theDreamer

I was hoping one of the shops that frequent USA7’s would come back with an answer. Same goes for why I’ve posted on sites like Lotus 7 & Caterham Club Canada’s Facebook Page. Terry admins that page and owns 7Cars, (7cars.ca). If anyone had something I’d have thought they’d have made contact with me by now. I have filled out those auto-generated forms on sites like, Redline and Kampena Motors as well. So far I have two offers from the UK if I come and pick ‘em up. I posted on the UK sites because I now owners from North America often check them out.

Car failed safety for a couple of minor items, brake lights not working and turn signals intermittent. The mechanic also found a host of niggly problems. The oil pan is leaking from the gasket, two leaks in the rad (more serious) and the car needs a new cam belt. Plus, I gave him a list of things he still has to address like, temp gauge doesn’t seem to work, there is a clicking sound we could hear when the car was just idling and the clutch pedal is ridiculously hard to operate. These are all the type of things I expected from a car that has sat more than it has been driven. But I did ask the seller about things I should be made away of. I mean it took 7 weeks to get the car so if I had a heads up I could of had parts and a game plan. Now this means the car won’t be ready until sometime next week. Yet another frustrating item, the tires the wife ordered hadn’t shown up on time. Then we learned they only shipped four instead of the five that she ordered and paid for. Two hours of waiting on the phone, sending emails and leaving voice messages got us a, “we’re sorry, we didn’t notice that you had ordered five until after the four had been sent. We will be shipping you the fifth tire shortly.” So get this, the first four are coming from Quebec but the fifth tire is here in Ontario. Guess what? Yep, the lone tire showed up on Thursday. The other four were to arrive on Good Friday. Surprise! They didn’t. The wife got notification that they would be delivered today, Saturday before noon. Well, we had to go out. When we get back there were three, YES, only three tires waiting for us. More text messages and we’re told the fourth was on another truck and would be here shortly. Well, I’m typing this at 10:45pm and no tire! How frickin’ hard is it to read and fill and ship an order for a company that is a 100% on-line business? FRAKIN' 'ELL!!!!

Well, the car is here and I hope to bring it home this coming week. Caterham seem to be out of stock. Although they tell me that sometimes if you ask they suddenly have what you’re looking for. Also, I haven't heard back from Redline yet so I'm bumping this just in case someone has unearthed some old hood sticks. Might be from a race car, a wreck or just something that they picked up just in case.

Oh I get to play this now too. Well, the wife took the photo as I was to busy going through the boxes and stuff. This was her way of saying; We are finally seeing the sunshine breaking through the clouds.

Well, it’s almost over. The car was picked up in Utah last Monday 18th. It cleared customs and entered Canada Thursday 21st but then, didn’t reach the shop that is doing the safety inspection until this morning Tuesday 26th. Seven weeks since I won the auction.(And no, the symbolic nature of these synchronistic events, that being waiting seven weeks to get my Super Seven in my seventieth year is not lost on me.) I’m hoping they can get everything done by Thursday so I can get the ownership and plates switched before the long weekend. If not then I have another week to wait. So far the car is better than expected in terms of condition, bonus extras and work performed by the seller after the sale at no charge. The transport company on the other hand, not so much. I already knew that engines with Webbers don’t like to start in the cold. My new car is no exception. Here are a few photos from today’s delivery and a couple of very short videos. It makes me laugh when guys show “cold start” videos and it fires right up. Ah NOPE! It don’t happen like that. Even letting it warm up a bit it still doesn’t want to run. https://youtu.be/4h3pjEwmDKk https://youtu.be/n1X559_VvOc

Wayne, your car is older than mine and also has a vertical roll bar. I bet the dimensions from the roll bar to the leading edge of the windshield will be greater than that of Mudder's half roof. If it fit his it would fit mine.

