theDreamer

David, I found a Caterham for sale in Belgium that advertises:”The rear suspension has been adapted to the DSK 4-link system Ford 2000 rear axle with 3.45:1 ratio and with Quaife limited slip differential” I would take it that this is referring to an Escort solid axle. How did your 4-link system differ from others? Did you sell a lot of parts to the UK or Europe?

My guess would be the remains of fuel cell like foam to keep fuel from sloshing about. You say the gas was from the seventies? Even quality bladder foams don’t last much more than 10-15 years.

According to what I’ve read so far; early RHD Lotus Sevens had a number stamped on the floor cross brace in front of the passenger seat pad. At some point it moved to the main side top bar near the master cylinders. See these links: https://usa7s.net/ips/topic/13390-early-lotus-seven-identification-plates-chassis-numbers-frame-numbers-and-engine-numbers/ http://www.lotus7register.co.uk/regipage.htm Try your Googlefoo and see what you can turn up.

Oh you tease! More info and photos please. For me most importantly is month/year of first registration. Cars have to be over 15 years old to be imported into Canada. Now if only it had that Cosworth Cam Cover and the engine that went with it that you put up a while back.

This is the same guy that had the Suzuki Hayabusa up for sale for soooo long. He states that he has been in the car business for 30 years. My wife has been in the vehicle sales and service industry for almost 50. She said on the way home he was the worst kind of "Used Car Salesman". Likeable, easy to talk to, and every thing that came out of his mouth was tainted or an out right lie!

