The Caterham 21 is a two seat roadster designed and hand built by Caterham Cars. It was intended to be a more standard styled version of the Caterham 7. 1923 Ford Model T roadster 1950 Jaguar XK120 roadster This article is about the roadster car body style. ... Caterham Cars are a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. ... The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car, which have been called a motorcycle on four wheels. It is characterised by very good acceleration but a low top speed, handling is lively and the ride is uncompromising. The drag coefficient is around 0. ...
The 21 was offered with a range of 4 cylinder engines from 1.6 to 1.8 L, with 115 to 190 bhp.[1] Caterham originally intended to produce 200 cars, but less than 50 were actually made before production ceased. Several variations were created to participate in racing events.
The 21 is essentially the same car as a Caterham 7, sharing almost all major parts. The chassis is stiffer than in a Caterham 7 due to the use of "toblerones" in the driver and passenger door sills and extra strengthening at the front of the car.
The engine that went on to be introduced as the R500 engine in the 7 was originally installed and tested in a Caterham 21.
The current owners run a lively regular gathering at a sprint track in the UK, with over 16 cars attending each year out of 48 made.
The old school Caterham that used to have a live rear axle that is generally believed to have a poorer handling on rough roads.
In the late 80s, Caterham started using powerplants from various sources, with the least expensive models using a 1.4-litre K series from MG Rover for the base model, followed by a Ford Zetec 1.8-litre and a race-tuned Vauxhall engine at the top, capable of achieving 175 or 210 bhp.
Caterham have previously also made the Caterham21 model but this was not a sales success and has been discontinued.
Caterham had been a major supplier to Lotus during the 60's, and its founder, Graham Nearn, purchased the rights to continue manufacture of the Seven design from Chapman in 1973, after Lotus announced their intention to discontinue the model.
Mechanically the 21 was almost identical to the 7, but instead of the uncompromising narrow, open body and wheels, the car had a wider roadster body, including a proper windscreen and fold-away hood (convertible top).
The 'original' Caterham had a live rear axle, which was generally held to have poorer handling on rough roads than the later-option de Dion rear axle, the sole currently-offered option.
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