The 7 ..

Lotus 7 ..

Caterham 7

What is a seven (7)?

If you are a car aficionado you may well know much about this type of vehicle, and in fact, due to the (lets call it) “Sub-culture” that reins over this marque, there is an enormous band of fellow humans who will read this article that know more of the Caterham 7 then me, and wonder, why I have even bothered to raise this question, let alone try to answer it. Yet again they may well ponder, why ask the question in the first place. Leave it well alone they will think. Keep it to ourselves; don’t let those “other pretend car lovers” in on the best kept secret in automotive history.

 Here in lies my futile attempt to cover 50 years of automotive production, which apparently seems to have gone unnoticed by the majority of our fellow inhabitants of the planet earth.

 The Caterham, or Clubman car, as such came about from an English chap named Chapman, Colin Chapman.

Now Colin was the founder of Lotus cars, and his initials still can be seen in the middle of the Lotus Badge … C.A.B.C……One BIG “C” with a small A & B sort of joined, with a smaller “C” placed in the middle of the aforementioned A&B ….. This was for ….Colin Anthony Bruce Chapman.

Colin was also an ex RAF engineer and a self taught racing car builder. In the 1950’s car racing in the UK was gaining momentum, with a number of categories emerging that the “everyday” gentleman could enter. This meant there was a growing need for a specialist builder of race cars ….enter LOTUS ….the name Colin chose for his vehicles …

No one really knows why the name Lotus … lots of theories ….

Lotus and Colin were gaining a reputation for building some great one off race cars, built for “Trials” and “Circuit” racing. So the dream grew …one day Lotus could be a recognised racing car manufacturer, and the ultimate would be to build a “Formula One” car ….

However, Colin also realised to sustain a racing car business, he needed a steady cash flow …. Race car building was “seasonal” and low volume. What Lotus needed was a steady rate of customers buying a Lotus product ….thus giving cash to the business to develop the racing side.

At this time in UK history some government official thought it clever to introduce a scheme where, if you bought your car in bits, you avoided the purchase tax on the whole car. I suspect it was a loop hole someone found rather then it created by one person, but in the end the result was a growing trend which is still in the UK today. “The Kit Car”.

Not only did Colin jump on the Kit Car band wagon, he turned the do it yourself car into an art form.

His first real “production Kit Car” the Mark 6 (Marks one to 5 being the earlier one off race cars) was a sporting roadster, not dissimilar in looks to the current Clubman / Caterham. It was a simple design, using production engine and drive train, re-engineered front suspension bits from a production car (its rear springs actually, to create a sort of independent front end). It was also designed to be at home on the track as well as the road, hence the term “Drive to the track, race it, and drive home”.

This Mark 6 had to be a race winner, and sure enough, in the hands of a number of people, including Colin himself it started to win races. All these early cars were built to order, so even though they “Looked” the same, generally they were not.

A lot of cars were built with different motors, and suspension set ups to suit the customer or a whim of Colin’s at the time. This is why early examples of any Lotus can be confusing as there was no real consistency.

At the same time Lotus was still churning out race cars, and had made cars from the Mark 7 to the Mark 11 by this time. The mark 7 was actually a still born one off design that was never finished or built, so hence the moniker of the MK7 was left in a bottom draw …. While the business powered ahead with double digit “Mark Numbers” …. It is guessed the Number 7 was left for the replacement to the Mark 6. Which it was ….

1957 …. A great year, as it gave Lotus its first road only car the fabulous Elite (a few were raced, but it generally was intended for the road only)…. The first full glass fibre monocoque road car. No steel chassis in this car, all plastic, and a big shock to the automotive world.

1957 also was the launch year for the MK6 replacement, the MK7.

It is this MK7, or Seven as it is fondly called, that is genetically linked to the Caterham 7.

 
The Lotus 7 stayed in production until 1974, with 4 series versions in that time

Series one        1957 to 1960               aprox 250 cars

Series two       1960 to 1967               aprox 1400 cars

Series Three     1967 to 1970               aprox 350 cars

Series Four      1970 to 1973               aprox 1000 cars

          The Series Four Seven was quite a radical change from the series three. As per the change from Mark 6 to 7, where Colin had wanted to make the 7 easier and cheaper to build (and lighter if that was an outcome of making it cheaper).

The Change from series three to series four was even more radical. Not only was the alloy skinned frame changed to a steel skinned frame, (alloy and steel don’t mix, plus it was easier to weld all the steel sheets on then to pop rivet the alloy on), but the alloy and glass fibre body was also replaced with a full glass fibre body. Other things like the time consuming hand made front wishbones were replaced with pressed steel versions. All very simple to produce and assemble.