Sorry, this is a long post. I decided to put it here as it is related to my Bring a Trailer post. I was hoping whoever “liimey” was that he’d turn out to be a good guy and fellow Se7ens enthusiast. My biggest fear was he’d be some jerk just in it to make a buck. So, when my brother alerted me that the Caterham I’d lost on BaT was already back up for sale I got this real bad feeling. I phoned the number and spoke to the new owner Sean. Right away he starts lying. I asked how long he’d had the car and he replied, “A year”. I asked how does it drive, what’s the handling like, are there any known issues? His reply; “It’s a seven! It handles like a race car. Fires right up and runs great.” I asked some more questions and he says it’s all there in the ad. ”I don’t know what more I can tell you”. You’ve got to come see it for yourself. “It’s a concours winning car”. So I said sure how about tomorrow around 10:00? He says make it 10:30. Yesterday morning (Saturday Nov. 11) we drove the two hours to Sean’s home to view the car. Now at this point he doesn’t know who I am, just that I’m a very interested party. At first I introduced myself only as Stephen and my wife Linda, (my wife came along so I didn’t do anything stupid) as if. He knew he couldn’t keep up the charade once I saw his size. He admitted to us he hadn’t owned the car for a year and obviously hadn’t driven it. Hell, he can’t even fit in it. Rather, he had only just bought it. Then he compounded the first lie by saying he bought the car from a fellow Caterham Owners of Canada Club member he knew was going to sell it. He later changed that statement too but I’ll get to that later. You can skip this part if you like. He opened one of the doors and motioned us to sit in the car. The wife hasn’t got into a Lotus-ish type car in many years so it was a little tricky for her. Me? A little slow but I slid in fine. Sean handed me the key and I dutifully put it in the ignition and tuned it but… nothing happened. I asked where the battery cut off was. He looked puzzled for a moment and then said, oh ya there’s a plastic thing on the other key ring. He came back with the removable battery cut out key and then set about trying to locate the switch it fit. He thought it was in the engine bay but couldn’t get the cover off. By lifting one side up he located the backside of the switch on the firewall. I reached up and found it then slid the key in. I turned it and then turned the ignition on and the dash lit up. Power! I tried starting it. It took several attempts but it finally came to life. Very rough, popping and spitting back through the carbs and farting out the exhaust pipe. After several minutes of trying to give it a little throttle it final took and I was able to get it to sort of hold around 1000 rpm’s. But still popping and farting. The wife fought her way out of the passenger seat and walked around the car. She stopped at the front and after about five minutes it still didn’t want to hold a smooth idle so I shut it off. She motions me over and says that there was a noticeable rap or knock that I could not hear inside the car. She wanted to satisfy her curiosity so Sean got the engine cover all the way off and I pulled the dip stick. No bad smells or visible water beads but the oil didn’t feel as viscus as I’d expected. Rather dirty too. Now synthetic oil doesn’t look, smell or react the same as the dino so what do I know. Still, it seemed the engine was acting up from more than just being cold and having out of whack Webber carbs. I started pointing out all the inconsistencies in the ad and his phone description to the actual car. At one point I stated that his definition of concours and mine were very different and I showed him photos of my father’s 1934 LaSalle, a real concours winner. (See my story in the other cars of USA7's owners thread.) I think that’s when things started to go downhill. I explained why, IMHO, his price was way off. I started to list all the things I’d have to do to the car. Funny, he brought up that Caterham won’t ship windshields over anymore because of too much breakage. Anyway, his eyes started to roll. I said I had an offer I’d like to make. He said; “I don’t think I want to hear it. In fact I KNOW I don’t want to hear it. I have a feeing I’m going to turn it down”. He went on about how he didn’t need the money. “Look around, does it look like I need money?” Than a few minutes later he admitted he bought the car solely to make money. After I’d heard enough BS I re introduced myself by reaching out to shake his hand a second time and saying “liimey, I’m Duke_Audi”. I think that’s when the light bulb went off for him. Earlier I said he contradicted his statement about buying the car from a club member. Well it was at this time that he admitted he’d been following the BaT auction all along. His “liimey” account was started in October but, of 2019. (My bad for thinking it was new account and missing the year.) I asked him if he’d changed the ownership over in to his name and he was very candid and said “No”. He further indicated that he had no intention of doing so. Again I tried approaching the subject of purchasing the car. I suggested an offer that would see him recoup what he’d spent so far and put a couple of grand into his pocket for just moving the car from Oakville to Stouffville. Not bad for such a short term investment and no work on his part. He went from saying he didn’t need the money and bought it because he loved Caterhams to; he bought it to make money. Furthermore, any offer from me wouldn’t be anywhere near enough. Having owned three SV chassis Sevens he considers himself an expert. Funny how this expert didn’t know how to start his new car or that he had to remove one of the air filter pods to get the engine cover off. He is convinced that he’ll get $55k CAD next spring for it if not before. If he doesn’t he’ll keep dropping the price until it does sell because as he said, he just doesn’t care. He’ll tuck it away in his little car cubby in the back of his garage and leave it there as long as he needs to. I felt disrespected. I went there to make a fair offer on a car that I’ve become very emotional over. He doesn’t care, he has no interest in the car, HELL, he can’t even drive it! All he can see are dollar signs. He has no interest in detailing it, fixing anything on it, or even just learning about it. He’s just waiting for some poor sap to come along and believe his BS and give him all that money. As you can see in both the Kijiji.ca and Autotrader.ca ads he was so lazy he just took all the info, images and video right off the BaT auction page. In the end what I was hearing from him was; I don’t care what I sell it for, when I sell it or whom I sell it to as long as it isn’t you! I cannot stress enough how very open he was about not changing the ownership over into his name. He plans on leaving it in the BaT seller’s name. When it sells it will be like the BaT seller sold the car. Sean’s name will only ever appear on the check the next buyer gives him. This way he does NOT pay Ontario’s 13% HST. That’s an extra $5 grand in his pocket. The law is very clear here, he has 6 business days to change the ownership over. Furthermore, as long as the car remains in the BaT’s sellers name that person is still legally responsible for the vehicle. Full disclosure; I offered to buy the car on Saturday thinking it was under the six days and therefore Sean would save the tax. I was hoping he was a good guy and that we would come to a number all would be happy with. As I said above, he declined to even discuss an offer.

Guess what’s back up for sale? Yep, Sean Freeman, a.k.a. liimey, is selling the 1992 James Whiting built Dunnell prepared Zetec powered Super Seven S3 from the BaT auction of Nov. 4, 2023. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/markham-york-region/caterham-lotus-super-7-concours-condition/1677025176 DO NOT contact this person about this car. I will fill in the details once I calm down. edit: it is also now listed here https://www.autotrader.ca/a/caterham/super 7/vaughan/ontario/19_12525939_/?showcpo=ShowCpo&ncse=no&orup=1_1_1&pc=K0K 2C0&sprx=-1

