Are there many Lotus produced Seven owners on this forum?

[EdWills]

Hi.  I just posted on this forum after checking Lotus Seven technical information on-line, and found that a number of years ago (2014 in one case) there seems to have been a few Lotus Seven owners who detailed facts about their cars, provided Lotus serial numbers (V.I.N.s) and made general inquiries about parts etc.  I do not see any posts from them in the last few years.  Have these cars been sold, or is there still a following on USA7s for Lotus manufactured cars, or have the more popular Caterham productions (and other similar makes) taken over?

Just curious.  Thanks, W.  

[Jbrueckh]

JB here, S2 SB2182. I’ve noticed the same thing.

[Christopher smith]

Still have my series one number 475. It has lots of series 2 and series 3 and racing updates but by the time I got it finished some years ago I figured I was too old for racing it seriously so converted it back for Street use and registered as an antique in Pennsylvania. If I could get my concentric slave cylinder clutch setup working reliably I'd be using it more.

[MV8]

Never too late to go back to fork with a slave or cable. I only use a concentric when there is no other option.

[wdb]

On the topic of the more ancient Se7ens I recently had the Lucas generator die on my Lotus Elan. I didn't want to go through the work to switch to an alternator at the present time, so I looked for a replacement generator. And I found one in an unlikely place -- NAPA! Just an FYI.

[anduril3019]

Also not many home-built or "Locosts" on this site. Locostusa.com has been the home for that niche, but there are often tech issues with the forum, partially due to waning interest and/or participation. I'm a locost builder, leaning toward original Lotus style, and glean something of interest here almost daily.

[lotsats]

I have two Lotus 7’s:

 

1960 Series 1 vintage race car updated over the years so it looks like a Series 2. BMC A Series motor. If anyone wants to buy this, I can arrange it for you.

1966 Series 2 thoroughlyrestored a couple years ago, Lotus Twincam motor, obviously not the original one. Other non-original things too like dual brake master cylinder, new wiring, harness with nine fuses, and four relays, Ford Cortina rear axle, frame reinforcements, etc.

 

I also have a 1984 Caterham with the usual Kent Crossflow motor. I would probably sell this one also.

 

 

[lotsats]

The last picture was taken at the start of the "Tail of the Dragon" in NC/VA.

[EdWills]

In 1992, a very considerate Lotus Seven owner in New York - who had started a Lotus Seven Registry detailing North American Sevens only, decided to relinquish his entire collection, including a couple of magazines that he had produced, and sent them to me free of charge.  Along with his list, my list of Canadian Series 2 and 3 Lotus Sevens (collected in the early 1980s), listings from 'Bring a Trailer', plus magazines, as well as six Lotus Sevens with serial numbers provided on this forum from 2014,  I have a total  of 155 Lotus Seven Series 1,2,3, and 4 Cars recorded in the U.S. and Canada to date.  Some have full specifications and some just partial information (name and Lotus build number only) provided by the owner.  Some may now have been exported back to the U.K., and some to Europe from N. America.  The list also includes 16 early Caterham 7 cars in N. America, with Caterham and Arch numbers provided. Note:  I do not make the list public, it is just for my interest in order to see how many Lotus Sevens may have survived.

 

John Donohoe on his Simple Sevens site, currently lists Lotus Sevens where owners have provided the Lotus serial number along with their name - some with just a photo of their Seven, or full details of their cars in others.  J.D. also provided further details on other Lotus Sevens in a C.D. that he made available for sale, and it contains even more Seven information along with owners' details and car serial numbers.  

 

There is a lotus@se7ens forum in the U.K., but there have been minimal postings since Covid struck, and there is no function to post photos or drawings unfortunately.  The library on this U.K. forum - dedicated to Lotus Sevens only - is extensive, with information provided by Seven racers, technicians or just owners like myself. It is still available to join, and it worked very nicely side-by-side with USA7s, until posters unfortunately lost interest. There is also a forum that can be accessed from this same U.K. site for Caterham 7, Caterham 21, and other 7 lookalike owners. W  

[Carz01]

I have a Lotus - Steel Brothers, S4. The vehicle is identical to the Lotus, as well as Caterham S4 cars. I have a list of the S4 chassis S/N Steel Brothers built from their Lotus supplied kits.

[JohnCh]

22 hours ago, EdWills said:

or have the more popular Caterham productions (and other similar makes) taken over?

 

When Mazda ( @slngsht ) founded this forum, his goal was to create a community for fans and owners of the Lotus 7 and the cars it inspired. It was never about promoting a single marque. That mission remains unchanged. If you'd like to see more Lotus 7 or Locost owners here, spread the word within those communities.

