The Regular Summary of Classified Ads of Se7ens Found For Sale

xcarguy · October 8, 2019

I give him 3 weeks before he buys another. :jester:

Three weeks....that long, ay?:jester:

Anaximander · October 8, 2019

Three weeks....that long, ay?:jester:

So says the guy that puts Red Bull in his gas tank so his cars have "wings".

Croc · October 8, 2019

I had an issue purchasing a car sight unseen on Craigslist that Croc had found and posted.

Figures it would be my fault! :svengo:

Croc · October 8, 2019

Has anyone had issues buying a 7 from Craigslist, especially from some distance away?

Yes I seem to recall buying a certain maroon seven sight unseen on Ebay after a inhaling 1.5 bottles of red wine in a boozy night with Yellowss7, JeffH and Simon15....

....fortunately the car was better than my next morning. :ack:

I also recall doing it with other cars.... :leaving:

Make the effort to go and see it if you want to be sure.

Anaximander · October 8, 2019

Figures it would be my fault! :svengo:

Ah, but the joy of 2.5 years ownership of that gem in the slightly rough that you so diligently presented on "Any Given Sunday" when not too hung over :cheers:

xcarguy · October 8, 2019

So says the guy that puts Red Bull in his gas tank so his cars have "wings".

Pee Wee just sent me a pm. Says Less is devastated over the loss of the Storker and is molting. Says you’ve gone off the deep end...now you’re selling your trailer. How you gonna get your next Storker home? :jester:

panamericano · October 8, 2019

Mine came through this forum. 100 miles away. I went the day after the ad to see and made the deal. Had to make a second run with a trailer. I'm sure it would have been sold if I had delayed. If one is a REALLY good deal, you need to strike immediately. A car either sells immediately, if a great deal. Or, after it's been listed for a few weeks (+?) and the owner finally realizes it's over priced. Only had one bad experience long distance, and it was from a friend. Chassis rust on a Stablimenti Farina bodied Siata. In any case, I advise budget for a quick trip, even if it's not for final delivery, if there is no local person to inspect it. I inspected a Gullwing for a dealer; sent him 3 rolls of photos: walked around on the cell phone with him for 20 minutes, answering detailed questions. Fun test drive!

georgedodson · October 9, 2019

I understand. That was why I posted earlier about hiring a company to go out and perform an inspection of the car. The advertise that this will cost between $200 and $400 and it seemed like a good idea. I would probably be willing to look at a car in my area for a fellow poster, or lend advice on nuclear physics or particle accelerators.

2016 Miata

1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi

2005 Ducati ST3

Lusting after a 7

Croc · October 10, 2019

I have inspected cars for forum members to help save a flight. This forum is pretty widely located across North America so a good chance someone will pitch in and help out if you put a request out on the forum, especially if in one of the population centers on the east and west coasts.

Kitcat · October 10, 2019

My long distance se7en buying experience is as follows:

I found a Caterham locally and drove it, jut to confirm I wasn't crazy to buy one (I was but it turns out being crazy is why I liked it:)).

1] I bought Caterham #1, sight unseen from this thread. AFAIK, it was the first one sold here when I bought it in '07. It was built by Sevens and Elans and I flew to NJ, bought it from its first owner who had put 10K miles on it and I drove it 500 miles home. It was bullet proof, except for a nagging elec short that would strand me at the worst possible times/places. But always self heal after 30' and off I'd go. We finally sorted it and all was well. I put 12K miles on it and listed it here but sold it thru an intermediary.

2] I bought a Birkin with roughly double the power of my X-Flow. Unfortunately, it had been poorly assembled by Texas Motor Works. I did inspect it before buying. I took it for a 10 mile spin and it was perfect. Turned out that if I had gone another mile, it would have broken down, like it did immediately after I got it home (in a trailer) and I wld have saved myself 3 years of frustration and $. Finally sold it here, for a huge loss.

3] Car # 3 is my current Caterham. I bought it sight unseen based on photos at Rocky

Mountain Motorsport where it was listed as a favor to the owner.It was professionally built but had a long history as a race car and was very, very (very) worn out. But the price reflected that and it had all the safety stuff that wld be major bucks to duplicate. It has been pretty challenging to keep it operational. I like to say, half kiddingly, that the only thing that hasn't been replaced is the battery.

Lessons: Know your builder. I favor the home assembled se7ens of all stripes. They tend to have been lovingly and meticulously assembled, then driven a year or two to smoke out any issues.

Know your seller: if you buy it from a poster here, odds are the price and presentation are honest. Next best: get to know the seller if they are a stranger. Ask lots of questions. Most are still somewhat in love with their car and love talking abt it and will want it to go to a good home. So get them talking, you will learns tons abt the car AND abt them-and whether they are trustworthy.

Don't buy a used race car.

Beware of 12 year old cars with 900 miles etc. Why were they driven so little (never ran?). They were likely not well maintained either. Plus all rubber parts like tires, engine mounts, etc, will have seriously deteriorated.

Buy cars that were used at track days. Sure, it's hard on them, but they are survivors, they have been tested, fixed, tested, fixed. And up-grade-itis is a known condition that we track junkies suffer from, so our cars frequently have had expensive improvements that are not reflected in the selling price.