Here's a photo of short K&N's in a Birkin. (I didn't realize the engine bay was that much wider than an S2/S3) Also a nifty custom built air box with clear plexy that looks like it'll fit under a Lotus/Caterham bonnet.

Martin has been helping me as well. Although, he can’t do anything at this time because all his files are in boxes for the big move. I think he has a great job and he seems to really enjoy it. As to your #47 having plaque #14 it may be a simple case of each Prisoner car got a plaque but in no particular order. Case in point, I have a Ducat 900 SS Final Edition, #084. However, I learned that when the bikes were being built the plaques were mounted to the top triple clamp and then set aside until needed. It wasn’t unheard of to have a high number plaque put on a bike built weeks before a clamp with a much lower number was used. Meaning, there was no correlation between VIN number and plaque number.

My car has a similar wire mesh set up. It appears in the photos to have something behind the mesh. Perhaps some filter foam or just a wad of panty hose material. I won’t know until I get to see the car, (hopefully later today or Monday). However, if nothing is there I’ll figure out some way to affix foam inside or at the very least over the mouths on the outside. MoBoost, I can see how those big foam pods would interfere with taking the bonnet off and on. With the stock K&N chrome ones you have to physically remove the first one if you have clam shell front fenders. Stevensonjr, you might think about getting some air filter foam and cutting a wedge to fit inside the scoop. Glue or use double sided tape to affix it to the inside of the scoop so that it’ll squish up against the inlets when the bonnet is in place.

I have seen, sat in or driven a variety of Lotus and Caterham sevens over the decades. To be honest, I do not think that there was ever any two with the same pedal spacing. I will agree, seeing your CSR’s stock pedal locations make absolutely zero sense. Best pedal spacing I have personal knowledge of was in a Caterham that had been upgraded by James Whiting. The spacing was just right for me, (first photo). I suspect it didn’t come from the factory like that. Looking at photos of my own car it appears that I’ll have to do some shimming and tweaking to get the spacing right (second photo). I won’t know for sure until it arrives sometime in the next three to five days.

barbox, I would have preferred to buy a seven privately. However, going through an established company like BaT takes a lot of the worry out of it. You know they have vetted the seller and done some leg work to verify what is being presented for sale is as advertised. Still, it is not a perfect system as seen over the last year with auctions being pulled and cars being resold. Having said that, buying sight unseen off the internet in my mind has to be the one way of purchasing most fraught with dangers and undesirable types. It’s more likely to end in tears for the buyer. If someone is honest and truly wants to sell an item then they should be willing to answer any and all questions. They should bend over backwards to help potential buyers make a decision. If they are not quick to reply, do not return phone calls, send you photos that are out of focus or not of what you specifically asked about then run, RUN AWAY! The best thing is to find someone who lives near the item who has some knowledge about the subject and is willing to go an act as your eyes. Best thing for this is a cell phone camera and a good long distance phone plan! I can call anywhere in North America and send/receive up to 120GB’s of data at no charge. If it’s in southern Ontario I’d gladly go look it over for you.

Oh great, more BS to deal with. I have a quote from Hagerty and it’s about what I was paying for my BRZ. The Subaru is gone now so the wife called to have it removed from the policy. I asked to her to inquire as to how much to put the Caterham on. Well, first thing was she went from paying just over $1000 per year for her 2024 Crosstrek to over $1800 per year. Why? It seems that she has not been off work long enough to be able to claim “Retired Discount” which she was getting with me. Plus, we lost the “two car discount”, the “two line discount” and I now have to be listed as a second driver on her car. (Like I wasn’t allowed to drive her vehicle or she mine before? And what about her getting my retired discount, WTF??) She argued like a lawyer but got nowhere. So she dropped that and went on to add the Caterham as a sunny day, low yearly mileage, fun machine. We will have to get it appraised but for the sake of this quote we went with $60,000. The agent comes back with $1700 per year, both vehicles. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE PEOPLE? We will pay less for two vehicles than for just one! Now I have to find a reasonably priced appraiser who knows Caterhams. Plus, my car is still in Utah! ACK!

