According to John Watson of the Lotus Seven Register SB1760 was built in July of 1963 and shipped to Autosport in Canada. Originally it was yellow and was powered by a 116E Ford with a single Weber. From there its history is pretty much unknown. After some research I was able to locate the owner of Autosport, Bob Hanna. Being a Lotus dealer he had many cars pass through his doors and was unable to remember anything in particular about the car.

I first purchased it in 1994. The previous owner told me it had been raced and at some point was substantially damaged. According to him it had been rebuilt from the ground up in the 1980's including a new frame and skin. How much of it is original? I just don't know. It seems to have had some late series 2 or series 3 updates. The frame has more triangulation. The rear end is a Ford with extra bracing. The instrument panel is slightly different from stock. The engine is correct but the carburetion has been changed. Instead of a side draft Weber with the Lotus manifold, it has a stock manifold with a downdraft Weber. The ubiquitous Lucas beehive lights were used for the tail lights and turn signals. Because of the different bolt patterns on the front and rear (Triumph and Ford) I found an interesting solution for a spare. My spare wheel is an aluminum space saver type I found in a wrecking yard. It had the Ford bolt pattern. I had a machine shop drill four other holes with the Triumph pattern. It works well for now.

I sold the car in 1996 when I divorced and often regretted that move. Several years ago I saw it for sale but wasn't in a position to even consider it. This year I was thinking about it again and decided to try to contact the owner. Fortunately he still had the same cell phone number even though he had moved to the Midwest. He had not sold the car and was preparing to ship it from California to his new home. Ironically, he was still interested in selling and was to return to California that weekend to ship it out. I made an appointment to meet him and ended up buying it back. I was planning on driving it home some 100 miles but after entering a freeway the front brakes locked up and I had to have it towed. Pretty foolish of me thinking I could just jump in and drive it after it had been sitting awhile.

Like any Seven, after a long time, it needed some work. The brake problem was sorted; the radiator was replaced; and a new generator and voltage regulator took care of a charging problem. The paint scheme was bare aluminum with green nose and fenders. I repainted those pieces changing the fenders to yellow and keeping the nose green.

Although driving it is still a blast I have just a couple of other things to change. I think a new starter might be in the offing soon. I'm also planning on changing the carburetion back to the original Weber. New tires are a must. They are the same Pirelli's I sold the car with in 1996!

The pictures I've included show the car with the Brooklands windshield. I do have, and use frequently, the stock windshield.

Anyway, I'd like to find out anything I can about 1760's history and also locate a single Weber manifold.
Thanks for a great website.