but I had already insulated my tunnel and footwells with other insulation materials. I'll give it back to you to provide for other folks -- 75twincam may need some of it to solve his heat problem. The consensus seems to be that in addition to the footwell heat (particularly on the header side), the driveshaft tunnel accumulates heat because the air just sits there and gets hotter, with nowhere to go. A vented tunnel may solve some of this; I have insulated my tunnel and footwells (the tunnel particularly, with insulation the full thickness of the frame tubes), and I've insulated the tunnel cover. Someday we'll see how it works.... Blatchat threads indicate that the Caterham CSR models (and perhaps the new R500 Superlights) have particular heat problems because they have the nose vents with air ducting, which means that there is very little air flowing through the engine bay itself. Nathan Down tells the funny story of when Ben Wofford of Caterham USA was interning at Caterham UK, he drove or was shotgun in a particularly hot (literally!) Seven, and when he stepped out of the car, the soles of his shoes remained in the car....! Alaskossie

My half-completed Seven build has been handed off. After two years of commuting between home in Anchorage and my part-finished 2007 S3 Seven Duratec in Jeff B.’s garage in Greeley, Colorado, I’ve finally called it quits. I made a total of 13 round-trips, beginning on July 9, 2007, and ending last Wednesday, July 15, 2009. My work trips comprised a total of 133 days. The longest was 15 days; the shortest 6 days. I hate to think of the car rental expenses and airfare involved -- but at least I’m now an Alaska Airlines MVP Gold member -- big deal! One of the long-time attractions of the Seven for me was the opportunity to assemble it myself from Caterham's boxes of bits. It originally came that way from Lotus in 1957, and it is a minor miracle that it is still available the same way, 50 years later. I optimistically intended to have the car assembled in time for Kitcat’s 2007 Pacific Coast tour -- and yet I even failed to make his 2009 Rocky Mountain tour. The assembly went fine when I was in the Caterham assembly manual, but when I went “off the book” with the Duratec engine and dry sump in the lhd S3 chassis, progress slowed to a crawl, or less. The combination of jet-lag the first couple of days of each visit, plus trying to recall where I had left off and trying to figure out what should come next, plus mail-ordering non-standard parts and taking measurements for brackets, etc. to fabricate back in Anchorage, meant that my trips became less and less productive. I did get caught up in “upgrade-itis” at the outset, believing that it would be easier to make my desired mods now, rather than after the car was built. That probably cost me at least a season of driving my Seven. But that’s all behind me now. Last Wednesday, Jeff B. and I loaded the half-completed Seven onto B.Simon’s borrowed trailer, and it was turned over to Nathan Down at Thomas Vintage Motors in Boulder. Nathan is a former development engineer at Caterham in UK who designed the SV, so I couldn’t have placed it in more capable hands. Nathan will complete the mechanical and electrical hookups, and I will get the wings and the weather equipment ready to install. Nathan took one look at my fully-insulated, carpeted and accessorized Seven and immediately dubbed it an “Executive Superlight.” But it is intended as a fast road car and not a track car, so I guess that’s ok. My one-hour trailer trip from Greeley to Boulder involved one hair-raising near-disaster, but that’s a story to be told over a round of beers...... Attached are three photos: Jeff B. loading the Seven in Greeley, the Seven on Bob’s trailer, and the Seven off-loaded at Thomas Vintage Motors, with (l to r) Seven owner Bob Walker, Matt the intern at Thomas, Nathan Down, and Derek Walker (75Twincam on USA7s) going over my checklist. So that’s where things stand with me now..... some day this car may be a “ride” instead of a still-life. Alaskossie

I got a couple of Sutars (Swedish) surface-mount 12-v outlets that I have put on a horizontal panel under the dash. Take a look at their various options at: http://www.sutars.se/prods.htm They have a US distributor (somewhere in the Southeast, I recall); I'm sure that a Google search or a note to Sutars could direct you to the right place.

Just picked up the July 2009 Hemmings Motor News, and it included an insert booklet by Hemmings titled, "Getting Started in the Car-Collector Hobby." On page 58 of the booklet is a topic titled, "Vintage Car Clubs," written by Hemmings Associate Editor David Traver Adolphus. The photo leading off this chapter is also by Adolphus, and shows what appears to be an LSIS gathering, with at least 19 Seven-type cars visible, including at least one bare aluminum Series I Lotus 7. They are all parked outside a green-awning building with the sign "Restaurant" on the portico. Anybody have any idea where and when this Sevens gathering occurred? Could it have been on the TOTD in 2007? Anyway, it appears that a gathering of Sevens is now recognized as a "Vintage Car Club," regardless of age.

