Bill Arkins' Lotus Seven
SB2114
North Carolina, USA

Your article about Sy Kaback has finally gotten me to write to you about my 7.

Mine is a 1966 Super 7 with the 1500 Cosworth and twin Webers, natural aluminum finish, and full sets of both Lotus steel wheels and Minilites. I bought it in the Fall of 1972 from Jim Jenkins in Nyack,NY. The first week of January, 1973, I drove it from NY to AZ. Below are two photos, one of me with the 7 scanned from a photo taken when I was leaving NY for Arizona to enter AF Pilot training. I was leaving home for who knew how long, facing a cross-country trip in a 7 I'd only had 3 months, and starting a career I'd always dreamed of. Hence the strange look on my face. In the end it all worked out, as witnessed by my smile in the photo taken a year later upon graduation.

A year later I drove it to northern CA, and for the next 8 years drove it all over California. The last week of 1981, I put it in the back of a U-Haul truck and returned east to NY and CT. Finally, in 1988, I drove it down to Charlotte, NC and put it into storage while I concentrated on my career. Now I'm getting ready to retire and restore the 7 although I'm not sure how far I should go with the restoration. It's probably one of the most original 7s left, so I'm leaning toward keeping it original and driving it gently.

I spent a couple of hours with the 7 doing a little cleaning up and digging out an armful of books and receipts. Caterham had given me the name of Gerald F. Scheberies in Moraga, CA as the source of rear wings, but I also have a receipt from Caterham for the 9 inch wings on the car now. My memory isn't perfect going back 37 years. I pulled out the top and side curtains and put them on the car and I've included a photo. The fabric longitudinal straps that hold the aluminum bows in position rotted away long ago so the top sags, but otherwise it still fits. The top has a large rip from when it was vandalized in 1988.

I also checked the various numbers to put on the register form, and the engine number matches that on the Lotus plate. I'd never thought of that before. Hopefully John Watson will be able to tell me when my car was imported as well as the original owner. All in all, today has been a trip down memory lane.

The car is very original with a few exceptions, mostly due to wear and tear, not modifications. The prior owner had enlarged the rear wheel well openings to accommodate the wider and more offset Minilites and they were banged up anyway, so I replaced them with new fenders that are about 2 inches wider but in white gelcoat. The original shocks worn out so I replaced both springs and shocks with slightly stiffer springs and Spax adjustable shocks that I bought from DSK Cars. The original muffler gave out so I replaced it with a new one from Caterham. The seat back and bottoms wore out so I replaced the foam and leatherette.

That's it. The car has lots of corrosion from sitting for so many years but that will be easy to remedy. As far as restoring it goes, I'll be retiring in May 2013, and that's when I can begin. Sadly, I don't have the original rear wings. Back around 1978 I was in England for a month long deployment and rented a car to drive to Caterham to buy some parts. I got a new nose cone and new front wings in BRG that I still haven't installed, but they said the original rear wings were unavailable, but that there was a racer in the Northwest US who made slightly wider ones but only in white. That's the route I took, and after several moves for the Air Force, and later the reserves, and living in apartments, I just couldn't continue to traveling with a pile of parts that I thought I'd never use again. I plan to paint the rear wings BRG, and with the aluminum bodywork as pitted as it is, I'm considering having the entire car sprayed.