Lotus Seven Adventures

  TL;DR: a compromise for safety A Lotus Seven S2 would have left the factory with either a pair of Lucas S700 (7002) sealed beams or General Electric GE6012 units for the left-hand-drive cars. Mine came with later General Electric "Halogen" descendants of the GE6012. Their 2D1 markings allowed me to determine that they were GE H6014, the halogen version of the GE6014 that replaced the original 6012. With their US-specific flat beam, they aren't appropriate for use in continental Europe. They are also rather dim by modern standards. I considered various Lucas products in the 700 range, including "European" versions and the PL700 with their posh tripods. On my checklist was also the need for "E" markings that would allow me to upgrade to road-legal LED bulbs in the future. The best answer to all my concerns was the Wipac Quadoptic. They are a known quantity on the classic Mini, and their S6009 model has the "E11 0035" markings I was looking f...

  TL;DR: Once common The S2 came with one good and one perished wiper, preventing any use unless I removed the wiper arm entirely to avoid scratching the windscreen. I removed the bad one to have a look at the fitting and found something I had never seen before. As luck would have it, I found a single matching wiper blade and various lengths of arms at a car exchange. The guy who sold it to me for 3€ seemed to have some serious beef with the ridiculous size of wipers on British cars of that era. He himself specialized in Italian brands.  Overall, there was very little of interest for British cars at that event. However, I was happy to find a set of four vintage Lucas glass fuses (35A, 17A continuous), complete with the small piece of paper inside. They were identical to the ones that were on the Seven when I got it. One of mine might be faulty, and I killed the other while fiddling with the tachometer. Anyway, back to the wipers. With the car back from the workshop, I could ...

TL;DR: We covered about everything now, I think Earlier in the week, I got the car back from the garage after the fuel pressure issue had been solved. It's no surprise that my first few weeks are a proper shakedown for a car that hadn't really moved over the last 10 years. About everything has noew been checked and serviced one way or another, except for the dynamo and voltage regulator. So the obvious happened: at some point the ammeter was only going into negative territory. That was validated with the multimeter that showed no voltage able to charge the battery. I began with the accessory belt, that was tight and rotating freely. The dynamo couldn't be pulled further away from the engine block as some light scratches indicate that it's already touching the steering column at times. As the connectors on the dynamo are very hard to reach under the (hot) exhaust manifold, I got the multimeter in the "control box" (mechanical voltage regulator) ins...

TL;DR:  Hi-Vis Orange As previously established, my Seven spent most of its life in the U.S.A. (43 years and 98% of its mileage) . That's why it was equipped with red flashers. Those looked rather dim, and they are not something people expect to see in Europe: a dangerous double whammy on an already invisible car. In the user manual, we can read  "L539 Rear Flasher Lamp" with the explanation on how to replace the standard 5/21W bulb. It was no issue to source amber lenses for those L539. I think it cost me about 82€ for a set of three. I got properly screwed on the "combined shipping" as I got a 3€ discount on 3x £12. That guy won't get any feedback on eBay but I have to admit the packing was excellent. Replacing those lenses presented no difficulty when following the instructions provided in the manual: "Press the rim and lens assembly inwards and turn it anti-clockwise to release" .  Good luck figuring that one out by yourself. The orange cap...

  TL;DR: They're alright Out of the factory, the Seven was expected to come with bolt-on Lotus Elan steel wheels. Mine came with a set of what can be described as 13x5 "ribbed" Minilites, a model I was not familiar with and one that hasn't been imitated by copycats. The advertisements I've found makes me believe they came out in 1971, which makes them period-correct enough for me. After a quick calculation based on the 1973 ad, the asking price of £35 was actually not cheap as it would be close to 900€ in today's money. Being made of light alloy allowed them to age well. This wouldn't have been the case had they been made of magnesium like earlier Minilite wheels, they would have gone porous and dangerous. From what I know, they were fitted to the car before 1989 when the car was sold in Denver, Colorado. Other pictures show that the centre caps were blank well into the 90s, and they appear in the pictures from 2009. They were provided with aluminium nut...

TL;DR: Sisyphus Lotus      Super Sevens came standard with a Smiths RVI electronic tachometer, mine is a 1400/00A model. After 60 years, the capacitors need to be replaced and even the germanium transistors can fail.     In any case, It just briefly came to life during our test-drive and it's known not to be fully compatible with the 123ignition system I had installed before delivery of the car. I tried the wiring workaround that consists in feeding the coil control wire in the inductive sensor, but it did nothing. The only outcome was burning a vintage 35A fuse.     Beside the obvious solution of replacing the capacitors and calibrating the current circuit board , there are a few upgrade options to modernize those RVI. Most of them have to be imported from the UK, and some sellers don't let overseas customers place an order at all, even on eBay.     I got a new PCB from  Clocks4Classics  who can provide two flavours of boards : Ea...

TL;DR: Adding lightness  a bit of weight, actually As I alluded to in my " plan ", I had found a eBay listing from TR Shop London for a pair of Alfin-Style brake drums. The asking price was 369€, which was very tempting. I sent them a message to make sure those Triumph Herald drums would fit the Seven and its Triumph Herald rear axle and brakes. The only reply I got was the removal of the listing, flagged as sold. No time for customers and prospects I guess. They surely won't get any of my money in the future. Grief was brief, as I soon found that Rimmer had 3 pairs of those in stock, this time at 315€ for a set. The crazy thing is that the "European" website lists them at 407€   each . I took that as a call to action, and after verification that the car still has its cast iron drums fitted, I jumped on what looked like a good deal. With a 20€ set of brake shoes, 24€ shipping, VAT and brokerage fees, I expect the kit to cost something close to 450€. Not bad ...

