Last month, I wrote about DJ Motorsports' Lotus 7-inspired DAX Rush. Now I'd like to tell you about another car manufacturer in England who also uses Colin Chapman's brilliant Lotus 7 design - Caterham Cars.
Caterham Cars has been manufacturing their version of the Lotus 7 since 1973. Lovingly called the Caterham 7, this very cool Clubman-style car can be purchased as either a complete kit or basic starter kit, and is even available as a "ready to hit the highway" factory-built beauty. Now, that's a nice range of choices!
But as all kit car enthusiasts know, the fun is in the build.
Caterham Cars offers four different kit variations of their Caterham 7, starting with the original Classic. This great-looking sports car offers pure back-to-basics driving, evoking the great style of the 1950s when the original Lotus 7 hit the racetrack. If you're looking for a low-cost basic Clubman kit to cut your "build from the ground up" teeth on, this is it. The starting price for the Caterham Classic is £12,995, or about $25,200.
So what comes in the basic Caterham Classic starter kit? For starters, you get a fully-paneled "7" chassis that requires no cutting, welding, riveting or special finishing. In fact, it's the very same chassis that Caterham uses in their factory production line to build completed cars.
The Caterham starter kit also comes with fitted brake lines, master cylinder, fuel tank and lines, wiring loom, all dash-mounted gauges and switches, pedal assembly, windshield, and seat belt mountings.
In building your Caterham 7 Classic, you'll need a donor Rover 1.6 or 1.8 K-series engine, plus either a 5-speed XR4i or Caterham 6-speed gearbox. For the differential, Caterham recommends a Ford Sierra XR4i unit. If you either can't put your hands on these specific donor components or have something else in mind that you would like to use, be sure to give the Parts Department at Caterham a call. They will be able to give you all the information you need.
According the tech team at Caterham, it usually takes around 60 to 80 hours to build a Classic from the ground up. And that's if you have absolutely no experience in building cars. Other than an engine hoist, all the tools needed to build one of these cool-looking Clubmans can be found in a standard mechanic tool kit.
For more information on Caterham 7 kit cars, be sure to visit http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/showroom/starter_kits.html, and happy motoring!
