27 October, 2013

Some of you might know the reference I make in the title of this entry. If not, I suggest you find the original British television series “the Prisoner,” and give it a look. It is a somewhat sci-fi program starring Patrick McGoohan, that features a Lotus 7 in the opening.

My family have had one of the orginal Caterham 7’s since I was barely six years old. It’s my dads, but I have grown into being the chief mechanic and let him drive it now and again. For the fascinating history of this car designed by Colin Chapman and in production for over 55 years, see the Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_7 . In the early 1970s, Lotus sold the entire rights and production of the car to the main dealer in Caterham, Surry (who was compiling all the components for the kits already), and the Lotus 7 came the Super Seven. The story continues on Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterham_Cars . Our chassis was manufactured in 1975, and assembled in the US in winter and spring of 1976. It has a Lotus Twin-Cam engine, and is built to the specification of the original Lotus 7 SS Twin-Cam (only 13 were ever made by Lotus).

Series 3 Super Seven Twin-Cam, my family’s car

Caterham have improved the chassis over the years – twice fully re-engineering the whole kit – and while the current Seven looks like the same car, under the skin it is a much superior machine having perhaps a couple of suspension bushings still in common with ours.

I visited the factory in Dartford on Friday to see where these fantastic machines are hand-crafted. This was somewhat akin to a pilgrimage to Mecca for me, having grown up with and driven the old Twin-Cam since I was young.

Click any photo to embiggen.

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