Wow! This is what I like about “real” enthusiast groups like this one. Here people are willing to share their knowledge and experiences. We are always learning new stuff or being re-educated on what we thought we knew. The stories I could tell you about the world of antique collecting… Yes, some of my questions may have sounded rhetorical but I genuinely wanted to know. I do not understand some of the subtleties of social media. To me, many of these things are off putting making them more antisocial. Some I take as passive aggressive comments. And yes, I do get frustrated but that’s nothing new. I like a bargain as well as the next guy but… I am willing to pay to play. However, in my case I have limits. I understand there will always be people who do not. I really felt a pit in my stomach when that one bid came in the morning of the last day. With a minute to go I figured just another one time bidder and then, BAM! He strikes. I give it one more shot but it was clear he was just going to keep bumping my every bid. I saw a repeat of the Hawaii car coming and wasn’t up for that crap. Maybe he’s a good guy or maybe he’s the other bidder from that ill-fated auction. OR, just maybe he’s a dealer who will sell it on. But ya, I don’t like the idea of burner accounts/credit cards and people willing to give up 5% as the cost of doing business. They just pass those costs on to the next suck…er, I mean um, buyer. I did not want to call out the seller as he may not have known the whole truth about the car he was selling. However, when I mentioned I’d planned on driving the car home if I won he said I should rent a trailer. He was very adamant that I not drive the car a long distance before I had a chance to go over everything. So insistent that he offered to deliver it to me if I won. Made me wonder if there may have been a bigger issue than what I found. Oh well, someone else’s car now. Speaking of “spectacularly wrong” comments; why would a seller advertise his car as a 1.6L when a quick google search shows the Donnell 195 model would have been a 2.0L? That one had me scratching my head. I remember a time when Bring-a-Trailer was the correct phraseology as most of the vehicles on offer were unfinished projects. Now it should read: Bring a BIG Trailer full of cash. I’ll keep watching all the usual sites and the for sale page here. Croc seems to do a bang up job on whatever he puts his mind to. Whether it’s VIN I.D. sevens for sale or designing a killer se7en. Thanks to all who have and those that may still add to this conversation.

Can someone here demystify the BaT experience and it’s complexities for me? I am totally at a loss to understand how and why things happen as they do on that site. For example: Why do so many bidders place such idiotic low bids (often only one bid) on vehicles they do not have a hope in heck of ever owning. Is it some inside joke I’m not privileged to? Is there some point score that you get for bidding on the most vehicles? Can you earn great prizes? What’s with new accounts opened only for one auction? And then bids only made on the last day (minutes) of an auction? No previous history of bids or questions and probably never heard from again. I’m no expert but even I knew something was amiss with that first auction on the seven in Hawaii. The winner felt cheated and the seller was the big loser. Stress he didn’t need when he was making such a big change in his life. (IMHO Both bidders should have been taken out behind the wood shed.) I’ve been following BaT for about ten years. However, I only registered about 6-8 months ago when I realized if I was ever going to own a seven it had to be now, before the wife retires. My recent loss has left me wondering what I might have done differently. Yes, having a bigger bank account would have made a slight difference. But we’ll never know because I don’t have deep pockets. I had a hard limit which included funds to cover repairs and maintenance I felt the car needed. What good would it have bin to blow the wad on buying the car and then have it sit because I couldn’t afford to buy the parts or pay for the service I felt it required.

I wished they'd had the internet back in the 70's when I was dealing with the Delorto's and other stuff on my '74 twin cam Europa!

O.D. Outside Diameter. In the case of a "D" shape or "Yoke" style steering wheel you measure across the width 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions.

Wayne, if you haven't already done so you should check out some of youtube videos on this topic. Turn 7 in the UK have a number of good ones, (probably listed in video section of this site). This one is only 4 minutes long and points out a few things you need to know. It is on the S3 and SV but the main focus is on tall drivers and the exact problem you are having. Enjoy.

Would I be correct to assume that the number denotes the HP rating? Yours being 155 and the car for sale in Oakville Ontario is a 195.

I went to see this car today. It had rained in the morning and the roads were still damp to very wet in spots so the car stayed in the garage. I was hoping for a ride but his car, his rules. I wish the owner/seller knew more about its history. Neither of us read Dutch so looking at the most recent paper work we have no idea what maintenance was done, when or where. Anyone here read Dutch? Yes, a lot of talk about the assembler and engine builder of this seven. However, that was 30 years and over 35K ago. If it had race history or some other pedigree I would understand. But it’s just a nicely built street seven. It does present well for an original car but if you zoom in on the photos you’ll see lots of, shall we say, interesting/odd history. For example: The windshield is badly marked and the seller clearly shows this. What he did not mention is that it’s not the original windshield for this car. (To be fair, he may not have put two and two together.) The marks do not line up with the LHD wipers on the car. I believe they would align with those made by RHD wipers. So how did this come about? The leather arm rest between the seats is full of holes like someone poked it dozens of times with an ice pick. Again, I find this rather strange. Same as some dents and a missing plug in the boot. There are switches on the dash that do nothing. The rear fog switch I understand as this car does not have a rear fog light. Yet there are a couple of others that he said did nothing as well. I forget which ones now. There are some paint chips but far fewer than I had imagined a 30 year old seven would have. The paint looks like it has some type of coating on it. But the seller says no, only some brand of Dutch made polish that came with the car. If you look close enough you can see swirl marks but from a couple of feet away it looks like it was dipped in liquid red plastic. I mean everywhere. I have only seen one other seven that had everything painted from boot to engine bay. This seven even has the underside of the engine cover painted red. The seller does show the date code for the tires, 20th week of 2018. They are hard but not as hard as that old Michelin spare. It’s a 30 year old seven and it’ll probably fetch more than I can pay but… I very much liked this car. It checked most of my boxes; LHD, Ford twin cam with exhaust on the left, (so the wife doesn’t have to deal with a hot muffler) the old style long swooping fenders, five speed and LSD. The wife’s check list included full weather gear and a heater. I know, it doesn’t heat the parts that need to be heated but she doesn’t understand that. We’ll have to wait until Saturday to see who gets it. It is going to be a long week for me.

