It's been a month now since I purchased my own Seven and it has become an obsession. Every spare moment is dedicated to planning my next drive, weighing up options for weather, traffic avoidance and hunting for the next best 'B' road to explore.
It began for me with a long-weekend break in the Scottish Highlands, and a trip to meet Boyd Stokes at Highland Caterham Hire. I'd known about Caterham's from an early age, as my mum grew up in nearby Coulsdon and we would drive down Caterham Hill when visiting my grand parents. Mum and Dad liked their Triumphs (in the 70s) and I heard many stories of my mother four-wheel-drifting her Herald or Dolomite Sprint on wet roundabouts before 'the children' came along. I guess it was fate… I never stood a chance really.
So a brief taste of 'Seven heaven' in the Highlands had me hankering for more. First up was a 4-day trip to navigate the North Coast 500 in another of Boyd's SV 7s , taking my fellow petrolhead and lotus-loving best mate along for the experience. Then followed a couple of dry years while I plotted and saved, saved and plotted my way to my own Seven. This included a garage demolition and new garage construction. A big project with many phases. A brief foray to Book-a-tracks' Drift Experience confirmed that a Series 3 chassis was a 'good fit' and the hunt was on.
With a partner, two kids and a dog plus mortgage to feed, the off-the-shelf purchase price of a new Seven was never in contention. I looked a a loan, decided the interest rates were too high, and settled on sourcing an affordable Seven for cash. Lots of reading. Lots of web searches. Lots of 'this is never going to happen'… until finally it became the right car, at the right price, at the right time (well maybe 2 months earlier than planned… it is an addiction after all).
So now I have the car and the garage. She's an older lady, with personality, but she wears her miles with pride. She gets me out of bed at 5am on a weekend (sometimes earlier) and we play together for a few hours until the roads become clogged with normal folk. There are plans in the making for longer travels (next year) and I would really like a house (with garage) in the far north west of Scotland…
It's been two days since my last drive. Thanks for listening.
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