Lot 125: 1987 Caterham Super Seven

The first Seven was built in 1957 by Lotus, the brainchild of Colin Chapman, who was convinced of the advantages of small lightweight racing cars, giving huge power to weight benefits. He actually referred to the Seven as something he had dreamed of designing since he was a schoolboy - a 'four wheeled motorbike'. The first sevens were priced at £587 and were powered by a 40bhp Ford engine coupled to a single dry plate clutch and a three speed Ford gearbox. The design proved to be an instant success, Graham Hill being the first driver to race the seven in 1958. Over the next decade there were three more series of the Seven developed, improving transmission, suspension and increasing power to 84bhp. In 1967 Caterham Cars became the sole distributor, and have continually developed and improved the car since. Major developments over the years have included the introduction of double wishbone front and de Dion rear suspension, four wheel disc brakes, a six speed close ration gear box, a torsionally stiffer spaceframe chassis with honeycomb panels for side impact protection and lead free engines with catalytic converters. The cars can be bought in kit form, or can be factory built to SVA approved standard (£2,250). In 1976 the R.A.C. banned the seven from racing, as they said it was "too fast" - so the Caterham Seven developed its own racing championships (of which there are now four). Overhauled in 1999 and having completed a mere 1000kms since, this fantastic 1.6 litre Kent engined Super Seven is fitted with a more desirable and versatile 5 speed gear box. The secret to the legendary performance has always been the cars phenomenal power to weight ratio and this example is no exception. With its light weight aluminium body painted in Racing Green and appropriately so for a Lotus. The car is complete with a German TUV until 2007 and has completed only 38,000kms from new. Dieser Super 7 wurde 1999 generalueberholt und wurde seitdem nur ca. 1000 km bewegt. Der 1.6 Liter grosse Vierzylinder hat nur wenig Muehe mit der leichten Alukarrosserie und uebertragt seine 84 PS ueber ein Fuenfganggetriebe an die Hinterachse. In der typischen englischen Farbe British Racing Green lackiert, hat dieser Caterham einen aktuellen TUV bis Anfang 2007 und hat insgesamt nur 38.000 km auf dem Tacho.