I bought it in February of 2001 from an older Japanese fellow by the name of Masaki Kondo. Mr. Kondo had it flown to the USA from England in 1996. I have all of his records on where the Lotus was purchased all the way through the process of bringing it into the US. Mr. Kondo purchased the Lotus from "South Hereford Garages." It was owned by the owner of the garage. It was restored in the early '90s by Arch Motors. It was a very low mileage car to start with and still only has 1500 miles since restoration. It is pristine to say the least. Actually, you could say it is a new car that simply needs driven. It seems the more I drive it the better it gets. It is breaking in now since the previous owners just stored it. I am new to Lotus 7s as I have only dealt with Austin Healeys for most of my life. I also have the original metal number plate that was on the rear of the Lotus when it was in England.

The rest of the story...

In late summer of '96, a Japanese businessman by the name of Masaki Kondo approached Mr. Bill Dolson of Bill Dolson Racing, Ltd. to help in his search of a suitable Lotus 7 to use as a road car and if so inclined a possible vintage race car. Bill Dolson agreed to help locate a suitable Lotus 7 and with no luck locating one in the U.S. he eventually found one for sale in Hereford, England. Mr. Kondo purchased the Lotus from Mr. Robert S. Tabor of South Hereford Garages Ltd. Mr Tabor stated that he purchased the Lotus after it had been restored with the chassis work carried out by Arch Engineering. He further stated that he used the seven very little, covering only around 1000 miles in the six years that he owned it. In one of Mr. Tabor's final correspondence with Bill Dolson, he stated that it goes like "sh__ off a stick"! While in Mr. Tabor's care the 1558 cc Cosworth Ford engine was looked after and rolling road tuned by Hugh Tate Race Engines of Herefordshire. Information was also included on the previous owner of the Seven before Mr. Tabor's ownership. According to the English Vehicle Registration Document V5, the Lotus seven with registration mark 688 UKK was owned by Mr. Derek Graham B. Knight of Ashford Kent since 12-03-83. It was white in color with chassis number SB1425 and engine number CBB87E60153020. Date of first registration was 09-07-62 in Kent England. Over the next two months in '96, the Lotus seven was arranged for air freight shipment from Rapid International in Newark, England. Mr. Kondo received the Lotus, in the U.S., at Newark airport in New Jersey. Again the Lotus was exercised by Mr. Kondo very little, covering less than 1000 miles, until I was able to purchase it in February of 2001. I am happy to say the Lotus has seen much more use since then. I enjoy every second with it in the beautiful mountains of southern West Virginia. The Lotus seems to have no vices except its dislike for bumps and the short period of time that it sits at stoplights, and is a very forgiving and fast sports car. The Lotus presently is in Lotus racing livery of British Racing Green with yellow stripe and has Elan-style 4 1/2 wheels and hubcaps inside of it's original 6 in. rear fenders. It still has its Standard Triumph back axle and 4.10 differential in fine condition. I think that pretty much sums up what I know of my Lotus up to this point. I hope you enjoyed it John and can put it on your website. I forgot to mention that the gearbox is a Cortina style Ford close ratio gearbox. The dashboard on my Lotus has all of its switches in the correct location as shown on pg. 22 of Tony Weale's book on Lotus Seven Restoration, Preparation and Maintenance listed as series 2 dashboard with usual options. However, that isn't to say that the dashboard wasn't replaced when the car was restored. I doubt that the steering wheel is a replica as it shows just the right amount of wear and patina. I think it is just a really clean original with few small nicks in the wood frame and a few stress cracks. The chassis plate is the original raised print type. I went out and removed the bonnet earlier to make sure.