theDreamer

I would expect he'd do it in true Hot Rod style: Chop, Channel and Section.

I have not seen any of the new style doors, (those with the formed elbow relief) in any other colour but black. However, I have seen the piping done in a contrasting colour. You should be able to (for a price) get the piping done in another colour. This Super Sprint is up for sale and Caterham used white weather stripping between the fenders and the body plus the piping around the doors and boot cover. I would have carried it over into the interior and done the seat piping as well. I love the exterior colour on this car with the white piping but I do not like the red interior.

The wife spoke to the mechanic this morning and learned that he removed the steering column before taking the engine out. He did mark it but now thinks he may have been off by one spline when he replaced it. He is paying for the fender repair and we’ll work something out about the temp gauge etc. Yes, every seven, (heck all sports cars) have their issues and we owners deal with them as they pop up. It was just the end of a very long day full of disappointments and I had to vent to people I knew would understand. Thanks.

Well, multiple phone calls and emails and we finally went to pick up the car today. No surprise it wasn’t quite ready as they had discovered a coolant leak. So the wife went for a two hour coffee break. First big surprise was the bill. YIKES! Not what I was expecting, nor prepared for. Second was a cracked fender. He didn’t think he was leaning on it that hard until he heard the crunch. Third was the 3 ½ hours of labour to fabricate a thermostat. The temperature gauge has not shown the correct temp since I took delivery of the car. The mechanic who did all the work when it first landed in Ontario said the gauge was working so it must have the wrong sender. Questions to forums and suppliers went unanswered. So I drove the car as it was and figured normal was when the needle was just past the first mark in the blue. Hot was when it was just past the second mark and pull over to let it cool down would be anything outside of the cold zone which luckily I never saw. So while it was getting the clutch assembly replaced I asked this mechanic to have a look at the sender. He never got back to me until he phoned to say I could pick up the car. I enquired and his reply was that the thermostat was stuck shut. Now the thermostat and the housing are built as a unit and he could not find one in North America. So he modified the stock housing to accept a standard off the shelf thermostat, also modified. He claimed to have seen a high of 70c on the gauge. Well guess what, fourth complaint was that the gauge did not work at all on my drive home. Fifth item was that I once again had no brake lights. (Thankfully the wife followed me home.) When the car first arrived and everything was to have been in perfect working order the first mechanic found that there were no turn signals, 4 ways or brake lights. The first two were rectified by replacing the flasher relay. The brake light fix was accomplished by disconnecting the pressure switch and placing an electric switch at the brake pedal. During the crash back in May 2025 the bracket that the switch was mounted to was bent and the brake lights stopped working. A slight adjustment and everything was good again. I’m hoping that is all that it will take to correct the problem this time. Sixth BIG complaint is the alignment is off. Now this car had both ends aligneded during the accident repair. I was able to test drive the car and the steering was not right. Turns out the alignment shops machine was in need of repair and recalibration. A second alignment and a much longer test drive showed the car was as I remembered it being. However, the car was not released from the body shop until Nov. 4th 2025. I drove the car straight home where it sat for about two weeks until it was picked up and transported to the shop for the clutch replacement. I suspect that the second mechanic hit a pot hole or something on a test drive and that is why the steering wheel sits cocked to the right when driving straight down the road on my home today. There are some other infuriating items but these are biggies that I had to get this off my chest tonight. I have an appointment tomorrow morning so I won’t get around to looking into these issues until tomorrow afternoon.

I had a 1973 “Millionth Vega” limited edition GT hatchback. The one thing that burned me many times was that the fuel gauge was hidden behind the steering wheel. As they say out of sight, out of mind. I ran out of fuel at the least opportune moments. Since those days I have always tracked my mileage via the trip odometer. In my Caterham I adjust my “fuel left” calculations according to how much of the loud pedal I have been using. I also record each fill up so I can track fuel mileage and cost per liter over time.

It's been done many times before. Here's my friend Richard's 7 as an example.

Caterham (note: Not in USA despite being noted as PA) https://www.facebook.com/share/17GMwh2j9V/ Interesting, this car is still being advertised in Great Britain. https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/20029201 I would take it that like all his other offerings he is just speculating with no actual monies involved until he hooks a buyer. He has been successful if you can believe his Facebook Marketplace 5 star rating. However, I have to wonder about the legalities of "stealing" someone's ad info and re posting it as if it is your own ad. Honestly, if someone wants to buy a Caterham (or any vehicle) from the UK I’d suggest they do their own due diligence and leg work. They’ll get a better feel for the vehicle talking directly to the seller. They will be able to negotiate the price without going through a middle man plus, they’ll save themselves thousands of dollars in Alex Suydan’s fees for service.

Whada flux is a cateringham???

We all feel the same because what's not to love?

