williamwashere

I’m tempted but $599 is steep. How often are you all doing alignments?

Keep an eye out for mine! Silver 420R Left-hand drive, green cage. It's being built as a kit so at most you'd see a shelf of parts I think but it should be in there now. Have fun on the tour!

He says 15%. Signs paperwork that says 10%. My car ships in late March, April-ish, it's all a mystery for me, and if for some reason it takes 5-months + 1 day it might be 0% (unless congress extends it, which I doubt). So.... it'll be a surprise for me, or it will be some extra for a dash-cam. I'm glad my business isn't importing things right now.

How do you like the harness? I asked Josh to do it for track days, but I keep thinking maybe it was a mistake because I’ll be driving it a lot more often on weekends. Is it too annoying to get on/off? I was also toying with the idea of sending off for some Eccles mirror brackets made from titanium or anodized aluminum, I have the STL files so we could get them made in titanium for about $150/side.

They have been responsive and helpful. I hear back within 48 hours when I ask a question, and they haven’t been pushy. They also give advice that hasn’t always been trying to upsell me, and even talked me out of a few options based on my use case. Had an issue when ordering around paint selection (trying to match the vinyl pinstripe to roll cage color) and proactively relayed some photos he asked the factory to take. Overall, I’ve been satisfied! For them, it will land in Galveston, TX, then go to Colorado, and then comes to me. No advice yet, I don’t know what I don’t know! You’ll spend a lot of time on build blogs waiting for it to ship!

I’m getting one now, in factory as we speak. Truth is, we won’t know until it shows up exactly what it is going to cost. Pre-supreme court ruling, Rocky Mountain Caterham had me budgeting about 12% overall. Chassis has a different rate than the engine, so the 12% number is a blended amount. In theory, now that everything is 15%, it is going up. From Rocky Mountain Caterham: Basically we are seeing appx $1k in tariffs for every $10k in kit cost, plus $1500-$1800 on the drivetrain components. So for example, a $65k 360S kit is seeing about $6500 in tariffs on the chassis portion, and $1500-$1800 on the drivetrain. An $85k 420 Cup is seeing about $8500 on the chassis kit, and $1500-$1800 on the drivetrain. So in aggregate it's probably around 12 percent.

lol, not related to anything, but when I first read that I was trying REALLY hard to understand why you were blaming the World Health Organization for this.

Fair question! With a car that has “hasn’t changed a lot in decades” as a selling point buying a used one is sensible. The thing I wanted though was a simple, fun car I could build with my family. The “I built it myself” premium is worth it to me instead of buying a used one. Haven’t decided yet if building it myself and with the kids will make me treat it like a museum piece or if I’ll feel permission to really thrash it around or drill holes in it. We will find out!

Very frustrating. I'm trying to buy a kit now, and it's a mystery what the cost will be. And even if all of this is wiped out down the line, if I'd be entitled to a refund. Unless you're the importer of record, the answer is probably no. Buy it from Amazon or a Caterham dealer and it's just "baked in" to the price? You won't get a refund. Those vendors WILL get your refund though, and that will be quite the cash windfall for them. And then you can either sue them (and probably lose, because you never made an agreement to get refunded any costs specific to these shenanigans) or they can refund you out of the goodness of their hearts. What a way to run an economy.

My 420R is being built now, hopefully here by May. I optioned in the carbon fiber seats. I’ve tried the composite seats and the carbon fiber seats, and the “fit” on the body is surprisingly different! The composites felt much tighter. I could spend a lot more time in the carbon fiber seats. I’m on the North side, Tomball area. I was planning on doing a build log when it comes in, mostly for my own reference when I need to remember what I did! But then you’ll be able to see when it’s in a “sit-in-able” state!

I’m in Houston with an SV on the way. I tried an S3 and SV, and actually what I think mattered more was the seat, see if you can try the seat you’re interested in. You can get lowered floors if you’re tall. I am 5’8”, 185lb for reference. I could have comfortably fit in either. With a passenger we’d have to be very friendly in an S3. If I was getting it as a weekend car I’d get the SV, if I was purely interested in track times I’d get the S3.

Wow! That looks great!

Count me in! Skeleton design too, looks more like a neon sign. In fact, over just doing LED strip I wonder if it’s the same width as LED neon rope like here. And sorry, I don’t see what you’re doing, is there plastic diffuser in front of the LEDs in your test? I assume that’s the polypropylene you’re using? You might be able to eliminate that entirely if you use the neon rope light.

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!