Why I chose a Caterham Seven

Owning a Caterham 7 sort of crept up on me. I suppose it started back in 1981 when I lived in Croydon. My wife & I often went down the A22 to the White Hart at Godstone on Saturday evenings and Sunday lunchtimes and from time to time I saw some of these 'funny' cars on the Caterham bypass. They reminded me of the Formula 1 cars I had seen as a child, a couple of which I had in my Scalextric set at the time.

Once I realised that

a) they were designed for someone who was 5'9" (I am 6'4") and

b) I couldn't afford one

I didn't think much more about them, and went on to a life of ever more powerful tintops - mini 1275 , Metro 1.3, Astra 1.6, Cavalier 1.6, Cavalier 2.0, Omega 2.5 and I am currently on a Jaguar S-Type 3.0. These were more powerful cars, but I never really explored their potential on the road - with a wife & 2 daughters that was not an option.

To get more out of my driving, I was looking at using my car on trackdays, but realised that the Jag wasn't well suited and that a second car was probably the best route, so started to look around. It was at this point that I suddenly discovered that

a) Caterham now made an SV and

b) I could afford one

that my thoughts turned to a Caterham 7. I wanted one. Badly.

At this point my wife said "If you want one, why don't you get one". So...... before she changed her mind I did as she said (for once) and ended up with a second hand SV. The rest of the story is on these pages.

Enjoy. I hope that you end up with the opportunity to own a car like this one day - and have a loving and understanding wife like mine.

The story continues

Having owned my car for 4 years, I had the opportunity to upgrade to a CSR. I wasn't sure whether I needed all the power of the 260bhp version, but was equally unsure that I wouldn't want to upgrade later if I went for the 200. My wife helped again by pushing me to go for the 260.....

Last update: 23 Mar 2017