What you wish you knew before ordering your car?

[jmaz]

For my Encore order, I was debating on the painted headlight bowls but thought that, for the extra $350 or so it would have cost, it would be fun to paint them myself.  

 

The Encore comes with the 620 nosecone.  It's intimidating looking, even just sitting in my living room (along with other parts that my wife is starting to give the side-eye to).  That nosecone along with the tiny lights would be cool

 

 

[hahuang65]

2 minutes ago, jmaz said:

my wife is starting to give the side-eye to

Hah can't blame her. My wife gives my Caterham the side eye even though it's parked in the other garage lol.

 

The Encore is a very nice looking car. Love the stripes and the centered gas cap.

[Vovchandr]

You guys got me curious in the headlightless discussion

 

I'm not digging it (with highnmount lights, might be even 7in here?)

 

 

vs

 

 

and without the top/windshield (when I had the high mounts 5.75 lights)

 

 

vs

 

[hahuang65]

@Vovchandr in your pics, the windshield definitely needs some headlights up front.

 

The aero without the headlights could go either way for me TBH. Looks pretty slick without, but it already looked good even with the lights.

[Vovchandr]

14 minutes ago, jmaz said:

For my Encore order, I was debating on the painted headlight bowls but thought that, for the extra $350 or so it would have cost, it would be fun to paint them myself.  

 

The Encore comes with the 620 nosecone.  It's intimidating looking, even just sitting in my living room (along with other parts that my wife is starting to give the side-eye to).  That nosecone along with the tiny lights would be cool

 

 

 

The minutia with good painting layers and color matching vs just letting a factory do it would be a no brainer for me to pay the difference and let them have at it. I've had enough trouble trying to get the existing colors to match from local body shops as is. 

 

I think we all here agree that 620 nose is certainly aggressive looking. Hard to pick favorite stripe style to go with it. Nose badge vs two stripe vs 3 stripe

[hahuang65]

I'm a bit of a (relatively) plain jane with my Detonator Yellow + 2 Stripes but I think that's the way to go. 

 

I did really like the 3 stripe but the nose badge made the middle stripe look too thick. I like how the 2 stripe curves around it. Sans nose badge I would have gone 3 stripe.

 

I absolutely love the triple side stripes of the Encore. Would love to get that some time in the future

[Vovchandr]

Sorry for taking the thread off topic, found the 7in lights picture. Those were wild

 

 

 

[williamwashere]

The painted 7 grill was a good choice. And I'm a sucker for two-tone wheels.

 

Now that I see one with a complete headlight delete, it really goes from "face" to "machine" and the character really changes. Not saying I won't do it at some point, but it's a drastic change. I think it needs low beams and high beams as separate mini lights if you were going to do road-use, plus indicators somewhere, which are missing from the one I shared earlier. Then it might look more like a Dungeons & Dragons Beholder with so many little pods?

[jmaz]

2 hours ago, hahuang65 said:

@Vovchandr in your pics, the windshield definitely needs some headlights up front.

 

The aero without the headlights could go either way for me TBH. Looks pretty slick without, but it already looked good even with the lights.

The no-headlights versions really bring out a no-nonsense 1960's sprint car look

Edited April 21 by jmaz

[CBuff]

You can always go Geoff’s route. 
 

[Vovchandr]

3 hours ago, williamwashere said:

 

Now that I see one with a complete headlight delete, it really goes from "face" to "machine" and the character really changes. Not saying I won't do it at some point, but it's a drastic change. 

 

The more I play with removing the headlights from pictures the more I agree with your assessment. Really takes the personality out of it. Maybe that's why pure race models never had a big appeal for me. 

[Croc]

9 hours ago, CBuff said:

You can always go Geoff’s route. 
 

 

 

Always reminds me of this

 

[IamScotticus]

It may only be live axle thing,

But I was surprised at how a 7 will skip around the road laterally.

[hahuang65]

11 minutes ago, IamScotticus said:

skip around the road laterally.

Maybe I'm a crap driver but mine does that when turning or if i hit a bump

[IamScotticus]

14 hours ago, hahuang65 said:

Maybe I'm a crap driver but mine does that when turning or if i hit a bump

Its a 1,200 pound car. It's going to jump.  Keep your Tyre pressure below 20 psi.

[jmaz]

In hindsight, I'm thinking that I should have included the master battery cut-off switch.  The extra $250 would have been minimal.  I can add a battery isolator switch but that's a bit of a kludge, and not trivial if I want to put in a switch that's accessible without removing the bonnet.  hood.  What do we call it here in Caterham world?

[Saudio]

To change the subject while staying on subject, I wish I would have known how hard it is to find a competent mechanic to work on these cars.  I heard "Ford Engine, Mazda Trans" and thought I could roll it into a local shop and be all good.  Nuh uh.  

 

These cars are simple but not simple.  I spent much of my ownership time chasing down small to medium-large problems instead of driving the car.  

 

When everything was right, it was bliss.  

[williamwashere]

1 hour ago, jmaz said:

What do we call it here in Caterham world?

I feel like we’ve gotta keep the British terms for these. It’s a bonnet and a boot!

[Vovchandr]

10 hours ago, Saudio said:

To change the subject while staying on subject, I wish I would have known how hard it is to find a competent mechanic to work on these cars.  I heard "Ford Engine, Mazda Trans" and thought I could roll it into a local shop and be all good.  Nuh uh.  

 

These cars are simple but not simple.  I spent much of my ownership time chasing down small to medium-large problems instead of driving the car.  

 

When everything was right, it was bliss.  

 

Honestly I think tinkering with it is part of the experience that makes you connected to the car, but this should be more known/announced. 

 

I come from a world where tinkering on everything is standard practice so its not a culture shock for me or unexpected. Especially considering I bought mine used with a questionable and interesting history. 

 

For somebody who orders one new or pays top dollar for it, who has high expectations for value per dollar spent and expects high reliability from a $50k+ purchase and doesn't want to tinker or expect it, I can see how that can be an unwelcome factor in ownership.