History - Legend - Stories - For Sale

MKVI - MK7 S1 | SB1000 - 1499 | SB1500 - 1999 | SB2000 - 2499 | SB2500 - 2999 | SB3000 +
important: chassis numbers are as reported by owners -- their appearance here does not guarantee authenticity.

William Inch's Lotus Seven
SB1946
UK

October 2018, William Inch reports:

Updating the information on Lotus 7 SB1946. I bought the car from Geoff Lowe in Summer 2016. It now looks like the pictures below. I went along with John Watson to view it. The car is very original, with original documentation and original engine. Geoff told me that the wings and metal work is all original. I have all the paperwork to show its history and owners from new. Its a lovely car.

Read Geoff Lowe's Axle Flange Reinforcement Solution here

Read Geoff Lowe's 5 Link Axle Solution here

This car had been locked in a garage for what I can make out is about 30 years. I have an old MOT logging mileage of 41387 and was dated 1976 and the car has a speedo reading of 42865 miles so it would appear that it has not done very much in the last 30 years. I had known about this car for years but never seen it, it belonged to a guy that goes in the village pub and I often spoke to him about the car but he would say 'I will never sell it' -- he was going to rebuild it one day. One night I was in the pub and there was a lull in the conversation and I said 'have you still got your Lotus Tony' he replied 'yes' and someone else said 'he wants to sell it' I went and saw it the next day and I was smitten by the Seven bug.

Restoration work: A week later I got the car home at 11:30 and by 1:30 the engine was running but showing signs of piston ring damage. All the brakes and clutch were seized and the front core plug in the engine had gone. The wheels were steel band welded so they would have to go. Four new tyres and a set of Wolfrace 5 slots were purchased a battery and a full set of brakes and it is ready to go for an MOT.

The general condition of the car is not bad so I put it on the road before winter and I will do a rebuild and drive bit by bit.

The car has now had the engine rebuilt every suspension bush has been replaced and four new Spax adjustable shocks and springs fitted.

History as far as I can tell, this car is pretty much an original with a 1500 Ford pre x-flow Cosworth engine but it is a 120E and not a 116E that was fitted to the S2's, it has a close ratio Ford gear box and the Standard 10 rear axle. The electrics are dynamo charged but the dash is not a S2 or a S2 1/2. When you scrape paint off any where on the car it is the original yellow under the red, that is not the best paint job in the world and it has the large Serck tank complete with label and numbers.

There is no evidence that the car has been used in any competition but the guy I got it off who used to race motorbikes professionally back in the sixties and seventies claims that he had done hill climes and sprints in it but I don't know for definite. He obtained the car from a bank manager some where in the midlands but that is it, that is about as much as I can tell you apart from I was never a Sevens man but when you get one you are smitten, I cannot believe my luck in obtaining this car! I have never had so much fun since my old rally days in Escorts.

Just one last bit of information -- when I was trying to get it registered even though I had the old green log book the DVLA had no record of it so I had to contact John Watson who helped me no end to verify that this is the original SB1946 even down to the carburettor numbers. When I got the car there was no vin plate under the bonnet and John informed me that someone in Norway was claiming SB1946 but from all the numbers this is original.


History - Legend - Stories - For Sale

MKVI - MK7 S1 | SB1000 - 1499 | SB1500 - 1999 | SB2000 - 2499 | SB2500 - 2999 | SB3000 +
important: chassis numbers are as reported by owners -- their appearance here does not guarantee authenticity.