Sure, get an inspection, or take it for a spin yourself. Why not? It will reveal anything obvious, esp to an experienced owner, like Croc. He knows how a Caterham rides, drives, feels, and the noise it makes and doesn't make. So the obvious stuff will be clear. I am not sure a professional car inspector, with no Caterham or other se7en experience, will know what to think. The car is so mind-blowing it's easy to get caught up in that and miss stuff. Also, will they fit into the car for a test, will their feet fit into the tiny foot well, and will they have ear and eye protection needed to take it for a spin. Just another way of saying the inspector should ideally have experience with the model se7en they are examining.

Even with an inspection, it is very hard to know what will be wrong until after a bit of use. For example, I have had 2 half shafts snap. An inspection is not likely to have found that. A coupla bolts came loose on my flywheel. Only found that out when we pulled the engine out to replace the clutch. Two axle boots came off at a track day-they looked great before hand. Etc., etc.

Happy hunting, finding and buying the right se7en is a big part of the experience.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Kitcat

Vovchandr · October 10, 2019

My...

Very well said across the board.

I've had a double whammy of scratching my head about the previous builders and owners decisions.

With that said, unless you're buying brand new beware that with our cars it's just natural to have certain problems as seen from this thread.

Even under optimal conditions they are hand built in England, neither one of those two aspects is particularly known for reliability, compared to lets say the expectation we would have with like a new Accord.

Realistically ours get assembled likely through one of the few dealerships in the states. Each one can be hit or miss depending on the year and how familiar the people who assembled them were with the cars at the time.

Once they get bought they see few miles on average and more track days or hard driving per mile than an average car.

Further compounding on that, once the car does need service or work, wherever it gets taken to with few exceptions will actually know how to work on the car or where to source parts. Which can lead to guess work and short cuts. Further causing issues with reliability.

Have realistic expectations going into it and expect the unexpected. :driving:

Honestly for me it's half the fun to always be tinkering with it and taking it out on "shake down" runs following the said tinkering to see if the fenders stay on this time...

Croc · October 10, 2019

Two axle boots came off at a track day-they looked great before hand.

This was the red Birkin wasn't it? They did look great until you went offroad at the Jersey Devil at NJMP. Not sure that was a maintenance issue....

Edited October 10, 2019 by Croc

Croc · October 10, 2019

Honestly for me it's half the fun to always be tinkering with it and taking it out on "shake down" runs following the said tinkering to see if the fenders stay on this time...

I call this fettling. All sevens require some level of fettling out of the box or new to your ownership - new or used it does not really matter. The objective is to get them reliable. They are more highly strung than a regular car (e.,g. Camry) so need to have a level of preventative maintenance that a lot of owners don't think to do. Knowing the seller will allow you to assess whether this level of care has been brought to bear to ensure a level of reliability. If not then you buy expecting to have to remediate something. Your bid to buy should allow for some contingency to repair things.

speedwagon · October 11, 2019

talk to someone who bought a brand new, made in USA (sic) ford 6.0 diesel, chevy 6.5 diesel, explorer, or for that matter any other domestic or forien new auto. My superformance came from a life of being "run hard and put away wet" with an odd-ball rotary engine and has been much less problem than the ford 7.3, explorer or Jag xj8. My keeper list includes the Superformance, a 90 f150 4wd with a inline 6, and a 66 Ranchero 408ci hot rod that was home built with less than 50 miles on it. Most of the auto companies learned- how to build a sorted quality product from microsoft-- sell it and let the customer sort it-- and a good trustworthy mechanic shop beats almost all dealerships. and good luck finding one near you. and if you do-- kiss them regularly.

Kitcat · October 11, 2019

Croc:

You are half right. I did go off in the Birkin at NJMP, but that didn't cause the axle boots to come off.

Because of the "off", I looked carefully for damage on returning to the pits. I had 2 bent wheels and, after taking them off, saw that both axle boots had failed. The mechanic that you so kindly supply for these events, told me that neither boot had been attached with fasteners. Instead, they were simply held in place by the elasticity of the rubber boot-which was not up to track work.

Fortunately, I had spare wheels and the mechanic said I could just drive the car until the compromised wheel bearings failed (which allowed me to complete the weekend).

But we digress: I think some type of car purchase inspection can be helpful, but it is not foolproof.

Croc · October 11, 2019

Most of the auto companies learned- how to build a sorted quality product from microsoft.

Brilliantly said. That’s the reason I moved over to Apple, didn’t go pear shaped all the time.

Gives me another reason to wind up JohnCh on this forum who i think is in charge of the Microsoft Quality Control function. Still he has a Westfield...

...a good trustworthy mechanic shop beats almost all dealerships. and good luck finding one near you. and if you do-- kiss them regularly.

Well said! TJ and Ian at my workshop don’t like me kissing them though. They like petite blondes with big....

Croc · October 11, 2019

But we digress: I think some type of car purchase inspection can be helpful, but it is not foolproof.

Ah that was it - I remember TJ’s explanation now.

Your final paragraph is spot on - needs emphasis.

JohnCh · October 11, 2019

Brilliantly said. That’s the reason I moved over to Apple, didn’t go pear shaped all the time.

Gives me another reason to wind up JohnCh on this forum who i think is in charge of the Microsoft Quality Control function. Still he has a Westfield...

Hard to be wound up by that statement given car companies have taken that approach long before the invention of the PC, let alone the founding of Microsoft

I'm a firm believer in PPIs, particularly when buying remote, but finding a local shop that understands a se7en and can do that is difficult. I do encourage people looking to buy a se7en out of their area to post a request here for a local with knowledge to look it over. I'm sure if people have the spare time, they'd be happy to accommodate the request.

-John