Memories of a ride in the Super Seven 33 years ago
It was a summer's day in 1982. I visited the Caterham importer Fredy Kumschick with two colleagues and was given the opportunity to test drive a brand new Caterham Super Seven with a Ford Kent engine. 84 hp didn't sound like much, but combined with a kerb weight of less than 600 kg, the performance was breathtaking for me at the time. The immediate response to accelerator or steering wheel movements impressed me even more, and if I had had the necessary 26,500 francs for a Caterham Super Seven Standard with heating and individual seats, I would probably have signed a contract immediately so that three to five months later I would have a Sevens of my own. I might even have treated myself to the additional aluminum wheels (680 francs), the roll bar (155 francs), the small sprayhood (65 francs), the rear fender protection (64 francs), roller belts (140 francs) and chrome-plated front suspensions (420 francs), but as a student, a new car was out of the question. My spare change was just enough to buy the book "Legend of the Lotus Seven" by Dennis Oldenburger at Kumschick, which immediately took pride of place on my bedside table.
It is interesting to note that Oldenburger wrote at the time that a book should only be written when a car was no longer being built and that, surprisingly, the Seven was still being produced in 1980. Well, he can only be even more surprised today, another 35 years later, because the Super Seven is still being built, almost 60 years after its first appearance in 1957. The latest version, the Caterham Seven 165 model, is even closer to the original than some versions in between, with 80 hp and dispensing with everything unnecessary.
Despite my infatuation with the racing car-like vehicle concept, a Lotus Seven has (so far) never made it into my own garage. I have never forgotten the intense driving sensation I felt back in the summer of 1982, which has since made almost every other car seem unwieldy and oversized. And when I was given the opportunity to relive the old memories a few days ago, I didn't hesitate for a second and drove a 1969 Lotus Super Seven TwinCamdespite the ice, fog and wintry weather conditions. And indeed, it was just like 33 years before, the memories immediately came back to life and my first thoughts afterwards were once again about the balance in my bank account ... almost like back then ....