Yes the series 4 was for a different time, and for a different customer …. Problem was the lovers of the old series 2&3 look hated the new series 4, and the new customers …. Well they were left wondering if it was a sports car, or a beach buggy ….

Don’t get me wrong, the series four was as per all Lotus cars, a great handling car, just its competition at the time (Price wise), and the fact it was a fully built car, not a kit car, meant sales were …. Well slow.

          From the end of 1973 to early 1974, only a few sevens made it out of the Factory, and at that time, things we also hotting up at LOTUS …..As the early 70’s was the “Change” period for Lotus …. This was when Colin was in Formula One racing, and also wanted to be known as a serious Car builder.

          The New Elite, Éclat and Esprit were being readied for launch, so having a quirky little Car, left over from its Kit Car days still in the line up was not what Colin wanted. This was the pending Death kneel of the Seven ….

Or was it …

          During the life of the 7, a small unpretentious garage in Caterham, Surrey, England, was doing a pretty good job of making a name for itself as a Lotus 7 specialist. This was Caterham cars ….. Simple eh!

          Not only did they sell Lotus 7 kits, they actually made and raced their own. This resulted in a number of their own design changes, which were readily picked up by customers.

          Lotus had always said you could not fit a Lotus Twin cam to a 7, and that it could not be done. This was until Graham Nearn of Caterham Cars showed Colin a customer’s car which had a Twin Cam fitted. The result was the series three Lotus 7, with twin cam option.

          When Mr Nearn heard of the possible demise of his beloved 7 (and possibly his business), he approached Colin with the idea of buying the rights to the 7 so he could continue to produce the car. (Wouldn’t you love to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting)?

          Colin actually thought this a wonderful, if not strange idea. Always the business man, he recognised he had a chance to make some last money on this old design, rather then moth ball it and not make a cracker. It is documented that Colin did believe there was no further life left in the 7, but wished Graham all the best anyway.

          Caterham Cars was the business name, so the Lotus 7 became the Caterham 7 …..

          Initially Caterham found the going tough making the series four 7. It was meant to be a high volume mass produced car. Not the sort of car that could be made in a shed in Surrey. At the same time Graham found his customers were demanding the series three 7, rather then the newer series 4. So Caterham late in 1974 started to make a version of the old series three Lotus 7 ….. The first of the new Caterham 7’s as we know them today.

Caterham still build the 7 today, and although Graham has sold the business, (and its been sold again recently to Lotus .... well Team Lotus .... buts its sort of like returning home ... as the racing division of Lotus used to actually build the 7 in the first place) ....the car is still recognised as “The Original” clubman / seven.

The current car could be described as being both light years away and then as close as possible to the original 7 as you can get.

Modern motors and ECU’s power the cars, with Caterham made 6 speed gearboxes. They are also a little wider, and longer, but you would not notice. Yes Caterham turn out one of the best Clubman cars in the world today, and the attention to detail is magnificent.

So in reality the 7 has been in production for over 50 years. Put a 1957 car beside a 2007 car, and you can tell they are related.

 If you are a lover of automotive art, and love the art of driving, then if you get the chance, at least once in your life, you have to own a 7  

Yes it is that good …..Because it is …..

• Fun to drive. (add Bloody in front of that)
• Easy / simple to maintain
• Easy to live with ….. Note if you are around 175cm, it’s OK, any taller and you just will not fit properly. The newest versions have made allowances for taller ( and wider) drivers, but Herman Munster’s of the world may have some issues getting a good driving position,
• Forgiving.
• The only car to “Become one” with the driver …. Resistance is futile ….OK … yes I do watch a few Star Trek episodes now and again, but don’t put me in the raving loony Trekie bunch …. Ooops …. Errr .. Sorry to all those Trekies, and Caterham Trekies as well. ….I digress.
• Cheap …. Well …cheap for a car that will do 0-100kmh in 6 or 7 seconds ….The latest versions will do that in 3.9 seconds, so for $120K … its still a bargain.

 Note, we won’t mention fun time that can be had in putting the roof up and down, the getting in and out of the car when the roof is up, the 7 elbow, the massive boot that will hold a handkerchief or two. (No picnic baskets here I am afraid), the burnt legs of your girl friend from the side exhaust, the exposed legs (plus) of said girlfriend as she tries to enter or exit the car (roof up or down), and the extremely claustrophobic cabin with the roof up on a dark wet night. And we won’t mention the laughs you get from your first time passengers when you put the wipers on, on a wet outing …..No … these are just small quibbles, that don’t need to be mentioned …. Ooops …