Croc, the owner of the 360R has decided to keep his car. I waited until now thinking he'd mention it.

Too bad your car doesn't have a heated windshield as that would be your defroster. I had heard, (although I have no actual knowledge of) that carrying anti fog products had worked here in Canada, years ago.

You can use the stock rear shafts and front spindles with a wire wheel conversion kit. The wife had 1964 AH Sprite with real knock off wire wheels. However, the short splined shafts actually mounted to the standard wheel studs. You get the best of both worlds. You could have wire wheels for that period feel and then swap them for steel wheels and hubcaps or Minilites for spirited drives. There are several on the market. Here is one: https://mossmotors.com/455-496-cp-wire-wheel-conversion-kit-for-spitfire-1962-80

Here are three photos. One is of my HPC 16” KN wheel with lug nuts in place. The second is of a refurbished Prisoner wheel for sale. It does not have nor does it look like it should have any inserts. The third is of a single lug nut which I believe is similar to the ones on my car. You did not mention what year or type your car is. Older I assume will be Ford pattern and Imperial Standard. Its the newer cars that will be Metric.

In my best George Takei voice; OOoohh My!

One of the best logos I’ve seen is from the on-line forum group for the Ducati Monster. When Texas Pacific Group bought Ducati in 1997 they wanted to change its image. They started with a new logo comprising of the name Ducati in bold capital letters followed by a circle transected on the left side by an angled line. It was a stylized capital “D”! The Monsters are Ducati’s “hooligan” model line and so the Monster.Org crew took that concept and ran with it. They applied a spray painted zig zag to that straight line transforming the “D” to an “M”. I thought that was freakin’ genius.

I think you are correct. The angled roll bar is probably what makes the difference. Too bad to. But thank you for posting this error. Now I know what not to buy.

I am not sure that means the car has been crashed and rebuilt three times. (Although, I may be wrong.) I think that it may have had one big rebuild. Every time it’s been registered in a new state after that it shows up on the new state’s title as “Reconstructed”. Three different owners registering for the street, three different states reconstructed titles. As far as price, it'll bring what ever that one person is willing to pay over what every one else is prepared to spend.

Every club has it's "origin story". What is USA7s? Where did the 7 with a tail logo come from? (I didn't know where to post this. If you think it should go under another group please move it.)

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1997-caterham-super-seven-3/

Hi Frank, I see this is your first post. Looks like an amazing car to get started with. I have a tendency to get all excited about things I like and sometimes I over look stuff that’s right there in front of me. May I suggest that you re read the ad, look at the photos and re read the comments that have been made. I think you’ll discover, (with a little Google search help) the answers to your questions. 1) Croc points out that the photos were taken at Beachman Racing. That’s in Redmond, WA. The seller says he hasn’t taken delivery yet so it’s probably still there. 2) The seller does say that the car has been “…road tested and runs fine.” So I’d say it’s complete. 3) The seller also states; “Further spec details and price available upon request.” I’d read that to mean, via Private Message. 4) The seller does say; “…I wanna sell it.” 5) If you look at the photos it appears to be a 5 speed “R” type shift knob. However, I may be mistaken, it’s been known to happen. 6) It’s a 2022 360R. A quick search of the Caterham site will show you that it’s a De Dion. 7) Again, it’s a 360R. That means it’s powered by a Ford Duratec 1999cc, 4-cylinder, naturally aspirated with max power of 180 h.p. 8) See answer #2 I hope this helps.

As the original owner hasn’t found them yet… I’m looking for roof bows, (hood sticks) for a 90’s imperial, standard chassis S3. Also would like a half roof. Used preferably, but in good nick as they say. If nothing shows up I'll have to go new.

For obvious reason I’m not in the market but… I'd love to see images. Unfortunately they don’t show up for me. All I see is a little broken window looking thing.