randychase

The quirks of ordering cars from Caterham are legendary. But this is beyond that. I was at the unboxing of Frizille's car and it was a stunning moment to say the least. The crate was properly numbered. The bits stuck in the car (seats, wings, nosecone) were all properly numbered. And the car itself was numbered with the other number. A small mistake but with far greater impact. We hope to get this sorted out. To be clear the error happened in the crating, and I think I have been told that Caterham UK contracts with a separate crating/shipping company and that is where the error happened. Jon in Denver does not open crates and has no part of the blame. The other unfortunate thing to see, once the crate was opened, was a rather noticeable dent in the bonnet. That had to have happened before crating. So now the goal is to find out if the correct roller is in a crate in the USA (most likely) and how to swap the crates.

I found side wind deflectors very useful in stopping the wind up the outside nostril issue.

I think the best I have seen are Chris Harris's review and also UK Top Gear. The 3 wheel vehicles seem much more about fun than real performance.

Looks great!

+1. I had my son excluded also on my specialty vehicles.

Or.....The kits we built all included a single knob from Caterham exactly like that. I installed a 5 speed. If I truly cared... I could have bought a new knob. I did not care.

Let me know if you are interested in a used 1000 mile CSR, well maintained and less than one year old. Or a CSR kit that only needs an engine, but well optioned. I just sold my blue SV car for under $40K. A steal really IMO.

I would add one more thing... the price of paint may tend to have me consider the bare metal and having the car wrapped once it arrives here. That would be my choice.

Stuff that was hard: 1. The documentation for the build is very good. Until you get to the stuff that is different from the UK builds. I do not know if Superformance has created new docs but our builds required some better information once we hit the USA stuff. 2. Engine changes for the top end and how to assemble the sump in what was the R400. I needed some special tools for swapping out the cams and springs. Using a stock duratec would be easier and not require much knowledge. 3. Those snaps. Agreed with Daniel the tool that is supplied is not what you want. I upgraded to a tool. Then try to not get the material too tight. I learned this the hard way. The temps make a big difference in the amount of stretch and better to have some slack to reduce stress on the snaps. 4. If you have a windshield, it is fiddly to get that rubber sealing strip looking good. 5. Drilling holes in the wings takes some care. 6. I designed brackets so I did not have to drill the body for the license plate or fog and reverse lights. They worked great. 7. It can be a tight fit to get the drivetrain in. We found it was easier to do with 3 people. And use a leveler on the cherry picker. One person operates the picker. One guides in around the frame. One under the car to align the driveshaft. You don't need this, but it was easier that way. 8. I made a list of needed tools. Let me know if you want it. In fact I documented the entire build and did a time lapse video of it and took many pictures. 9. If you do the build, check inventory to see if anything is missing and then notify the dealer. Some things are done at the end and then to find you are missing some critical part and it will take 4-6 weeks to get, is frustrating.

Good replies from Taber10. Here are my thoughts. QUOTE=Cranky;87225]I'm looking at the specs for new Caterhams and I have a lot of questions. For context, I'm looking for Caterham that will be fun to drive on the roads. It will see very little, if any, track time or autocrossing. I have no experience driving anything vaguely similar. 1) The 280 comes with 14" wheels, the 360 comes with 13" wheels, and the 480 comes with 15" wheels. What difference does it make and why would I prefer one set of wheels over the other? You may have more difficulty finding replacement tires for the 13" wheels. The wheel gap is also slightly larger that you may not like as much. Otherwise I do not think for you it matters much. It is easy at add an anti-sub belt. IMO, I would rather have it as part of the kit if possible though. If you buy the harness with the car, you forgo the lap belt and your bolts will be supplied for the shoulder harness straps. Not. Not. Adds complexity and reduces storage and possibly increases a potential for someone to set it off. I do like carrying a small bottle though. More handy even because it can be used on someone else's car. As mentioned it is good for theft prevention or just people messing with stuff. I like to leave the key in because it is a pain to insert and remove. But take the battery cut off switch with me (and sometimes the steering wheel). It is also good for not draining the battery when parked. Everything is off! I think for you it is only if you like the looks. Some people feel strongly that the 6 speed is far superior. Me... I don't know. I am cheap and I liked the 5 speed good enough. Makes sense though because a lot of the work is installing the drivetrain. Bolting on the suspension, brakes, etc is not that hard. Unassembled means you indeed get a roller body and all the parts that bolt on and no engine or gearbox. By law in most states, you will have to source the engine and gearbox from a separate source. Do it if the idea of building it sounds like a lot of fun to you. Otherwise do not. I think it does not take a lot of experience, just be methodical and careful. Plan on many trips to get tools and fluids and things you did not consider. Expect to spend 100-150 hours of time. If you do a good job I do not see resale impacted much. Maybe you can ask a bit more if you sell some day and say that a well known shop built it. But for me, after a few years on the road, that means very little. My 2 cents

