theDreamer

If only the BDR seven was in the condition and location of the rotary car... Both are projects but one much more so than the other.

But isn't that the whole idea, I mean to drive more viewers to their adds. I'd think they'd be happy about it. It's not like Croc or this site is making money off of just sharing a URL.

I came across an interesting car that sold by auction in 2022 and is now up for sale by a high end dealer. I think someone went a little to extreme in lowering the shift knob. The first photo is from the auction ad. The second is from the current ad and you can see it is now much lower.

Congrats! I'm so jelly... I thought I had a chance to join the club today but I guess I really didn't. Oh well the search continues for the rest of us.

Well, I was the guy from Canada (or at least one of, if there were more). As soon as I read that ad I knew it was meant to be my car. It's like what I would have ordered if I had the money back in the day. Not the fastest, biggest HP tire shredding beast some people lust after. Just a nice mix of go, turn, stop in a stripped down package. Plus, the seller lived just 30 minutes from Marblehead MA. where DSK Cars was located. To me, that’s the spiritual home of Sevens in North America. I hope whoever got it paid through the nose. I wish them many miles of problems and frustration. (Oh wait, that’s most seven owners. Never mind.) I really hope that it doesn’t show up on BaT in a couple of weeks with fresh tires and quickie detail job. Now that would really frost my cookies!

Well now I know why he didn't return my calls or PM's. Geezzz, I had found his home address and home phone number but was being typically the polite Canadian. So how did you find out it sold?

You go get that Birkin and let me try for this one. Seller sent me his phone number but says not to call until after 2:30. I'll be on the road then and will not be able to call until closer to 5:00. How did you get the photos?

Hi Paul, we share so many common interests. I’m a big Rickenbacker fan and guitars in general. I used to play finger style and own three Andrew White custom builds and a Duane Noble built harp guitar. Also love Italy. The wife and I spent 10 days touring Tuscany as well as Bologna and Modena as guests of Ducati. Speaking of which, I still have one motorcycle left. A 1998 900 SS Final Edition we bought new as a 25th wedding present to ourselves. I know a little bit of what you’re going though as the wife sold her Ducati Indiana to the then CEO of Ducati. He had a devil of a time to get the bike back into Italy. I love what you’ve done with your Westfield too. Hoping to hear more about you and your seven’s adventures in Italy.

The ad says "calls only" but I can't figure out how to find a phone number. I sent a reply through the ad.

I know exactly how I feel about it. I'm just to polite to post it. I hope he upgraded the stub axles and bearings

On that thought, a good one for a Caterham would be a play on "The Cat's Pajamas". Perhaps CATS PJS. (Ontario can have 8 characters including a space.) I also like KIT CAT, FAST CAT and FASTKITY

This is the same car that was listed on BaT just the other day? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/caterham-roadsport/

Any questions re; cars & parts https://birkindirect-usa.com/

Ian, you need to find a copy of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car November 2014 Issue 111. In it there is an article called: Restoration Profile: A spectacular Lotus Seven emerges from its owner's garage. I'm sure a lot of your questions will be answered. From working on early open wheeled Lotus race cars I know that the frames were painted gray. The images I found online from the above article looks like the fender, interior and rear boot cover piping are white. Remember, Google is your friend. (oops, I see I'm a little late with this info.)

The story I was told decades ago was that they came with the area around "COSWORTH" painted. However, the paint used didn't hold up and would blister and flake off. So many 2nd, 3rd and so on owners never knew this. (See photos). Your car, your choice.

All my Seven books are packed away however, a search of the internet has shown many early sevens with a flat top tunnel. Some have the long bent shifter and one had an extension arm. (see photos) But just as many had short levers or short, slightly bent levers. I think there was a reason for it in the early cars. It carried over until they realized it was more work to fabricate and was no longer needed.

Not seven specific but how about: 4U2NV

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.