[EdWills]

54 minutes ago, Carz01 said:

I have a Lotus - Steel Brothers, S4. The vehicle is identical to the Lotus, as well as Caterham S4 cars. I have a list of the S4 chassis S/N Steel Brothers built from their Lotus supplied kits.

Very good to hear, thank you.  I am not sure how your and my information can be tabulated, and how it can be used to perhaps give a heads up to prospective purchasers of any type of Lotus Seven considering privacy concerns?  I feel that I need to contact John Watson in the U.K., to see how he disseminates the information he obtained from the Lotus factory regarding Seven production, which he uses to provide confirmation of a genuine Seven to interested buyers. 

 

For some reason, he didn't have the information on my car until I forwarded it to him. I had received the history of my car direct from Lotus.  W

[Alex-Ks1]

8 hours ago, anduril3019 said:

Also not many home-built or "Locosts" on this site. Locostusa.com has been the home for that niche, but there are often tech issues with the forum, partially due to waning interest and/or participation. I'm a locost builder, leaning toward original Lotus style, and glean something of interest here almost daily.

I have one also 

[EdWills]

18 minutes ago, JohnCh said:

 

When Mazda ( @slngsht ) founded this forum, his goal was to create a community for fans and owners of the Lotus 7 and the cars it inspired. It was never about promoting a single marque. That mission remains unchanged. If you'd like to see more Lotus 7 or Locost owners here, spread the word within those communities.

I think that @slngsht did a great job of creating this site, and I realize of course that it's specifically called 'USA7s' to cover all of the models that have copied the Lotus Seven in appearance, and not just the marque produced by Lotus.  Even the Lotus and Caterham 7 Club U.K. have moved on from when I joined.  At that time the editor and some of his staff owned and raced their Lotus Sevens.  For unknown reasons, they were ousted from their positions on the magazine, and then the club evolved more and more to predominantly cover Caterham produced cars.  As I believe you may be aware John, I started contributing to John Donohoe's web site and then with more information piling in, I started  my own web site to give J.D. a break, dedicating the site to just the Lotus Seven, which is still accessible on Simple Sevens.  I have "spread the word" as much as I can with my limited resources and minimal knowledge of computers. I still keep in touch with JD, John Watson, and other Lotus Seven owners, technicians and designers as time allows.  I have received requests for information on USA7s by private message regarding parts and fixes specifically for the Lotus Seven, and I have also used this method to gain information from other Lotus owners.  I like this site as there are professional engineers, technicians - some still working and some retired, who provide excellent advice and feed back on many automotive topics that cover many of the various cars that look like a Lotus Seven.  Also, the pictures and drawings are really valuable as sometimes just a written description of a process doesn't always become clear.  

 

My comment was merely that the number of owners of Lotus Sevens that were on this forum years ago (2014 for example), have possibly (question mark) not continued with their posts, have perhaps sold their cars, or have no need to post.  You may note that one poster above has been wondering the same thing as I have. No biggy, and I'm not trying to make any waves, bellyache about it, or change the format.  I think we can agree that Caterham built cars do appear to be the most popular for questions and answers on this forum, and it's how it should be as they are in the majority. If I have missed your point John, my apologies.  Cheers,  W.

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

I have 1962 S2 SB1160. She had a distinguished racing history in the northeast US, sat in storage for many years, and came to me as the second owner. I've made her into a working road car with minor car show attributes.  I'm a relative newcomer to the forum, so I can't speak to the number of original Sevens about, but there certainly exists on the forum a wealth of knowledge about the originals. Members have helped me out many times in the last few years with their wisdom.

[SENC]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:00 AM, wdb said:

On the topic of the more ancient Se7ens I recently had the Lucas generator die on my Lotus Elan. I didn't want to go through the work to switch to an alternator at the present time, so I looked for a replacement generator. And I found one in an unlikely place -- NAPA! Just an FYI.

Don't ditch you're old one, rebuild it as a backup.  They're dead simple and nearly every part in them can still be found (NOS).

Edited September 24 by SENC

[wdb]

1 hour ago, SENC said:

Don't ditch you're old one, rebuild it as a backup.  They're dead simple and nearly every part in them can still be found (NOS).

 

The core charge was $33. For that amount I decided to keep the old one.

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

I wonder just how many Lotus Sevens are registered in the United States? 

[IamScotticus]

I know Dan Shivley has had a few pass though his hands.

https://youtu.be/V_KQlMvGkj8?si=bFPnGOxm8CnjYK8i

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

I still have mine (SB1762), but I'm not on forums very often these days. I also just bought a 1963 elan that has been taking up more of my attention recently. Someone mentioned this thread to me so I thought I'd pop in and say hello.

 

I'm aware of at least 5 original lotus sevens just in the bay area, but I don't think any of them are on this forum. 

Edited September 25 by TheDingo8MyBaby