'Williamston Pyramids at Sunset' Fall 2002

'Elf Mobile' Christmas Day 2002

March 16, 2002 going through Southfield, on a whim I stopped in an auto parts store called the Performance Super Store. The gentleman behind the counter looked at me strangely when I asked of there was an off chance that he knew a guy named Ted Byers. As I explained my story to him, he pecked at his computer keyboard, dialled the phone, and said "Hello, Ted? Call me when you get in." So I said to him "Oh, you know him then!" He said that he did and that he would give my phone number to Ted who would contact me if he wanted to...

March 23 , 2002 Ted Byers calls...

Ted bought the car from Ed, who drove it as his every day transport while attending Michigan State University in the early 1970s. Ed reportedly drove around town, always wearing a crash helmet. He also drove the Seven to visit his family in New Jersey at least once.

When Ted took ownership of B1135, it had a 108hp Holbay twincam engine in it with a crossflow head and dual Stromberg carburettors. The bonnet had been "hacked away" to clear the Strombergs, and the dash panel had been cut into to fit a radio and a large Sun tachometer. A "horrible" roll hoop had been fitted, made from 3/4 inch sched. 40 pipe. The entire interior had been painted black, apparently with a brush. Tape "racing stripes" ran along the bottom edge of the body, when Ted pulled them off, the paint came off too, which he since retouched. The nose and wings were distinctly orange - not "Lotus red" but a much more orange shade. Evidence of this color remains in places on the car.Ted had the fiberglas parts painted black.

Not long after obtaining the Seven, Ted contacted John Watson, the world registrar of Lotus Sevens, and heard that the car was originally built with a 948cc Sprite motor - a Seven America. Ted told me "two identical cars will be sitting side by side and one will say 'restore me' while the other says 'modify me.' " Luckily for me, B1135 told Ted "restore me." From that point, Ted's philosophy was the same that mine has been about the car: anything that is changed should only be done to bring it closer to its original specification.

Ted sold the Holbay to fund the proper rebuild of a 948cc Sprite motor. The diagonal engine bay member had been bent to clear the Holbay Crossflow set-up, so when Ted removed that engine, he also removed and replaced that frame tube, using .60 wall 1022 steel tube in its place. He also collected three smoothcase transmissions from a friend in Ohio, none of which was functional. From the three, he was able to assemble two complete, functional gearboxes, one for himself and the second for his friend who supplied them in the first place! The gearbox retains its standard non-synchro first gear. Ted prepared the Sprite motor by having it bored .030 over - effectively increasing displacement to 997cc, installing bronze valve guides, new valves and hardened valve seats. He believes that the head was ported and polished at that time. He was also able to track down a pair of "proper "1 1/8 HS1 SU carbs which he rebuilt and installed.

As sold in October 1996

Above images supplied to me by John Watson, Lotus Seven Registrar. He had received them from previous owner Ted Byers, owner of this car from 1984 to 1997...

As the car had shown no evidence of having a cooling fan, Ted's concern for some sort of assurance of cooling led him to install an overflow bottle so that expanded coolant would be recovered as the engine cooled. The differential and axle met with Ted's approval, but he did replace the seals at the outer axle ends. Watson Engineering (who prepares prototype exhausts for Ford and Aston Martin) was retained to produce the all stainless exhaust system from the standard Sprite manifold on out. The wiring was also in a state of disintegration, so Ted set about rewiring the car, using all Lucas components, right down to the bullet connectors!

In preparation for the purchase of a new home, Ted sold several cars of his collection, one of them B1135. The car was offered for sale in Hemmings Motor News and eventually sold to a buyer of questionable interest in Sevens. Without re-titling the car in his own name, he quickly turned it over to a friend of his, Eric, who also happened to be the owner of Auto Europe, an exotic car dealer in Birmingham, Michigan. Now Eric had a friend, Doug Davis - an off-road motorsports event promoter, who was interested in the car, and who "sort of" bought it, though the car does not ever seem to have been titled in his name either! After "updating" it with 6-inch Lotus steel wheels, aluminum rocker cover, 12 inch red leather steering wheel, etc, Doug tired of the car, "trading it in" on a Caterham Seven, which left the little Lotus sitting back at the dealer amongst the newest Porsches, Panoz, Lotus Elise's and Caterhams.

And that's when I learned of the car!

October 2001 Spring of this year found me blasting set of Herald wheels which I had traded for some GT6+ parts I had laying around. Moss supplied the MGA-style hub caps. Of course the "new" wheels would look ghastly in the 11" Caterham wings, so off they came to be replaced by the original narrow wings (came with the car) after I sweated about, and finally refinished them myself! Now the rears look better than the fronts and they are all mounted to the body with white welting in place. 165x13 Dunlop SP20's match the circumference of the original Firestone 5.20 bias ply tires. They held the road okay for me as I "pressed it to the limit" during "Touring" laps in the rain at the Vintage Sports Car Drivers' Association event at Grattan, Michigan. Drove an hour through the rain to get there too! My 10 year old son (Austin) had at least as much fun as I did.

A nice wood-rimmed steering wheel (Les Leston?) now takes the place of the 12 inch "Mountney" red leather wheel. Jeager instruments (oil, water, amps) have been replaced with AC gauges, almost old enough to be convincing, at least they have the right chrome, angled bezels! The red push-button horn has been replaced with a momentary-contact Lucas toggle, reputed to have come from an E-type Jag. It's easier to operate and certainly matches the other Lucas switchgear better than the pushbutton did!

Lucas 539's now complement the original Wingard tail lamps, and though it doesn't appear in the newest photo, I've obtained an old full tonneau to keep out the rain and garage dust! The tonneau source also supplied an old set of "doors" for which I continue to search for a pair of clamp-on hinges rather than those that require drilling. Lastly came a heater box assembly which may or may not actually get installed!

I've owned a '70 Triumph GT6+ for better than 15 years, and had always yearned for a "real" sports car. I've read and re-read several books on Colin Chapman and Lotus Cars and I determined that a Lotus Seven was the no frills, form follows function, minimalist sports car for me. Of particular interest was Robin Read's book "Colin Chapman's Lotus" in which Mr. Read shares much about the early US distributors of Lotus cars (the challenges of the Elite and the success of the Seven America). Mr. Read mentions his "good friend Sy Kaback" several times, and Sy appears in one or two photos in the book as well. I am currently working on a mini biography of the man and his exploits with Lotus cars.

As to my Seven, I actually only bought it in the summer of 2000. A gift to my wife for her 40th birthday (that was the excuse anyway!) After researching the car as much as I could--thanks to the email lists, I determined it to be an honest, fairly original Lotus Seven. I learned from the Lotus Seven Registry in England that this particular Seven (#B1135) was imported by Sy Kaback (the record says "Kabach" --must be the English spelling!) having left the factory at Cheshunt on June 8, 1961.

August 2000