williamwashere

Thanks Bruce! I’m in Texas so every dealer is fairly far for me, I’m glad to hear the Pacific Northwest has so much going on!

I was in Miami for work, and I recalled seeing that a new dealer for Caterham was launched in Miami along with Caterham’s new push into the US market. Meetings ended early, I had an afternoon free, so I took a trip to Walt Grace Vintage. They had a built car on the show floor along with a bunch of other gorgeous vintage cars, mostly for sale. They walked me through what the new ordering process would be for a US-purchased car. A rolling chassis plus an engine from California over doing it as a parts kit seemed like the more natural sales motion for them at this point. It sounds like they have a lot of ambition around making Sevens more common around the US, and Jonathan, who was there from Walt Grace, really was passionate about the project. I mentioned I was already working with Rocky Mountain Caterham but he still wanted to keep talking and showing me around the car. They seem like a great addition to the dealer network here in the US, and this 420R is going to go around the country for track meets and press events for Caterham. He told me some really fun events are about to be announced this one is participating in and he gets to drive them. All around the US. Sounds like they want to get a Cup series started in the US as fast as they can too. Hopefully they’ll get into the USA7s forum and make themselves known. I happened to get lucky. Lee from Caterham UK, who is one of the folks on the other end of the line when you email Caterham for tech support, had flown in to check out this 420R and get it ready for some press stuff. They really want to make it easier to buy a Caterham in the US, and they think they can make it happen. It seems like if they think you’re a serious buyer, and considering this is a demo car, they’ll take it out and give you an actual test drive. Something you just couldn’t do unless you had a friend that already had one before now in the US. He let me drive for about 15 minutes (through Miami traffic), doing a loop around the area. It was a great experience, and both showed me I was absolutely right for wanting one, and that it’s been a while since I didn’t have power steering! If you’re in the market, and near Miami, go check it out. It’s the only place I was able to see one in person.

Wow, I can’t believe you’ve kept a 10 year old engine that clean!! Looks amazing.

I’m doing a build in Houston later this year, and I hadn’t thought of coating the headers instead of insulating them. My primary concern is the Houston heat, has anyone living in a hot climate noticed a difference between coated vs not coated? Also, on color, it’s white or black. Everything else would just look like they couldn’t match your paint IMHO.

That interior does look a lot nicer!

I agree with you but not at that price or performance. My Rivian certainly wouldn’t feel like a Caterham or any track car at that weight, but for $130k before any options I’d really like a sporty EV that can beat a 620R at the same price. Do you really want to buy a slower vehicle around a track that’s more expensive than a 620R for 620 money? The Rivian’s top trim is $30k less. A Tesla is similarly cheaper and it’s even faster. I was really hoping they’d do a Lotus 7 chassis with axial flux hub motors or something, a real track star. Keep it light but then get performance out of it. I would love to be proven wrong, and when we get to see it on the track and hear how it feels I could end up eating crow. But on paper… it’s just not what I was hoping for from them. If they do a track day here in the US and invite Seven owners I’ll try it and wear a silly hat and T-shirt if I’m wrong!

A Tesla Model 3 Performance does 2.8s 0-60, 300 miles of range (EPA range), charges faster, and is $66k or lower depending on if Tesla is having a demand-generating sale. If you just can't buy a Tesla anymore, a Porsche EV is $110k. You're killing me Caterham :'(.

My daily is a Rivian R1T, and my wife drives a Model Y. I'm all-in on Electric, it's the future for non-pleasure driving. This EV is awful. It's simply a worse... everything. Only a 4.5s 0-60 for a $135k EV? Low 200 miles (the 249 mile number in the article is the European measurement, the EPA numbers are lower), 400V architecture so it doesn't charge quickly, and what looks like parts-bin infotainment. And 100KW charging is BEST CASE based on temp and battery status. I cry when my R1T only gets 125KW charging because of temps or something. Remove the infotainment, take out one of the two batteries they have in it and make it a REALLY low mileage EV, make a track machine. You won't sell this thing to daily drivers with this configuration or specs...

I really like the dual color for a wall mount. Good mockups!

lol omg that’s awesome. I love it.

A 2' wall-mounted one that's CNCed with WRGB is much more interesting to me... That seems cool!

Drat, but I'm thrilled we have the guide. Thanks for running that down @JohnCh!

Anybody have an updated link or an archived copy? Looks defunct now :(

Fair enough! Thanks for letting us know!

@hahuang65, I have a couple printers and can print in some UV/heat resistant material like polycarbonate. If we can get the STL file to print it I’m happy to share.

@JohnCh, did you ever share STLs for the Beeline Mount v2 you did? I looked on your blog and I don't see any reference to them being shared anywhere.

lol, because I have nothing to do BUT worry until it gets delivered! And that is quite the list of government paperwork to go through. Thanks for doing this!

Oh man, I’m in Montgomery County too (Pinehurst) and now you have me worried!! I’m trying to get a Spring (the season) build ordered from RMC. It seems like there are a few Sevens in North Houston.

Awesome build!! Love the colors. Which half-hood did you go with?