As many of our long-term readers know, I’ve got a bad, bad Jones for Lotus 7s. And not just the originals or the Caterhams (which is what we have here) but almost any of the faithful continuations of Saint Colin’s masterpiece from lo those many years ago; Birkins, Westfields, those crazy-assed Caterhams with motorcycle engines, those Westfields with Miata drivetrains … any of those really do it for me. At this point, if someone were to say to me: “You can either have a free new Ferrari or a free 7 built to your spec,” I’d probably go with the 7. But back to the subject at hand …

And doesn’t this seem like one of those ideas, in retrospect, that should have been done a long time ago. It seems that Caterham, the keepers of the official flame (i.e. these were the guys that Colin Chapman sold all the tooling and rights to back in the mid-70s), have teamed up with Lambretta to make a special edition 7.

Now, in the past, a special edition 7 from Caterham meant something like fitting the engine from a Honda Fireblade motorcycle under the bonnet (no, I’m serious, and so is that car), but in the instance of the Lambretta 7, it’s all pretty much a C & C special. There’s no changes under the skin to the Lambretta Special. It’s still using the stock 125HP 1.6-liter Ford Sigma engine hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox. Of course that still means that it’ll go like blazes, since a Caterham tips the scales at around 1100 pounds – or half of what a new Miata weighs.

So what Caterham did, was join forces with British-owned fashion company, Lambretta Clothing, and yeah, I have no idea either if they’re connected with the scooter people. The Lambretta visual treatment consists of unique body paint, decals and livery that looks like something out of Keith Moon’s dreams, circa 1966.

And on the inside it’s more of the same. There’s a matching color scheme straddling the leather seats, dash, carpets and boot. There’s hand-stitched seat piping, embossed Lambretta motifs and a rather fetching Moto-Lita steering wheel to round off the interior upgrades.

Price? The special edition Caterham Seven Lambretta starts from £26,995 OTR.

Source: Car Scoop

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Sad news today out of England that Graham Nearn, the man most responsible for keeping the Lotus 7 flame burning bright has passed away. Nearn, who was 76, started out as a “dealer” for the immortal 7 back when they first hit the market in the late 1950s, and later, went on to save the brand, and continue producing them under the Caterham name.

Graham Nearn created Caterham Cars in 1959 as a retail outlet for the lightweight Lotus 7 roadster. It was originally designed, built and sold by Colin Chapman as a kit car, literally a box of parts and a set of build instructions. Nearn started Caterham both as a dealer of the kits, and as a way to help out buyers figure out the intricacies of building their own car.

Graham Nearn was also instrumental in getting the Lotus 7 used as a set piece on the opening of the BBC’s “The Prisoner” television show. That’s Nearn on the right with Prisoner star Patrick MacGoohan. MacGoohan loved the idea of his character driving a 7, feeling that it showed #6 to be an independent thinker, self-reliant and resourceful.

When Chapman and Lotus tired of producing 7s, and were going to axe production entirely in 1973, Nearn and Caterham bought the rights and tooling from Chapman, and continue to produce the car to this day.

Nearn took over manufacturing and kept the car true to its origins – light, basic, and an absolute blast to drive. Since it’s inception, the Lotus 7 has consistently beaten cars with more power. TO go fast, add lightness, said Colin Chapman, and the 7 is the living embodiment of that credo. And the fact that we still have a car this good around can be laid at the feet of Graham Nearn.

Nearn passed away last weekend and we send our condolences to the entire Caterham family worldwide.

Source: Autoblog

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So what’s all this that I hear that there’s some sort of crisis in the automotive world. That sales are down, factories are closing and whole brands are disappearing off the face of the Earth. If that is happening, it ain’t happening to Caterham, makers of one of the best sportscars available anywhere for any price.

Ah Caterham, how do I love thee? Light, tight and handle right with a “We don’t care” attitude about things like paint or weather protection. No, they’re not for everyone, but they are seemingly for enough people that Caterham is actually increasing production and hiring more people to work at its assembly facilities.

“Our international sales drive is delivering the results thanks not only to favorable exchange rates but more importantly the quality of business partners we have established in markets including France, Italy, Japan and Germany,” said Ansar Ali, Caterham Cars managing director.

Sure, that sounds like a reasonable explanation, especially for Japan, where they’ve always been crazy for these little guys. And let’s face it, having a Caterham Seven in a place like France, Italy, or Germany must be a real hoot. The roads in those countries are some of the best there are, not to mention the thought of taking your Seven for little jaunt around the ‘Ring … OK, just a moment … had to catch my breath there.

Now, where were we? Ah yes.

An increased demand for the Caterham Seven incited the rise in production capacity. The overall increase is around ten percent from 2009 production levels up to about 420 units. Yes, I know, that’s not very many, but it IS an increase, now isn’t it. Caterham also said that it would take on extra workers in the production department to help manage the increased workload as the company’s order book is already full up until mid-October of this year. Oh, if only Chrysler or GM had such problems (only on a larger scale).

Like any good business, Caterham made projections and planned ahead for this year, but they say that growth from markets worldwide has exceeded expectations for 2009.

So, if you were planning on ringing up the U.S. distributor of Caterhams (which is still Rocky Mountain Sportscars in Colorado, I believe) and putting in an order, you might have to wait a bit longer.

Source: CarScoop

Photo from Flick User exfordy

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Amidst all of the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments about the current world economic situation, Caterham, of all people, is selling more cars now then they were this time last year. And no, it’s not because car buyers suddenly got an infusion of taste.

It would seem that why sales are up, is because former super car owners, looking to cut costs, are deciding to go the Caterham route, rather than more traditional high performance cars.

According to sources, this past April the small volume British company saw both a Ferrari F430 and Porsche 911 Turbo traded-in for the Caterham Seven, and that was just keeping up with a continuing trend. And really, apart from a lack of roof and most creature comforts (heaters are for sissies anyway), a Caterham Seven can easily run with the likes of a Ferrari F430 or a Porsche 911 Turbo … up till about 140 or so. Then the laws of aerodynamics take over, and the brick-like Caterham just can’t get the air to move out of the way fast enough. But when it comes to getting to that sort of speed, Caterhams accelerate like the proverbial bat out of Hell.

The company’s faster models, such as the Cosworth-powered CSR260 can easily out accelerate most supercars, and even the base models are pretty darn quick, able to post zero to sixty times and skidpad numbers in the top two or three percent of the car world. And some of the higher output models have been known to comprehensively beat things like Suzuki Hayabusa super bikes.

And Caterhams don’t cost nearly what Porsches or Ferraris cost. Shoot, they seemingly cost about the same as a Hayabusa or a Ducati. In the US, Caterham’s range starts at around $30,000.

Yes, they’re kits and yes, you have to build them yourself (or have someone build one for you), but they are seriously high performance cars. Even with smaller four cylinder engines, a Seven can go from zero to sixty in the five second range and corner at around one G. Since they only weigh around 1000 pounds, performance come easy to a Caterham Seven.

Source: Jalopnik

Photo from Flickr user exfordy

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