Value advice please

[elan_fan]

I'm after my first Caterham, looking at a 1998 1800 supersport 35000 miles what would you guys and girls think is a good place to start the offer at? others for sale seem to be in the 9000 to 11000 area.

[fergus]

elan_fan said:

I'm after my first Caterham, looking at a 1998 1800 supersport 35000 miles what would you guys and girls think is a good place to start the offer at? others for sale seem to be in the 9000 to 11000 area.

Range seems to be sensible. Each car tends to be priced relative to its own merits/condition, so a 'book' price is difficult to judge. Start at the low end - the seller can only say no!

[rubystone]

5 speed or 6 speed? "High" miles kills the values but if the car is a 6 speed, has lsd, 13 inch wheels, cycle wings, tillets or leather seats, big brakes and weather gear then its spec would make it worth £10k. If it's 5 speed without most of the above, it'll be worth more like £9k...being an 1800 cc engine I presume it's 1999 or later and thus the powder coating ought to be OK.

[elan_fan]

it has all of the above inc 6 speed although i believe it is a 98. does this mean it was not an 1800 from the factory. also what is the story on the powder coating

[Tango7]

97 chassis are notorious for shedding their powdercoating. At the time, CC were making some cost savings on production and one of the areas its reckoned is reducing the quality or thickness of the powdercoating process. It probably saved them a fiver but has caused owners a few problems in subsequent years! It doesn't affect all cars though so don't automatically think any car from this time is going to have a rusty chassis. Stick your head under the back of the car and have a look at the area under the diff, side rails, and under the tank. if the rest of the car is good and the spec/price is right, treating the chassis rust is a couple of dirty weekends spent with a wirebrush and can of POR-15.

Price-wise, with the 6 speed, I reckon around £9.5-10.5k. The 1800 engine was fitted from 1997 onwards.

HTH

T

[elan_fan]

Thanks for the answers, hopefully then, I will be adding a 7 SS to the collection soon

[BertBert]

elan_fan said:

Thanks for the answers, hopefully then, I will be adding a 7 SS to the collection soon

Sounds like a good deal then if the price is around the 10k mark with all the bits! It's a great era of 7 to own.

I think the powder coat issue was actually based in the prep stage of the chassis rather than the actual coat itself. Phosphate primer comes to mind.

Bert