RE: PH Carpool: Caterham 21

[Jack_and_MLE]

Hello Andrew

Thank you for all your kind comments.

To reply on some of the question:

What happened to the headlight covers?
The main issue with the headlight covers is that they disperse the light of the headlights too much in my opinion. I removed them and change the unit for CIBIE units. I am very pleased with this modifications as I can see whiles driving at night And after some cosmetic work to the bonnet, I think it looks prettier than before

Rear light and side lights
The rear light are from a Mondeo MK1. The story goes that, Caterham went round the M25 to identify which light looked the best.
The side lights are from the Cappuccino.

I am probably biased, however when 21 are properly sorted they are wonderful to drive (please view Dave's youtube video) I would suggest that if the steering was heavy it was because the suspension was not setup properly.
I had a similar issue and since I raised the ride height and ajusted the geometry, the steering is so light you can more or less turn it with a finger

Jack

[Skyedriver]

Out of curiosity morethan anything at the minute but you never know, what sort of price does a 21 come in at if one were for sale. How does that compare with a 7/Elise?

[aje21]

Hi Jack,
Glad to see Emily is still providing enjoyment.
Andrew

[dave21p]

They hold their value more akin to a 7 than an elise. Recent sales (with one exception) have been from 12k to 17k. The vhpd currently advertised is worth every penny it's up for. A fully refurbed one (i know of 3) is worth a pretty penny, particularly if some improvements have been made along the way. The 21-R (complete with R500 engine and race spares) isn't advertised cheap, but then again, it is still winning 1st in class.

[MadDog1962]

What a wonderful British sports car :-)

I likey very much.

[ewenm]

Skyedriver said:

Out of curiosity morethan anything at the minute but you never know, what sort of price does a 21 come in at if one were for sale. How does that compare with a 7/Elise?

About £15,595 or so it seems

[peter pan]

Not sure if I have it correct but the show car was not painted silver, it was a polished aluminium body, with no paint on it at all.

[Powderpuff]

The very first show car had a hand crafted aluminium body yes, when shown in production form various colours were used for show cars including silver, my other half has the silver Earls Court Motorshow car (sadly not the aluminium one!)

[peter pan]

Hi Powderpuff, thanks for the update.

[aje21]

There was a second (painted green) ali bodied car which also featured on a motorshow stand (October 1995).

[Powderpuff]

aje21 said:

There was a second (painted green) ali bodied car which also featured on a motorshow stand (October 1995).

That car is (I believe) still owned by Stuart Roach whose business made the first alloy show car. The body shape (boot in particular) isn't quite the same as the production version, but how it's made is just lovely.

The only time I've seen it was at Curborough at a 21's gathering (think we had about 15 together), and the workmanship on it is superb. It would have been fantastic for the production car to feature the same fabrication, but I suspect the price would have been somewhere between ouch and boing!!

[DKL]

In theory an ali body was on the options list - I think the cost was POA.
I thought Jez Coates was asked if anyone had seriously enquired (as in after a vague stab at the cost) - er no was the answer.

[aje21]

DKL said:

In theory an ali body was on the options list - I think the cost was POA.
I thought Jez Coates was asked if anyone had seriously enquired (as in after a vague stab at the cost) - er no was the answer.

That was the answer I got when I asked him, not sure how many others did too.

[Miguel]

It is sooooo cool to see a Caterham 21 being driven and enjoyed. Beautiful car. Cheers.