What 25 years? In Canada it's 15 according to the RIV. All vehicles (except buses) that are 15 years old or more from the date of manufacture, are exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program. Also, I do not see your notes on importing in that link. (I am old and maybe just blind...)

I am so jealous for many reasons. If I’d been in a financial position to order a Caterham back in the day this (except for the colour) would have been it. To have the opportunity to now bring this car to life, the life it should have enjoyed decades ago is a rare treat only a few can know. You must know how lucky you are. Plus, working on such a low mileage car is sooo much easier than restoring an old car. Helped my father with several of his collection, one of which I talk about in the thread “The Other Cars of USA7s Members (Non-Se7ens only)” I came close when my wife bought an 18 year old NOS Ducati Indiana 650 still in the crate. We uncrated it and she put it together and did the PDI. After she got it running it went to a mechanic friend of ours to check over everything. The one problem she had was bleeding the rear brake. He did that as well as changed the cam belts. Better to let an export with the tools, parts and training do the critical stuff. After a few years and a mere 1500 kilometers it went back to Ducati to be part of its museum. However, I think the then CEO claimed it for himself. I’ll be watching this build thread and cheering you on. My first thought, as you have said, would be to replace all the rubber bits. One look at the heater hose tells you everything you need to know about condition.

Sorry, no se7ens content. We were there last month with my present fun car, now daily driver. Went down for USDesmo's Ducks Fly South Ducati rally. We have stopped riding and sold our two main motorcycles. We always drove down choosing to tow rather than face long hauls on the super slabs. Had almost as much fun driving as we would have had riding but with one big differences. We were able to converse more and not try to interpret hand and foot signals. Hope to do it (drive my favourite southern roads) in a se7en someday.

I'm on the FT86 Forum, Stephen W. The wife's was also a 2016. I've had a 2006 STi and two (well really only one, long story) BRZ's. She had a 2011 STi Hatchback as well and now is on her second Crossteck. First was a 2022 Limited which she just traded in for a 2024 Wilderness. Sorry for getting off topic but, car guys are car guys!

Nice find, sweet looking ride. We seem to have similar tastes. It was a test drive in an HPC in the mid 90’s that convinced me I didn’t want an original Lotus 7. I came close to getting a Caterham several times however, something messed up the deal and each fell apart. My summer fun car for the last 5 years has been a black with red accents 2018 BRZ tS. With the wife selling her STi, (that I used as my winter beater) looks like I’ll be driving my BRZ this winter.

@Sevins7 WOW! What a ride that auction was. What was it, $11,000 over reserve? You have to be happy that two people wanted it THAT much. Good luck with your move and the new adventure.

Some odd ball items with the Hemmings seven. What's with the rear fenders extending past the body? Did they have to move the rear end back to accommodate the Elan suspension? I've never seen front fenders like those. They list a VIN but do not show the plate. Why the cut out in the dash?

I see 24 people have viewed this already. If you haven't been contacted by PM yet with people asking about this car and telling you that you can or can't then I'll do it here. Sorry but the resounding answer is NO! My understanding is that the U.S. import rules are very clear on this subject; finished, legal for road use vehicles must be over 25 years old. I’m sure there are people who have done it, and may give you advice as to where to look, who to talk to about it however… Be forewarned, if you get caught you’ll lose the car, all the money you spent plus pay a hefty fine. Perhaps even jail time. If the owner is wishing to sell his newly finished car and he’s not already a member of USA7’s have him register and put it on the For Sale page.

Sort of like Spotted in Santa Cruz has morphed into PCV trouble shooting. It happens. Thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work.

So very sorry to hear this. At least you got everything back and only lost time. Hopefully you'll find a better shop that will be able to get stuck into your project right quick. Keep us updated.

It has been awhile, what's the latest news?