slowdude

If you want to go really crazy, check put the Ineos Grenadier. If I had 80k to burn I'd go that way. Fun X7 Fact- it is the same architecture as the Rolls Royce Cullinan. @Croc you really lucked out with the I6 vs the V8. Especially regarding residual. The V8s can be a typical British Car Experience (weeping oil etc).

Here is what got me into British Cars, my 1969 Cortina GT. Growing up in a household which didn't have spare income for classic / sports cars (or anything really), really pushed me into those "everyday hero" types of car. The econo-boxes that were put out there to race and be a bit of a marketing message. The aspirational, affordable, fun but practical and sporty car. It led me to the MK1 Cortina's, which are not cheap. So then I started doing some research and saw that the MK2's are pitifully cheap (and ugly some might say). I also liked their backbone for a lot of the British Sports car industry. Seeing the crossflow in the 7 etc. I found this car in Louisiana. It was in the Bay area for around 30 years (last registration was in 1994). I have the original title + blue plates from I think 73 or so. I knew it would be a long, slow slog, and be something my father and I could take time together to get it back together. I picked it up for cheap, almost too cheap, but here we are. At first I thought I would be able to do a mechanical refresh and get it back on the road and driving. That turned into tearing out the interior, then seeing the floors needed attention. So I need to put floors in, do the pinch weld around the windshield. Part of the rockers (and whatever else I find, I'm sure I will find some more). When taking out the interior, I noticed some of the wiring was shot, and decided to just tear it all the way down. Thankfully the car is super simple and parts are fairly affordable. I picked it up around 8 years ago and life happened (bought a house, got married) etc. I had to finish another project (77 CB750 given to me for free in parts), before I could take the time for the Cortina, as it needs some time. Fast forward to 2022, the CB750 is finished and running/riding... it's time to do some brief work on the 7 and then off to the races with the Cortina. I've been slowly accumulating tools over the past few years, picked up a cheap welder for sale, so I am going to try and get it into the garage, strip it further and start the metal work. I am a bit weary of this because I can tackle mechanical, but metal work seems to be a completely different beast. I look forward to it - working with my hands is a good way to get my mind off of excel and SAP. Engine is a Crossflow 1600, with the 4 speed and a 3.92 rear end. It turns a little bit, I'm expecting to tear into it. If its really bad i'll swap it for a Zetec or something. If I do, I'd let the crossflow go to someone here for their car. It wears its original (but faded) paint (Ermine white) and a red Interior. I'll strip it, clean it up, then repaint it (step above drivers quality - no concours ambitions here). If it's really bad I'll throw a cage in it and turn it into a track car. I'm excited to tear into this in 2023.. it's been waiting very patiently.

Wow, fantastic collection of cars from everyone here. I'm seeing a theme of RWD cars / great driving cars and then having a daily which isn't too mundane. I was fortunate to baby sit a 2020 Z4M40i for two years as my daily. Absolutely fantastic car / very slept on. Put about 25k miles on it before it needed to go to its next owner. It was a dealer reject, and someone at work reached out about putting some miles on it before sending it to auction... I wound up keeping it for two and a half years. I had an M340i before this, but the short wheelbase of the Z and rwd was always a treat. When it came to winter, I'd either work remote or borrow the the wife's Macan (also a fantastic car). I took the Z on a cannonball run to Florida one year, did northern NJ to Orlando in about 14 hours and it was surprisingly comfortable. The steering was a bit numb compared to a 7, and the wife's macan definitely has a better steering feel, but the Z was made to be a bit of a swan song to the roadsters for BMW. My understanding is that it was the pet project of an outgoing board member who wanted to have one of the last BMW roadsters be something truly great. I was sad to see it go, but I needed to pick up something a little more practical (4cyl 330i) to offset picking up the 7. Car got around 30mpg average and would light up the rear end, fantastic fantastic car, truly underrated. Zero reliability issues in the time I had it, no tire issues etc. I was really bummed the Z's are made in Austria and thus cannot get Individual colors.. otherwise I'd order this car in a dark green on cognac and have stuffed it in the garage. I miss this one. I have another longer term project car that I'll post in another post. It will be getting some love this spring after I pull apart the rear suspension on the 7 and deal with some minor rust issues (to be expected on a British car).

