What is this Seven worth?
Discussion
I am half way through the restoration of a 1977 Caterham Seven, which I was building with a view to hillclimbs, track days and maybe historic motorsport.
For a bunch of boring reasons, I am thinking about selling the project.
The spec is as follows:
Arch Motors chassis to 1977 S3 spec, but with long cockpit, lowered floors and brackets for front mounted radiator. All the panels and almost all of the frame tubes are new.
It also has a harness tube across the rear of the cockpit and an FIA roll bar with Petty strut, a collapsable steering column with QD steering wheel.
New ally petrol tank.
The Escort axle has been stripped, powder coated and rebuilt with new brakes. The front end has rebuilt hubs, calipers and new grooved discs, trunnions etc. It also has the separate wishbone and anti-roll bar set up.
The wheels have been refinished and have new A021Rs.
New Freestyle spring and damper kit with rose jointed rear shocks.
It is currently a rolling chassis with all new brake pipes, master cylinders, pedal box, handbrake, scuttle etc.
I also have the Lotus Twin Cam engine and box, complete with carbs and exhaust manifold. The engine needs a rebuild. All the parts are present to complete the job, including the original bench seats, instruments, wiring harness, wiper motor, oil cooler, windscreen etc.
The only parts that are actually absent are the rear wings, nose cone, silencer and radiator.
This is what it looks like at the moment.
This is the car before I started the rebuild.
I guess that the obvious thing to do would be to stick it on eBay, or in the classifieds, but I am far from certain that I should be selling up, and I don't want to waste anyone's time.
Just want an idea what it might fetch.
Thanks.
For a bunch of boring reasons, I am thinking about selling the project.
The spec is as follows:
Arch Motors chassis to 1977 S3 spec, but with long cockpit, lowered floors and brackets for front mounted radiator. All the panels and almost all of the frame tubes are new.
It also has a harness tube across the rear of the cockpit and an FIA roll bar with Petty strut, a collapsable steering column with QD steering wheel.
New ally petrol tank.
The Escort axle has been stripped, powder coated and rebuilt with new brakes. The front end has rebuilt hubs, calipers and new grooved discs, trunnions etc. It also has the separate wishbone and anti-roll bar set up.
The wheels have been refinished and have new A021Rs.
New Freestyle spring and damper kit with rose jointed rear shocks.
It is currently a rolling chassis with all new brake pipes, master cylinders, pedal box, handbrake, scuttle etc.
I also have the Lotus Twin Cam engine and box, complete with carbs and exhaust manifold. The engine needs a rebuild. All the parts are present to complete the job, including the original bench seats, instruments, wiring harness, wiper motor, oil cooler, windscreen etc.
The only parts that are actually absent are the rear wings, nose cone, silencer and radiator.
This is what it looks like at the moment.
This is the car before I started the rebuild.
I guess that the obvious thing to do would be to stick it on eBay, or in the classifieds, but I am far from certain that I should be selling up, and I don't want to waste anyone's time.
Just want an idea what it might fetch.
Thanks.
I have no idea what it's worth, but I have seen those pictures before, and admired them.
It's a shame you have to sell. If you don't, throw a cover over it and wait untill you have the enthusiasm to carry on. I suspect you will regret it the minute you see it go.
The Lotus grey chassis is a nice touch, as is the red steering wheel.
If you do sell, someone is going to be a very happy bunny.
It's a shame you have to sell. If you don't, throw a cover over it and wait untill you have the enthusiasm to carry on. I suspect you will regret it the minute you see it go.
The Lotus grey chassis is a nice touch, as is the red steering wheel.
If you do sell, someone is going to be a very happy bunny.
I agree with the above!
I've had endless problems with my Caterham. Haven't been driving it over a year now. It's been in three shops and and when all seemed to get better soon, the piston decided to take a fast exit out. In the In the end I almost decided to sell it, until I recently saw a photo of the car again. I still remember how I had used it as a daily. I even had fun going out in it to buy groceries. That's when I decided to fix it again. Due to the whole family blahblah life now I won't be able to use it as much as I used to, but it has an upside. I'll enjoy every trip even more!
So, if in any way it isn't a 'must sell,' cover it up and keep it so you can do little things on it till it's finished.
I've had endless problems with my Caterham. Haven't been driving it over a year now. It's been in three shops and and when all seemed to get better soon, the piston decided to take a fast exit out. In the In the end I almost decided to sell it, until I recently saw a photo of the car again. I still remember how I had used it as a daily. I even had fun going out in it to buy groceries. That's when I decided to fix it again. Due to the whole family blahblah life now I won't be able to use it as much as I used to, but it has an upside. I'll enjoy every trip even more!
So, if in any way it isn't a 'must sell,' cover it up and keep it so you can do little things on it till it's finished.
This looks like a very well perfomed restoration job. The effort involved seems to be considerable, but the amount of work remaining must be less than half the job. It will probably be difficult to get the value invested if you sell it at this stage.
I am considering to take on a project like this myself, - based on a chassis with papers that will document the original car to be more than 30 years old. Being a Norwegian I might be able to import a vihicle as a veteran car and avoid having to pay anything else than a symbolic amount in taxes.
The look of this one is inspiring to me. But the downside is a clear understanding of the time and effort it will take to reach this level of quality - not to say what it will take to finish it. Having taken the rebuild this far my advise is to stick with it and accept that the timeframe to completion is shifting to the right - just to redescover the joy of the work and find the rewards in the process towards the end result.
I am considering to take on a project like this myself, - based on a chassis with papers that will document the original car to be more than 30 years old. Being a Norwegian I might be able to import a vihicle as a veteran car and avoid having to pay anything else than a symbolic amount in taxes.
The look of this one is inspiring to me. But the downside is a clear understanding of the time and effort it will take to reach this level of quality - not to say what it will take to finish it. Having taken the rebuild this far my advise is to stick with it and accept that the timeframe to completion is shifting to the right - just to redescover the joy of the work and find the rewards in the process towards the end result.
Gassing Station | Caterham | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff