Buying my 1st caterham!

[beck]

I have finally got the funds together to buy my first caterham! I have £8000 to spend but possibly stretch to £9000.I found a car that belongs to a friend of mine,that i know has been well looked after. Its a 91 supersprint 1700 xflow,narrow long body,it has dejion,flared arches,5 speed,had unleaded conversion,engine built by roger king,has full w/gear done 31000 miles and its on a Qplate....The questions I need help with are: How much should i offer for the car?as the ones ive researched seem to very alot in price and spec!!,I do trust my friend of giving me a good deal, but it would be nice to go back to him with an informed view and fair price...secondly i have another friend who races in motorsport and when i mentioned the word xflow...came back with...lets just say a negative view!! So should i be looking to buy this car at all? or can i get a k series with my budget that would be a better bet for me? I know the history of the car is very important which is why im attracted to my friends xflow.....Help!
I would like to thank all the people who reply,and for sharing your your knowledge
Beck

[lord summerisle]

dunno how much help i'll be..

ive heard varying things about crossflows... from leak oil like a sieve... but at least they like cheap oil. and need rebuilding every 20-30k miles.

havea look on Blatchat.com (wont beable to post without joining the lotus7 club but they have a good knowledge base there to search through)

when i was looking most xflows where 7k upwards topping out at 11k

personally i like em with flares, but they are supposedly out of fashion now, and cyclewings being the in thing ATM

[rubystone]

There are several nice cars on Pistonheads. For example... www.pistonheads.com/sales/64805.htm ...and it's a de dion

This one seems really clean www.pistonheads.com/sales/56973.htm

I think the crossflow is maligned. Yes it is old school and yes they can leak and yes they can burn a bit of oil at higher mileages, but they are full of character.

[beck]

Thanks for the reply Lord Summerisle!
Rubystone thats given me a much better idea for pricing thanks. I plan to drive to spain and italy in the spring so i think i need a 5 speed box for long driving? My driving will be mainly on the road with the odd track day too so the de dion is surposed to best i think? so ill look into the first car thanks

[rubystone]

beck said:

Thanks for the reply Lord Summerisle! Rubystone thats given me a much better idea for pricing thanks. I plan to drive to spain and italy in the spring so i think i need a 5 speed box for long driving? My driving will be mainly on the road with the odd track day too so the de dion is surposed to best i think? so ill look into the first car thanks

Well...I did 2000 plus smiles on the L7 Club Swiss Trip this year in my 6 speed HPC - not the best choice for a relaxed tour in Europe, but liveable with as long as earplugs were worn. In essence you're correct to choose a 5 speed and for resale, a de dion is best, but don't rule out a well priced 5 speed live axle either.

[beck]

thanks rubystone

[h_____]

I drove a 1700 supersprint Xflow for a short while, had far more character than my 1.6 Kseries.

You wont regret it. A carb'd car is always going to be more exciting than an injected car in my book.

[Tango7]

Beck,

As you have probably guessed Caterhams are like many other cars and there are tremendous differences in prices. For a 1991 de dion Xflow car with a 5 speed box and flared arches, I expect the price to be around £8k-8.5k depending on the overall condition of the car and its other features. If it has bench seats, a standard roll bar and is not in the best of condition probably look closer to £7.5k.

For touring purposes, definitely go for a 5 speed car as it drops the revs quite noticeably when you are sitting on the motorway at 70-75mph. As Rubystone says, the Xflow is quite maligned. They are very simple to work on and have quite a character with their spitting carbs and popping and banging exhausts. They are a real laugh to drive. On the other side though, they can use a bit of oil, can be thirsty (average 20-23 mpg)for fuel and can be a little noisy on a run.

A Roger King engine is a big plus point though with the car you have suggested. Xflow engines MAY need rebuilding after 20k miles but this is only a very rough rule of thumb and I reckon there are a lot more out there with more miles than this running fine.

For your budget you might be able to find a cheap but tatty K series such as a 1400k series or a graduate VX1600 in decent condition. The 1600 VX engine was thought to be untuneable and restricted to 100 bhp but Bill Blyderstein (sp?) has carried out a few conversions on cars on Blatchat for around £700 I think and lifted their power to a decent 135bhp (per Xflow Supersprint spec) and returned better fuel economy too!

Have a look at a few cars, attend an area meeting or two and ask for advice from local club members. If you got to www.lotus7club.co.uk you will see the contact details of the area organisers posted there. They are usually very willing to help anyone over the phone or by email if you ask for assistance.

HTH

T

[Matt W]

Have you seen the 1.6 Vauxhall ex academy car on ebay? I had one just like this and it was fab. He's been trying to sell for ages at £9k but has had no takers. Don't know what his reserve is but it's bound to be good value for a car of this age.

link [url]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1999-CATERHAM-V[/url]