Caterham 1700 Holbay R120

[EdWills]

I found some information on this car in the library section under "Lotus 7 model specification 1.0.0".  I had been searching for details regarding the car among my books on Lotus and Caterham, and today found some details in Chris Rees's book 'Caterham Sevens' whereby he provides some info. on the engine.  In the USA7s library it notes that it is called the R120 engine, but this is incorrect.  I have detailed what I found out about the engine in another post titled 'UNC and UNF Bolt specs for a Ford Crossflow engine', but it probably should have been in a new post.  I believe that the information on the list in the library came from the Colin Chapman Museum web site. It is listed under 'Engine Series - Lotus Holbay', but it seems that the museum researcher/author has mixed up 2 entirely different Caterham car productions that are described in Rees's book.  Unfortunately, there are few errors that have crept into the museum site regarding the Lotus Seven.  It is a good resource, with other options available for verification purposes.

Will.

[EdWills]

Also in the USA7s library file, the author has listed the car serial numbers (V.I.N.s) for the Lotus Seven Series 3 1300/1600 as having 'SC' on the chassis plate for vehicles 2311 to 2649.  This is incorrect, as all of these cars had either 'SB' or 'LSB' (if left hand drive) followed by the number.  These are of course different (unrelated) to the chassis frame manufacturer build number (BLXXXX - manufactured by Universal Radiator, Arch - AMXXXX) found on the front angled frame piece under the master cylinders.  I have only seen this car identification error in Jeremy Coulter's book on the Lotus Seven and Caterham 7.  The 13 or so twin cam SS Sevens were the only cars to have the 'SC' vin designation. Information from John Watson of the Lotus Seven Register, advises that one of the cars designated as a twin cam with an SC vin - a left hand drive car - had a Ford Crossflow as original fitting to overcome build problems at the time. He further advised that one other SC vin car (R.H.D.) had the twin cam later removed and replaced with a Crossflow. W.

[Croc]

Can you please link to the library pages you think are wrong.

 

Neither @JohnCh or I want to be in the position of adjudicating between competing positions of experts.   We may just lay out the alternative view for readers to decide for themselves. 

 

 

[JohnCh]

The Library is simply a repository of published information, some dating back to the 1950's.  It's not intended to be a vetted list of historically accurate and verified information.  I'm certain many of those books, manuals, and articles contain errors, particularly when it pertains to Lotus.  Heck, even the Caterham build manuals have inaccuracies that are highlighted in various build threads and blogs.  Pointing them out in a thread for discussion as done here can be worthwhile, but we can't be in the business of tracking those inaccuracies and highlighting them for each download or pulling the article simply because it contains errors.  I'm not saying that is the ask here, but I want to make sure to we're setting correct expectations.

 

Thanks,

John