The story of the Seven

Lotus Seven

THIS is where the story officially starts. Lotus founder Colin Chapman first toyed with the idea of lightweight competition car in 1946 with his Austin Seven. Various Lotus cars culminated with the Seven in 1957. Sold as a kit, it used a medley of Ford and Austin parts.

Lotus Seven Twin Cam SS

SS stood for Super Seven and the first model was the Series 2. These were the most powerful versions and used a Coventry Climax engine. The Series 3 Seven didn’t have an SS until 1969, and it used the eightvalve 1.6-litre engine from the Lotus Elan. It was a great success.

Caterham Seven Prisoner

THIS is where the Caterham story really develops as the late eighties models drew a line from the Lotus versions. VVC cars used a 1.8-litre Rover K Series and introduced a raft of refinements, topped off by the Prisoner special edition, dressed in green with a yellow nose, just like the original TV car.

Caterham CSR 260

IT may look like a normal Seven, but the CSR had a steel tubular spaceframe chassis incorporating the dash, centre console and transmission tunnel to make it stiff. There was doublewishbone suspension at the rear, and a 2.3litre Cosworth-tuned Ford engine up front.

Caterham Superlight R500

PROBABLY the maddest Caterham ever, the Superlight R500 had carbon fibre bodywork, Kevlar seats, a 263bhp four-cylinder 2.0-litre engine, a limited-slip diff, a six-speed sequential gearbox and no windscreen. It was as extreme as Caterhams get.

Caterham 620S

THE craziest products in the current Caterham range are the 620 models; there’s this S version and the harder R. As well as an incredible powerto-weight ratio of 516bhp per tonne, you get a snappy nature that’s a far cry from the original Lotus Seven of 60 years ago.