  TL;DR: Sub-optimal The highlight of that week-end was supposed to be our 3rd participation to the Distinguished Gentleman's Drive, but there would be none of that. I woke up early and began the day by removing the seats to get on with the polishing of the tunnel. It's bare aluminium, battered and scratched. That's not a bad thing, but it would look better if it was shiny. As I was using acetone to remove a perished sticker that must have shown the gear grid at some point, I also took a few cotton swabs to remove the red pigment that was applied on the dashboard rivets earlier this year. That rejuvenation with some leather creme looked good initially, but it didn't last. At least now the rivets don't look like they were painted red anymore.  With the tunnel clear from glue residue, it was time for Belgom Alu again. This time I followed D3Sshooter  who uses paper towel for the polishing, saving the cotton wool for the buffing only ( I was getting short on cotton, ...

TL;DR: Shakedown continued With the technical inspection passed on Thursday and paperwork sorted in extremis  the following morning, we could finally bring the Lotus home . Just in time to take part in the Distinguished Gentleman's Drive on Sunday. Eagle-eyed among you will see the new license plates were still in transit, so the Caterham's plates would have to do. That was a whole story in itself as I had to go to the paint shop just before close to get hold of them... We wanted to shoot a video of my first lift-off, but I stalled twice with the engine still cold. What you'll see is actually the 3rd and final take. Anyway, I drove at least 400 meters before losing power completely. I managed to get just enough juice to turn around that very busy national road, and had to push a little to get to the incline then let gravity do the rest. I got back to the safer side-road where House of Speed is located (with my mechanic following me already by that point) . The issue wa...

TL;DR: 3 cars, 3 colours You all know what KAR I'm talking about. Do you remember what colour it was ? Green with a yellow nose cone would be the most common answer. That's also what I thought before watching the series two years ago. The doubt struck me only seconds into the opening sequence. The Lotus Super Seven 1500 Cosworth used as the first KAR120C was black. In any lighting, any angle, by itself or compared to other black cars, it appears to be black. It sports the famous yellow nose cone, headlight grilles, and license plate letters applied directly to the radiator grille. Its steering wheel is the standard wooden 14" Springall. A second iteration, shown in episode 13, is a dark shade of green similar to the British Racing Green livery of Jaguar race cars of the era. That one sports a red steering wheel and lacks the headlight grilles. The front license plate is a regular one with a solid black background. Finally, the third car in the finale, the one brought by C...

TL;DR : a car with a story While the Origin Story with the Caterham   was about how I first got interested in them  - I find it outstanding how many Lotus Seven S2 were in my image collection- , this time it's all about the pedigree of that specific Seven. I will present its history as a timeline, with sources ranging from official documents and shared memories, to informed speculation on my part. Documenting those 60 years was greatly helped by the support of Mr Watson of the Lotus Seven Register , and the gracious sharing of memories by Mr Mark S. of Arizona who owned the car from the 80s to 2000.

  Here's is the collection of pictures of the Seven as it was advertised by House of Speed .

  TL;DR : moderate and reasonable with no stone left unturned Soooo, after that nice Saturday drive in a Lotus Seven to get a soup at the Signal de Botrange restaurant, I was hooked and couldn't wait for the carburetors to be tuned and all the fluids to be replaced before confirming the purchase. While there is little concern about modifications on the Caterham 170, which are intended to look stock and take care that any change has to be stealthy and fully reversible, that's a whole other game with a 1966 Lotus Super Seven. That fine piece of motoring history is actually already listed in a registry where only 60 cars or so are identified and tracked. Only must-have upgrades should be on the menu, and those are the ones for this week already : For new tyres, I've chosen a set of Uniroyal Rainexpert 3 in 155/80-13 (currently 185/60-13) Rock-solid, dependable ignition will be managed by a 123ignition distributor (digital, programmable) New Bosch "blue" ignition co...

  TL;DR : yes (but what's even the question?) I've always heard and read that the Kei Caterham (Suzuki-based 160/165 and 170) are in fact a back to the roots iteration of the Seven. That's actually very accurate. As I'm seriously considering getting the real thing for myself, I had to do my due diligence and learn all that's to know about the O.G. Lotus Seven, especially the S2. Compared to the Caterham 170, the similarities are plenty : same weight (~460kg) same track width same narrow rear wheel arches similar tyre dimensions (equiv. width of 155 for the S1, 145 for the S2, in both instances with an overall diameter within 2% of the 160-170) similar live axle same "A" frame to locate the rear axle same brake configuration with front discs and rear drums similar engine power (1500 Cosworth ~90-95bhp) equivalent engine displacement (1498cc vs 658cc @2.3 bar = 1513cc) hydraulic clutch with the S2 came the first side screens and full hood with rear windows...

Hi, I'm Nicolas. Welcome to my second blog. This one will be dedicated to our adventures with a 1966 Lotus Super Seven, 1500 Cosworth. The original blog is about my experience with the Caterham 170 S . There will be direct links between the two, and you will be able to switch between them  using the menu on the left. As usual, I am my first reader, this is first and foremost my own logbook where I'll make sure everything is documented for further reference. You can read my original introduction here . The story actually begins at the same moment in February 2024: 🦄 this unicorn of a Lotus Seven was actually the first one you'd see when entering the House of Speed show room; between the front door and the office. Things took quite a turn the day I brought the Caterham with a missing wheel arch and jokingly said I'd better leave before walking out with the Lotus S2. Here we are... Enjoy!