theDreamer

Sort of a repost but here's Road & Track's take on it. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a43990034/caterham-ev-seven/

Bruce, thanks for the comments. FYI, Durham Classics only does 1/43 scale.

Not my car but a huge part of my life. As I mentioned in my long winded bio, my father had a collection of antique/classic/collectable cars. His favorite and ongoing restoration project was his 1934 LaSalle. He was a wheeler dealer who rode mostly motorcycles until after the war. In the late 30’s, while dating the girl who would become my mother, he used to borrow his boss’s 1934 LaSalle convertible coupe. He made her a promise that he’d own such a car one day. In the late 50’s he traded a home built TV for a 1932 Frontenac and joined several old car clubs. Looking through one of the club’s newsletters he found a 1934 LaSalle project for sale. A couple of young guys were in the middle of making it into a hot rod. They swapped out the straight 8 for a Cadillac V8, (Held in by wood 4x4’s for motor mounts.) It took over two years but he, (with the help of my three older siblings and a very understanding wife) did a complete stripped down, every nut and bolt, restoration. Well, sort of… as somethings got left unfinished once he started driving it. One of the car’s biggest claims to fame was the fact that it was shown at the 1964 New York Auto Show in a special exhibit entitled “Cavalcade of the Car”. Sports Illustrated magazine sponsored this display highlighting the top ten cars, as chosen by an esteemed group of designers, engineers and journalists. It covered the first 50 years of the automobile and the 1934 LaSalle convertible coupe was picked for being the first car designed by the use of freeform sketching and a hand sculpted clay model. It showcased such now recognisable elements as; the long hood, short rear deck and low roof line. A look that the Mustang and other pony cars of the 60’s are famous for. After my father passed the car was kept in running condition so that if mom wanted to go for a ride one of us would be able to drive her. Eventually the 35+ year old, never finished, restoration needed a complete redo. My brother purchased the car from my mother and started to do a second body off, nut and bolt, back to factory original restoration. It was now his car and he decided to change things to his liking while still keeping within what was available from the factory at that time. He commissioned Durham Classics to make a die cast copy of the car. They made many variations with a special, limited number version, painted using the last of the original yellow lacquer created by C.I.L. for our car. http://www.durhamclassics.ca/view_mo...sp?modelNum=30 Unfortunately, the years, his and his wife’s health as well as the same financial problems we all face took their toll. He had to sell his big house and move into a much smaller more manageable place. With no big workshop to finish the car he was forced to sell it. The new owner (90 years young) took about 6 months to finish the restoration. He made a few changes from what my brother was going to do. For example he went with a black cloth top versus the beige top my brother had made. The new owner also retained the original style bench seat. My brother had painstakingly research and acquired a pair of period correct bucket seats. The car is spectacular! So good that it won an award at the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance this past September. (It's Canada's top automobile show.) https://www.cobblebeachconcours.com/ I’ve attached a few photos. The first is eleven year old me with my father in the parking lot of the Canadian Automotive Museum circa 1964. A photo of the Limited Edition die cast model in “London to Brighton” Yellow. There’s one of my brother helping to load it up showing how close, yet how far away he was from finishing it. The others show the finished car.

So I’m trying to catch up on some 25 years of Caterham design improvements and I’m not having any luck with one puzzle. Why the “modular interior” on some CSR’s while others have the more tradition look to them? All the added tubing must have come with a weight penalty. Was it to make the chassis more ridged? Or, was tubing sizes changed in other areas to offset the extra tubes in the interior? See attached photos.

Turns out I’m a long time lurker. I was sure I’d joined a decade or two ago.Yet, whenever I try to log in whichever password I use is not found. Soda heck witit! I signed up. I grew up in a motor-vated family. Father started in the garage trade when he was 12. Became a licensed automotive/motorcycle mechanic and then in the early 30’s became a licensed automotive electrician. He switched gears again and became a machinist before the war. Then in the late fifties he used his love and knowledge of electronics and geology to become a sort of crystallographer. He worked for a company that made crystals for frequency control. By the time I came along he was into car racing and restoring old cars. He’d raced motorcycles, power boats, followed the air races and unlimited boats. He’d built his own airplane and all his HAM radio gear. I grew up in this mix of mechanical, engineering, designing, fabricating world were anything was possible. My brothers first built go-karts and then hot rods. Then they bought and modified sports cars and muscle cars. I was first drawn to big horse power. My first car was a 1969 Chevelle SS 427, 425 h.p. M22 four speed with a 12 bolt posi. After a few years and several more cars the costs and corners found me owning a 1974 Europa twin cam. I was hooked! I was a Lotus Owners Club member for about ten years. I fell in lust with the Lotus 7 during those early years of racing at the Glen and Mosport. I wanted one so bad I could taste it. I began a letter campaign with Dave Kaplan which led to a pilgrimage to DSK Cars in Marblehead Mass. The exchange rate in the mid-seventies was near par and I was having trouble dealing with the factory. However, we never quite got things to work out. Then the wife and I had two daughters in less than two years and there went the sporty cars. By the 90’s I had gone through my early racing, karts, cars, motorcycles both on and off road. I was ready to try to get a Lotus/Caterham seven again. This time with the help of a racing friend’s father who was the mechanic for a performance shop called Pickering Prestige. They would help people jump through the hoops to get the kits into Canada. Then offer help to the new owners including assembly. I was ready to buy an original 1968 seven series 2 ½. Yes, that’s the way it was described. I was to go see the car and drive it on a Monday afternoon. BUT… the Saturday before that I drove a newly built Caterham 1700 Super Sprint followed by a nearly new HPC. Oh, how the Caterhams had improved. The test drive in the little Lotus was ok but, I’d tasted forbidden fruit and wanted it. I kick myself for not get that little seven ($12,000 at that time) but hind sight and all. Six months later that 1700 came up for sale. I was ready to put out $30,000 for it. I was emailing the owner my details to conclude the deal when my wife said I’d better hold off a week. Sure enough, a week later she was out of work. She didn’t get another full time job for over six months and by then my Caterham money was gone. I did get back into racing. I started working with the Bridgestone School and racing in their home grown F2000 series. After five years it was time to move on. I’ve bought a couple of street/sport motorcycles and even got the wife into riding. We really enjoyed going south each fall for a week in the Tenn., NC, GA mountains. Was there the same time LOG invaded the south. That CSR that came up on Bring a Trailer got my juices flowing again. SWMBO is not happy. However, after 49 years she knows me and my dreams. She may not be able to get in and out of one but by dang if I get to buy one I’ll find a way for me to! the Dreamer Living life on the edge. Less crowded, better view.