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 0.7, mostly because of the flat windscreen and the wheel arches.
The original Lotus Seven was launched in 1957, powered by a 40 bhpFord Sidevalve 1172cc engine. The Lotus Seven Series 2 followed in 1960, and the Series 3 in 1968. In 1970, Lotus radically changed the shape of the car to create the Series 4, which was not widely loved.
In 1973, Lotus decided to try and shed its kit_car image in order to concentrate on its more up_market models. As part of this plan, it sold the rights to the Seven to Caterham Cars. Caterham had been a Seven dealer since the very early days, and at this time they were the sole suppliers. After a brief period producing the Series 4, they reverted back to the Series 3 car, and have been making, and refining, this car since as the Caterham Super Seven.
Since the design of the Lotus Seven is so simple there are many replicas and sevenesque cars such as:
Caterham resumed production of the Series 3 Seven (Lotus had come out with the Series 4, a fiberglass bodied machine that was just not in the spirit of things).
Caterham continued the tradition of selling primarily kits.
Sevens and Elans, Ltd. is the oldest dealer and the Number 1 volume Caterham Seven dealer in the United States.
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