theDreamer

I replaced the 20 year old tires on my HPC with the same recommended size 205/45 16. My speedometer reads about 10% higher than actual when compared to GPS or road side radar. As for the sump guard, it will have a beneficial side effect. Speaking to Peter Marie earlier this year (he now owns the HPC that I first drove back in in the 90’s) he told me of an over cooling issue the C20xe Sevens are known for. He supplied this answer to his “shroud” in the latest issue of the Lotus Club of Canada’s newsletter which I’ve included. When Caterham shoehorned the tall 2L Vauxhall engine into the Seven they replaced the original oil pan with a bespoke long, shallow, heavily-finned aluminum sump. Additionally they removed the oil to water heat exchanger that was fitted between the oil filter and oil pump. This was all done to provide adequate ground clearance. Unfortunately these changes made for a very cold running engine. The heavily finned sump is really a non-thermostatically controlled oil cooler. It kept the oil temperature at an ideal maximum of 95°C when hammering the car on the track on a warm summer day—but on the street even on a hot 35°C summer day the oil temperature rarely got above 80°C. On a cooler 20°C day I'd be lucky to see 65°C, and on a cold day the oil would struggle to get above 50°. That of course is way too cold for a long engine life. So I made a ‘Shroud’. [Thermal Blanket] It prevents air flow under the sump and retains engine heat. I now get the oil up over 80°C on a 10° to 25° day which is at least okay. One advantage of the low oil temperature in the carb'ed engine, with no starting choke, is that I can run a light 0W-20 engine oil which greatly improves the car's starting and driveability when cold. Plus proper oil flow at 80°C oil temperature. Plus at the track the shroud can be removed to maximize oil cooling. Note: My car was ordered with an oil cooler. However, it was removed at some point probably because it was overkill.

The Lotus Club of Canada’s winter “E” newsletter just showed up in my in-box. The wife and I appear in this issue driving through Bronte Creek Provincial Park on the way to our assigned parking area. This was our first time showing a car at British Car Day. This year was not the largest turn out but it was very close. See the image, Bronte by the Numbers.

Purple Rain is in a state of slumber. I filled the tank with fresh premium grade and a little two stroke oil then drove around for about 20 minutes before parking it at home. The indoor cover is on and I can easily roll the car forward and back several feet so no need to worry about flat spots. Good thing is if we get another sunny spell I can hop in a go for a blat. Once they start salting the roads though it’ll be spring before we hit the open road again. Looking back over the summer we covered only 2668 miles (about 4300 km’s) but those were some epic outings. We attended over a dozen car shows, (took a 2nd in class at one) and attended at least one Cruise Night per week. I did not document the shows and rallies on this site. However, if you follow the UK club site or the Lotus 7 & Caterham Cub Canada Facebook page you would have seen all that. Here is a brief look back of some highlights in photos.

Congratulations on the Green with Yellow nose C20xe. We are very happy with the 1993 HPC that we bought earlier this year. It had about the same mileage but I don’t think anywhere near the level of care in its later years. We will fix things as they come up. As for your seating I agree with the others, go for the adjustable buckets. I’m only 5’4” so I have the seat moved up so I can reach the pedals. I don’t like that this puts the steering wheel so close to my chest. I’m used to a 60’s style arms straight out driving style. I think I can move the pedals back towards the seat which will allow me to move back. However, I like my position to the shifter for 3rd and 5th gears. So I’ve left things for now. We’ve only driven 2668 miles so far so I’m still learning. Oh, I’m close behind you as I’ll be 71 next month.

Everyone wants videos. The “lookie lous” are wanting to hear the engine make noise and get a taste of the speed. Real buyers want to be able to read the gauges while the car is moving and listen for signs of trouble. Most videos have terrible wind noise and are useless for detecting problems. When doing videos do not forget to shoot several of the car passing the camera. I had an MV F3 up for sale and a gentleman drove over 8 hours round trip to see it. He obviously was serious and had the money so I let him take it for a ride. He went down to end of our road then up past us to the stop sign at the top of our road and back. He hummed and hawed for over an hour. I offered to through in an MV riding jacket with built in armour. It fit him better than it did me. In the end he decided to pass. I sent him an email with a couple of photos of him on the bike and a short video of him riding past our driveway. The next day after seeing that video he emailed back that he’d take the bike without the jacket at the agreed upon price.