The Birkin on Bring a Trailer just sold for $17,500. I think that may have been under value for a screaming Busa powered seven. But then again, I don’t know motorcycle powered solid axle Birkin values. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2004-birkin-s3-2/

The Exige hood (roof) is removable. It may effect the performance but then if you are wanting the fresh air experience you really aren't looking for the greatest perpormance are you.

Not just the first bid but if you win BaT takes their 5% within minutes. In order to get it back some very elaborate stories have been told, I’m sure. You’ll notice many of the accounts are new or nearly new with no history. In one case I have personal knowledge of the winning bidder’s account that he won on was created Oct. 2019. The first time he used the account for anything was Nov. 2023. I’m sure there are some scammers that have multiple accounts going back several years but never used them. Seems strange that a person would create a BaT account but then never use it, never ask a question, make a comment, or place a bid, right?

Ah… but was it a successful sale or some type of owner buy back? (Seller has friend bid it up. If the friend wins the auction then the seller reimburses the friend for the 5% and moves the car on to the next sales/auction site.) I’ve seen several cars sell on BaT only to show up for sale later by the same owner. BaT doesn’t care as long as they get both their seller’s and buyer’s fees. There is a well-known Lotus Europa in California that sold on BaT but then was relisted on Marketplace by the same guy. Same goes for certain Corvair Spyder that sold on BaT but then was relisted locally by the same person. I’ve also seen bidders who keep bumping up the bids but then there is some problem when they have the winning bid. They disappear or come up with some story why they cannot finalize the sale.

The winning bidder has posted a follow up to some of us who had made comments during and after the auction. He states in part from his perspective: “this is a Superlight R, a rarer model than an R300, built personally by Rich at Kampena, one of the few dealers Caterham USA authorized to assemble the Supersport engine kit. TWM individual throttle bodies, Pectel T2 ECU, Kent Focus 12 cams, Kent valve spring kit, vernier cam wheels, ARP rod bolts, shaved head for higher compression. Is that enough to take a standard Zetec to 200+ hp? I’ll let the engine experts answer that. As to the power pulls in the video it was all for show and sound. He was rolling along probably in 2nd gear and stomped on it for effect. He and the camera van may have been under or near the speed limit for that stretch so the van didn’t need to be anything special to keep up. I posted the video because listening to that exhaust note as the RPM’s climbed and his ear to ear grin sure got me wishing for it to stop snowing here.

Caterham (was Hemmings previous weeks) https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-caterham-superlight-r300/ This didn’t hit reserve but just sold to the highest bidder via BaT’s high bid offer rules for $44K (before buyer’s fee). Anyone on here get them self's a new toy or know the new owner? As I posted in the comments; I am very interested in hearing from those who made multiple bids on this car. What was it that drew you to do so; was it the specs, the low mileage or the driving videos? I think driving videos like this one play a big part to get some people into the bidding mood. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVuPFpsFqtN/?igsh=bDN3ajZodm5kemFv

Yes and I should have a spare cable when this is all done.

Actually he took out both seats. AFAIK it was to remove the leather transmission cover to get at the shifter and other things. He had to disassemble and/or remove numerous items to get the engine and transmission out. He has done some work on an early Lotus 7 but this was his first go at a Caterham. Also his first time working on a Vauxhall C20xe with twin Webers. That means the alternator is on the opposite side to the Bosch fuel injected models. It’s all a learning experience. He’ll be better equipped the next time he works on our car or anyone’s Caterham for that matter.

As detailed in the thread Our summer fun has been put on hold because: our car came home from the body shop on November 4, 2025. Just a few weeks later it went off to another shop for a clutch replacement. It’s been resting in a nice heated shop all winter while the mechanic learned all about trying to find parts for a C20xe Vauxhall. Well, I’m told it should be ready in a couple of weeks. If the weather is good and the roads dry I’ll drive the car the two hours home and save the $400 trailer fee.

1972 Lotus Series 4 up on BaT. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-lotus-seven/

Why all the hate against Caterhams? How about Lotus 7's which many Caterhams and other brands are registered As? California is rejecting any car registered in Montana but living in Cali.

Croc has had this car up for a couple weeks but link was for the Hemmings' listing which had no price and a notice that it was coming to auction. You are correct it is now live on BaT: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-caterham-superlight-r300/

Croc has had this car up for a couple weeks but it is the Hemmings' listing with no price and a notice that it was coming to auction. It is now live on BaT: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-caterham-superlight-r300/

We have been down this road before. The best part of the "Mirrors for Sevens" is it clips over the windscreen frame and the angle is adjusted by two thumb wheels. A very well thought out and useful addition. Here is the one that came with our car.

This car was up for sale a while ago then was gone so I thought it had sold. I see it was listed four days ago on FB Market Place. As usual I have no knowledge of or connection to this car or its seller. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1472004244492385

That’s only because Xhilr8n’s CRS has the larger chassis over the standard S3.