The_ASH

One last stab... or ...final call before I err... 1400 Supersport or alternatively Suzuki engined 160 wanted. Must be competitively priced. Leaning towards a 160 at present but only used ones seem to be with manufacturer, I wonder if they (cough) take offers? If not I’ll just watch the market and leave it to chance once my membership has lapsed in the next few weeks or so.

Is this the ‘thin end of the wedge’ for the K? 13 years out of production, (14?). Not in Sevens but... So many of them out there, falling off the end of the end of the conveyor belt, so many of them high mileage, so many being indiscriminately scrapped (in saloons) without true and proper assessment (by Dave) :-), no new parts as PTP or Rover don’t exist any longer since late 2005. Certain things seem to be in plentiful... if not ‘end of stock’ or clearance supply but are we in a THE END IS NIGH situation. The massive oversupply of the British motor industry was bound to end eventually. Ford keep some back stock, the Japs less so (not fully bound to the 7 year rule). When an engine is made of metallic cheese surely it goes off sooner than than a muscular weighty iron engine. Cost^^^! Eeek!

Yes, have noticed those.

The LE’s had a plaque on the dash to denote which one they were. This was the car I owned 10 years ago here http://www.thecaterhamregister.net/images/1400Roadsport/1400%20Roadsport%20No.002.jpg

Is it one of the LE’s, no.2 of 30 by any chance?

I think Brexit is putting people off a lot of things financial outlay wise, depending on what happens I think sales could pick up after March end... or not. Who knows.

Ian - The most galling bit of all this is there was the ideal car (I didn’t know i wanted one then) for sale locally to me, was for sale for a while, sold just before I sold my last car, 1400SS tb’s apollo 5spd etc kind of ultimate road spec. A bit like trains, busses or taxis there’s never one around when you want one. I might at a push settle for a Suzuki 160 but again there’s none at the right price Millwood had one (sensibly priced), Caterham have several but to me they seem £1.5 to £2k over priced. At the risk of upsetting a few people the 160 seems like the ‘new’ VX 8V value and hierarchy wise. Somehow a 1400 SS seems a safer bet long term and better value... the more sensible better judged option.

Another long story but had 2 of those as well and again I prefer the 1400 SS over the standard or SS 1600. Love the zingy 1400 engine’s pickup that the 1600 loses a little and the 1800 moreso as the stroke, bore and cc’s get bigger. Imagine how revvy and sharp the ultra rare 1100K 16V would be SuperSported and in a Seven. Also not the most important issue but a 1400 is cheaper to tax, the first one always felt so good like it was incorrectly banded, like you were getting away with some kind of tax evasion. Seemed at the time to epitomise the old Blatchat smiley sticker that adorned so many cars back then <like that but it was the car that was animated not the smiley.

Long story but the 3rd Seven I owned was one of those, the first was a standard SS not an LE, of the two I actually preferred the standard one, felt more powerful, went better and the 5 speed was better for distance cruising, theoretically they command less of a premium as well ...arguably. Of course, I know there are pro’s and con’s allied to both cars.

Final call before I permanently adopt a pipe and slippers. Cheaper the better. Anyone? or put another way

I knew there were intercontinental ro-ro ships as used by the large manufacturers but for some reason I always envisaged that us ‘average motorist’ types had to stick the car in a shipping container, pray it didn’t fall off the ship enroute creating some metallic growler yachting hazard, travel independently and hopefully collect it intact at the other end.

That’s interesting, up to 90 days wandering around in the US (or Canada) in a Seven. I did a bit of Googling and found this https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/thecruisepeople.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/atlantic-container-line-announces-new-trans-atlantic-passenger-service-starting-in-march-hamburg-antwerp-liverpool-halifax-new-york-baltimore-and-return/amp/ Suprising my relations in Ca. would be a laugh but a bit of a stretch from NY as it’s ‘only’ 2794 miles (or 41 hours driving Google tells me).

The best shift light I ever found was Australian by a company called Ecliptech. The latest version can be found here https://ecliptech.com.au/shift-p2/ Not cheap now at £150 (last version was £80 ISTR) but for road use on a Seven the night time auto dimming feature meant that after triggering the lights you weren’t staring at a stinging white dot for the next few miles which is what I found with the DRE ones on minimum brightness once the sun had retreated for the day plus you had to manually set it then set it back for daytime.

Another thing that can improve things if you are on your own in the car is to fit half of the tonneau cover which traps more warm air in the car and helps to keep it from getting sucked out of the car before you have been able to feel at least some of it’s effect.

I too am looking for the two separate parts, individually identified by the letters FS and WTD. Much like everyone else I appear to have the combined item which is followed by the exclamation FFS!