How does one go about finding out the unknowns for a car like this one? It looks to be in great shape with no signs of water stains or damage from debris. I believe there are three types of flood waters, salt water, rain or overland water and sewage back up. If this car did get flooded I’d say it was rain or overland and not submerged. It is possible that it was on a lift and didn’t really get very wet at all. But, how does one know? It’s very low mileage if I’ve broken down the VIN correctly. SDK= Manufacturer code for Caterham L= Left hand drive L= Live axle K= Kit built A= Chassis type NS= Engine not supplied V= Model year 1997

Just posted up on BaT. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-westfield-sei/

OMG, what a deal! That beautiful green and ginger Sigma Super Seven 1600 on Cars & Bids sold for only $37k. There’s about $60K in invoices in the gallery. That new Super Seven 2000 on Hemings is $86K. https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3vYkXyLj/2020-caterham-super-seven

Just posted on BaT, Formula 27 Honda CBR1100 powered Seven-esque roadster in NC. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/formula-27-lotus-seven-roadster/

How’d an early Steelbro (Steel Brothers) Series 4 (oh excuse me MK 4) Lotus Seven end up in Pennsylvania?

The owner states that life changes are forcing him to sell so this one is back up: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-caterham-7-4/

Did not reach reserve but the seller says it was close. Look for it being advertised on another site in the near future.

Update: On the Victims of Classic Car theft ring Facebook page more people have come forward to say their cars have been seized. It has now spilled over into Quebec where numerous cars are known to have been sold. I believe at this time at least four families have been contacted by the Sûreté du Québec. Plus, it’s not just collector cars but daily drivers and RV’s too! https://www.facebook.com/groups/472241915546522 Also, the CBC aired a spot last week on both regional and national news programs which brought out some new information. You may view the segment on YouTube or on the CBC site. You should also read the text as there is some info in the video not in the text and vice versa. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-classic-car-theft-ring-1.7336571

Removed

As I’ve mentioned in other threads the wife and I have been attending a Ducati rally in the area since 1999. https://usa7s.net/ips/topic/14607-tail-of-the-dragon-with-an-interesting-friend/#comment-138333 I agree, far too many crashes. If you wish to enjoy the drive do it early morning mid-week. There are so many otherer roads with less traffic within 1 -2 hours of Robbinsville. Our group usually stays in Murphy and goes in a different direction each day. We had hoped to get a trailer hitch and light trailer for the wife’s Crosstrek Wilderness to take our purple pocket rocket back down this coming weekend. However, the sister-in-law has been in and out of hospital and we figured it was just a matter of time. The funeral is tomorrow so we made the right call. But next year we plan on making at least one trip down that way with our seven. I may have shared this map before but here it is again. Its not to scale and nearly 30 years old but gives a good idea of all the other routes open to explore.

I know I’m late to this party but I thought I’d share what the Original Owner of my car had done about electrical outlets. He sent a three page letter of instructions for changes, additions and corrections to George Alderman et al. He wanted the assembly people to add, fix or change things which included the following: Auxiliary Electrical Outlets. Please mount (2) outlets on the inside of the firewall on the passenger side to accept detector and phone. These are up against the box between the heater vents and the fuse panel. I find them very easy to use whether I plug in an old style cigarette adapter, (like on my old Garmin) or one of the new style USB adapters to charge phones.

I guess someone else designed the HPC 16” wagon wheels as my car does not have that problem.