My experience with UPS is that it is next to impossible to get satisfaction on a damage claim. One of their favorite tactics is their receiving office will tell you that your claim has to be filed with the office where you sent the item; and that office will tell you just the opposite. If they can keep you going in circles long enough, their hope is that you will just give up. Recently I had to go to the pick-up section of the local UPS terminal office at the airport here, with a big brown 747 parked out back. The office was a mess -- boxes everywhere, clutter, one overworked clerk. Two days later I had to send a package at the airport FedEx office next door (also with airplanes, three MD-11's, parked out back). Clean, neat, three clerks to help, friendly. I'll never use UPS to send anything again, and will always encourage senders to use FedEx. Right now, I've got $12k worth of musical instruments headed to Boston by FedEx, and I'm pretty sure they will arrive safely (but I did pack them myself).

Who repealed the Law of Gravity??

That coupe has a vaguely early-Lamborghini look to it, especially at the back of the cockpit. I’d like to see an ES-sportwagon version of this car. I’ve owned 4 Volvo 2-doors, but never an 1800. (My father owned an additional 5 Volvo sedans). I presently own a red 1970 Volvo 122S rally replica 2-door coupe, with original B-20 engine and approximately 35,000 original-owner miles on the clock. (It’s probably the latest 122S in the States, since official importation stopped with the 1968 model year.) I’ve also got a classic 1975 Volvo presently on the barge from Tacoma to Alaska, but it is considerably larger than any previous Volvo I’ve owned....... :

jlumba81, please contact me by e-mail at tmeachamatgcidotnet. I have been in touch with Jim O'Malley in Anchor-town, and his SV is on the road now and he would be glad to give you an intro into Seven Life. It all depends on when you might be up this way. I'd like to meet you face to face also.

Economy mode??

I'll try to keep an eye on things. Spring is very slow in coming up here. The state just extended the mandatory studded-tire removal date (today) by 15 more days. When the weather warms and the autocross season starts, Jim is sure to have his SV out.

I've still got my Vredestein studless snow tires on the Audi S4, since my uphill driveway is partly covered in packed ice yet. I'm going to wear these tires out, and get a new set for next winter -- I've had them since 2005. Jim O'Malley's SV has the Zetec engine with about 205 hp, the Caterham 6-speed, and the large 16-inch "wagon wheels." Attached are photos. Driving his car with the 6-spd convinced me that it was the transmission I wanted in my car -- it is really slick! I haven't been down to Colorado to build my Seven since the second week in February -- I'm to swamped with deadlines at work to get away. Attached are photos of Jim's Anchorage SV -- the only Seven-type car in town, so far.

It depends on what seat the SV has. The Tillett carbon/kevlar seat is going to be tight for you even in the SV, if the Evo seat is tight. The Tillett has its own side bolsters (actually, stiff, unpadded bucket panels). I assume it is the competition-style side bolsters of the Evo seat that constrict you. The standard Caterham leather seat in an SV is roomier by comparison to the Tillett, because the standard leather seat has no real side bolsters, but relies on the tunnel and the side panel to act as its bolsters. (See, Colin was saving weight and complication everywhere he could...) Thus the cockpit of an SV with standard seats is roomier because the car is 4 inches wider than the Series 3. On the other hand, an SV with Tillets (or a CSR which usually came standard with Tilletts, I recall) is going to seem as tight as an S3, just due to those seats. Now that spring is around the corner (it snowed 3 inches here yesterday, but I have hopes), if you fly to Anchorage for any reason, I could put you in touch with Dr. Jim O'Malley here in town. Jim has a bright yellow SV of recent vintage, with the standard seats. I'm sure that in a few weeks, he'll have his car out. Alaskossie

I've got a 2007 Caterham Series 3 (still in build mode), with an "Arch Inside" chassis, not the "metric"... Alaskossie

Al, I'm mailing in a completed form. (Did I do one before?) I believe I've joined already, but have not received any materials except the downloadable calendar. Alaskossie

To quote page 138 of D. Ortenberger's book, "Lotus Seven & the Independents," regarding the Rotus Seven: "In addition to the Toyota the Mazda rotary engine was also used in several configurations depending on the level of performance wanted by the customer." "In 2003 the basic cars were powered by the Mazda rotary....." i was pretty sure my erratic powers of recall had not failed me, at least not yet....

Didn't the original Rotus 7 use Wankel power? I recall that there was a story in R&T years ago about an autocrossing Lotus Seven S3 that had Wankel power.