Yeah, it looks better in person really. But the response was pretty much against it. And really, it was not a proper attempt as it was a CSR Seven with a body kit. A really nice kit. But you can see the car underneath. It is unfortunate that pic is used with the story because they are not connected. The Aero Seven was shelved and that is NOT the car they are working on.

Some positive press http://auto.ndtv.com/news/caterham-confirms-new-flagship-sports-car-577787

Thank you. PDR Pro demo - YouTube

A bit ironic. Rumor is the team will still be called Caterham. So yes, a team named Lotus and a team named Caterham....neither of which have any connection to their car companies.

According to journalist (and Caterham Board member) Joe Saward, Tony F is not selling off Caterham Cars. But a consortium of Swiss-Middle eastern business interests are buying the F1 team with details to come on Wednesday.

The big question is what this does to the rest of the TF holdings that were all a part of this. The whole point of owning Caterham Cars was to be able to leverage the branding of the F1 team. Take away the F1 team... does he still keep Caterham Cars?

Tweets coming from Tony F seem to indicate he is either selling or folding his F1 involvement. No word on Cars other than he really likes Caterham Cars. “ @tonyfernandes F1 hasn’t worked but love Caterham Cars.” Then Tony deleted his twitter account.

available! https://www.dmv.ca.gov/ipp2/initPers.do

If you use the link, you can see what is available, and you may be surprised to find most good choices (like LNDSHRK) are already taken.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/ipp2/initPers.do This one is available. I like it anyway.

There was just a large meet up last weekend! It involved Cars and Coffee and more... http://californiacaterhamclub.com/chat/showthread.php?2200-Assault-on-Mt-Palomar-2014

http://skiddmark.com/2014/06/caterham-2/

The unfortunate thing about all of this, is that for Tony F, the F1 team only made sense as a way of branding his global car company. A global car company needs street cars, not just Sevens. To make these street cars, he needed a partner like Renault. No partner...no street cars. No street cars... not enough reason to spend millions on F1. The leaked memo a few weeks ago said it was all for sale. This was later spun into an "investment offering."

My 2 cents: http://www.britishspeed.com/forum/showthread.php?7984-Caterham-Group-for-sale-%28with-Lotus-content%29

It is a bit complicated. To take it a little futher: In California- If a dealer of a car sells you the car in the state, the dealer is obligated to collect sales tax on the purchase, based on your city of residence in California, regardless of location of registration. The residence determines the tax rate. This is different than any other purchase (not cars, planes, boats) where the location of the transaction determines the rate. When you do register the car, if the residence is different and uses a different tax rate, than the adjustment is made then (either more due or a credit). If the vehicle being bought is not picked up in the state, but was transported out of state on a trailer or truck, then it most likely will not require any sales tax being collected at time of sale as sales to out-of-state locations are exempt. The buyer would still be liable for any sales tax at time of registration when it is registered and would pay sales tax based on the state of registration. But any car driven off the lot, requires sales tax collected. If the residence is out of state, I assume they will just use the dealers location tax rate. Some dealers will not mess with this and require all purchases to be driven off the lot. And as you said, when transporting the car, the tax difference from what you paid, to what you owe locally is calculated.