Most of you probably know nothing about this story or may have seen a brief news report about it. However, its big news in the Canadian car community since the story first broke back in May. In late 2023, OPP in Lambton County in southwestern Ontario launched an investigation after receiving a complaint of stolen vehicles with a combined value of approximately $3 million. It’s important to note that no number was released as to how many cars were stolen just that the total was estimated at $3M. This came about when an employee of Grogan Classics went to Service Ontario to change the registrations on some 100 vehicles from one Grogan Company to another. OPP say their extensive investigation led to a search warrant being issued on May 14 at an address in Stirling, a rural community 25 kilometres north of Belleville and approximately 450 kilometres east of Lambton County. I live just 10 minutes south west of Stirling Ontario. Investigators located several of the reported stolen vehicles, including some classic cars. Police also seized 16 vehicles from the two accused as proceeds of crime. Robert Bradshaw, 54, and Gary Leblanc, 55, both of Stirling, Ont., were arrested and each charged with theft of motor vehicles over $5,000, fraud over $5,000, using forged documents and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Leblanc was also charged with uttering threats. However, here’s “the rest of the story” so far. Many of the stolen cars were owned by Grogan Classics of Watford Ontario. It’s believed that Robert Bradshaw had some arrangement for the buying, selling and/or storing of vehicles for Grogan Classics. Somehow a large number of cars changed hands supposedly without Grogan’s knowledge. Many of these cars were sold and legally registered to new owners between 2020 and 2024. Now, years later Grogan Classics claims they were stolen and wants them back. There is proof that a few owners notified Grogan of problems when trying to register their vehicles. In one case Grogan Classics couriered revised paperwork so the registration was correct for the new owner, or so they thought. In another case Grogan Classics bought back a vehicle with incorrect paperwork. So far many other cars have been seized by law enforcement including the one that Grogan supplied corrected paperwork for. Plus, in some cases these seized vehicles have already been returned to Grogan Classics. This seems to be in direct conflict with current laws that require the vehicles be impounded until such time that their status is verified. It also means those people whose cars were seized are out of pocket not just the original purchase price but also the thousands of dollars spent repairing, restoring or upgrading. Those affected are looking into their legal options. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a60898832/police-canada-recover-stolen-classic-cars/ https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/warmington-couple-left-stunned-after-legally-registered-car-seized https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-classic-car-owner-latest-to-have-legally-registered-vehicle-seized https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/08/police-allege-larry-grogan-is-rightful.html?m=0&template=default

The only Seven content here is that we (along with about 40 other vehicles) were asked to participate in a “by invitation only” car show. It was in conjunction with a fly-in at a private air field. So I thought this was the likely place to post this story. The variety of cars, trucks and military vehicles was exceptional. From WWII jeeps through customs and muscle cars, sports, grand touring and the star of the cars, the Ferguson Super Sport. Same goes for the aircraft. There were old and new, home built, experimental, float and water planes, a helicopter, and the star of the aircraft our hosts P-51D Mustang. I wasn’t able to get a photo of Purple Reign with the ‘Stang as it was surrounded by Ford Mustangs and that gorgeous Ferguson Super Sport. You can read more about the Ferguson here: https://driving.ca/feature/the-ferguson-super-sport-was-a-homemade-sports-car-built-from-the-avro-arrows-ashes Oh that dual track device that the P-51's tail wheel sits in is a remote control tractor. That is how they move the plane around and into, out of the hanger.

Hoooolleee crap! They only built 17 T202’s. You should (if not already) join the Lola Heritage forum. http://www.lolaheritage.co.uk/index.html

I’m colour blind and didn’t understand the first photo with the white pick-up or why you chose to mount your flag at the front. I've seen them on the rear one even added a light on the top. Then I went back to the first photo and saw the flag and now understand why it needs to be at the front.

We have now driven through three major rain events. (The last one just a week ago that produced an EF1 Tornado with winds of 165KPH. It was some distance to the west of our location as we hightailed it east.) Our car hasn’t missed a beat do to water. However, there is a leak somewhere that allows water to drip down into the interior from the shelf. I’ve been meaning to look into getting some sort of filter to prevent objects getting into the engine via those large mesh screens on the velocity stacks. I’d say that “itg” form filter makes your car much better off than mine.

It’s interesting when you mix in quirky British sports cars with old North American Iron. You get some really strange questions. It maybe your first time but not the first time a Seven has been in the mix at such an event. This year we’ve been to dozens mixed car shows. Funny, we have yet to win a prize. Got beat out by cars like a '63 VW Beetle and twice by the same '78 Honda Civic. Oh well, still a lot of fun to attend.

I read a good post about this spring thing on the C&L7 Club BlatChat. Funny, in any of the books or manuals I have read I found no mention of the need to preload the release bearing with a spring or two. Another thing on the ever growing list. Check your email. ta

Yep, 50 years last month. With all the cars, motorcycles, racing on two and four wheels we have done she knows her stuff. Not to mention she was in the motorcycle/automobile industry for over 45 years.