I'd stay away from the motorcycle comms unless you're wearing a helmet. I have a Cardo for my offroad / adventure riding and a sena for my touring bike. The Sena was fine for touring around Europe, I probably did close to 2k miles in three months and while it was louder on the bikes (BMW GS/RT), they both had pretty good wind protection which kept noises down. Honestly though, my sena setup is more quiet due to the helmet quality. Phone calls / music were pretty easy, and volume controls externally are a big plus. For the Adventure bike I have a more open/enduro helmet and the Cardo does alright. I went down to Tennessee and came back up through mostly offroad at 45 mph or so and it was pretty loud. I picked up a pair of nicer earplugs off Amazon for use under this helmet which helped a lot. Again, the bike at the time was a GS with a good amount of wind protection. I was able to take calls and play music, but the speakers were at their max and did not sound as good as the Sena with the Schuberth helmet. The Cardo speakers were definitely of lesser quality than the Sena, at least when I bought 3 or 4 years ago. It may have changed. Pivoting to the 7, the airflow is very different from a motorcycle - I find more side swirling in the 7 with the doors off, so road noise/air noise / car noise is more audible. To be honest I should probably test the motorcycle helmet with the comms and report back this spring. I should try a pair of over the ear headphones with a noise canceling microphone, but I think the air swirling in the cockpit may negate / tax the noise canceling microphone. On my drives to work I have worn eargasm earplugs ($15 or so on amazon), so I can still hear what the car is doing (etc what's that noise in the back etc). It cuts down on the wind noise and buffering. I fear that trying to go for as close to complete silence as possible may miss some of the things that draw us to the car. That being said, a motorcycle helmet with a comms system + ear plugs may work. You have Bluetooth / wireless mesh systems for talking to passenger (Sena and Cardo sometimes do not communicate well together, so stick with one brand if you do this). Shooting muffs are also a good option, I use them for leaf blowing and it helps a lot, plus no batteries to worry about. Could couple ear plugs with this and be fine / not worry about batteries. I hope some of this helps, as I am new to the 7 world, but perhaps the motorcycle comms may give you some direction on which way to go.

Hey All, Doing my semi-frequent pilgrimage up to Rhode Island from New Jersey. Does anyone need parts transported up or down? Probably leaving from Northern NJ tomorrow, and be back in about a week. Can go up to the Boston Area if needed. Willing to make stops along I95 in CT as well.

Welcome! Hope houses keep selling to give you money for the Lotus & the Caterham!

Love the leather hood strap. What color is it? Dark blue? It's fantastic!

Shame I can't comment on the original post. Looked like a fantastic trip. Turn 10 always catches me in simulators with its decrease. Do you have any advice for it? Pre-pandemic I was spending a decent amount of time in Europe for work and had the opportunity to do a few laps on the ring... a 7 at Spa is now higher on the list than it was. Great write up!

This is why I love this group of car people. Real world exeperience + pragmatism. I would imagine the parts are expensive for them. I was interested in the cage and plumbed in factory fire suppression. Good to know they're unpredictable/inconsistent. Absolutely not worth the effort.

My shipping quotes via my broker were roughly $1,700 for ro-ro, while container prices were still high, figure $15,000 for a container with maybe 2 cars in it. The hardest part I have had so far was the VIN check. The DMV was looking for 2 VINs, and I could only find the one. However, I have the original caterham invoice and build sheet from 95 which the local PD said was OK for the VIN check. I'd say if it was overseas and you had it built as a kit it may be harder? Funny you post a Ginetta. When the G40R's become available for import, I think that will be the next one for me.

Just did this. Bought at 1.07 - all in with insurance, shipping and brokerage fees I was under 20k. I used Inbound Motorsports in the NJ/NYC area. Highly recommend as they're bringing cars in constantly (over 25 years of course). RHD hasn't been a problem for the 120 miles I've done so far. Registration through RI hasn't had any hiccups. @Croc recommended that I did not register in NJ due to their RHD concerns, so definitely check the state. Any questions feel free to PM or we can hop on a call.

It finally came in. Going through the registration process now. Pardon the mess in the garage, and compared to the 3er daily, tiny. You know the 7 is tiny when even my daily is considered small.

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Gorgeous. The Lola's are supposed to be transcendent to drive. Please stick around the forum!

You can't tease a Lola and not post photos!!

I'm 5'7" baby!! First car that actually works for us. I'll put my helmet on today and give it a shot. What helmet are you using?

It needs a cleaning but here are a few.

Thanks all, will be doing some more club oriented track days at ya'lls reccomendations. Took the car home today. Mechanical grip is incredible. I have rain tires on it. I can't imagine the grip on these cars with good tires. Car tracks straight and true, switches all function etc. Have some valve tappet noise a prior owner warned about, so that will be the winter project along with checking suspension, some light corrosion on the upper wishbone near where the anti roll bar bolts in. I'm smitten.

Absolutely, the salary temptations are always there to jump for 30/40k. I'm just leery of the economic situation, last in, first out mentality. I was part of an accelerated leadership program through the company (and had a brief stint overseas)- I am currently trying to angle for a CFO role within the company in one of their British brands. Hopefully can gain some traction and will see where that goes, as it is the same role I am doing now, just with a few extra zeros. Getting that title will be crucial, then it's absolutely time to move. Speaking of auto industry in the Greater NYC area, Aston Martin is moving to Manhattan. I'm not quite sure how that will work, but that puts JLR/Ferrari/Aston/BMW in the Greater NYC. Mercedes went south about 5 years ago? They're offering Mercedes Benz as their company cars and are expecting the majority of their workforce to stay in Michigan (I can't remember if that is what the recruiter said).

Sorry to revive an older / dead thread. I've been in the auto industry (OEM side) for the past 5 years. Corp FP&A/controller. Started out with a degree in history and then did the MBA route. Nothing special other than 1st gen college student. As a car guy, you'd think it's great- and it is, but I'd say it's better to keep your passions separate. Auto industry in the Greater NYC area is well below area average. Sure, the company car discount per month is nice, but there's no equity being built, and fairly stringent rules (no autocross or track time etc). I think what's been hardest for me is marrying corporate life with the auto industry. Theyre two very different beasts, from understanding the sales / dealer relations side to the P&L/BS "classical" business approach. If you're still interested in hopping send me a PM and we can connect - just know that you will be low-balled salary wise to have a discounted car dangled in front of you.

Front wheel bearings for a 95 S3 available?

Came here to comment this. #1 is most relevant to my FP&A brain. Theyre trying to maintain margins given the weaker pound -> I'm sure a good deal of their business is also in Europe. Given their new corporate overlords, maintaining a healthy profit corridor for the first few years is most likely an interest for the holding company. Shipping is fairly cheap, shipping the Cat from Liverpool to NYC for a 10 day voyage was around $1700 RoRo. Containers are still high (around 12k USD), but are coming down.

Ahh, completely forgot about Nasa. I'm too close to the NYC Metro area so I am getting a lot of "track adjacent" clubs coming up (read 911s who do the bear mountain cruise for IG shots and then some NJMP stuff), but I'm really looking for a more chill vibe, to your point. I hadn't really thought about that, but I'd definitely be interested in doing multiple events across the various clubs If there are other Cat 7's in attendance. Looks like there's maybe 8 or 9 of us in the Greater NYC Metro Area. It's good to see that people have been able to get on track for fairly minor modifications, and frankly, the harness updates are a must. Helmet date + Hans date. Arm restraints etc, it's really not too unreasonable If the factory rollbar is sufficient for most of these trackday groups..

This has been my concern. There seems to be track-lite time and then any HPDE/ more "serious" track days have very different requirements. I'd expect to be requiring arm restraints on a Caterham in case there is a rollover etc.

I see why people want that door bar. Looks great when you're coming over wheelie hill!