R500 Duratec Numbers

R500 Duratec Numbers

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Discussion

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Hi, new member here ,have been lurking for years basically and have now just bought myself a R500 Duratec 2009 which I will be collecting at the end of the month (can't wait) anyway my first of many questions is were the Duratec models numbered with plaque on the dash ? My one does not have it and CC says they did not come with no plaques only the K series models had these ,I feel sure I have seen some with.
Over to the knowledgeable!
Gav.

mike150

493 posts

199 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Is it a roulette green one?

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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How did you guess?

short-shift

340 posts

178 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Welcome to the R500D club - and you have chosen the best colour as well. Roulette Green's are the fastest...

I think you've been fed a line about the numbers; my car certainly has one. There's an (incomplete) online register for these cars; I haven't got round to putting my car up there yet but I will do soon.

Enjoy!

James

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Have just had a look ,and they had nos alright! How can I tell without the plaque what no it is though?, I have given CC my chassis no but Martin Phipps could not shed any light!

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Oysterman said:
Have just had a look ,and they had nos alright! How can I tell without the plaque what no it is though?, I have given CC my chassis no but Martin Phipps could not shed any light!
On the metric chassis it is stamped on the right hand 'seat belt' mount just in front of the rollover bar.

short-shift

340 posts

178 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Right - I found the link to the R500D register and it is here: http://www.thecaterhamregister.net/superlight%20R5...

I seem to remember that there was a thread about numbering a few years ago. I recall that Nigel Pugh started it if you want to look it up. From memory, it was suggested that the plaque numbers bore little apparent relationhip to the ex-factory sequencing...

To put a stake in the ground, my car is #116 and is a May 2012 factory build car.

James

Edited by short-shift on Tuesday 4th April 22:20

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Tuesday 4th April 2017
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Ok ,I'll check when I collect the car but the register does not prove they had numbered plaques , no pics at all of the dashboard area.

JustCallMeMac

62 posts

118 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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For info I have an R500D, (registered in 2014), which was not built by the factory and does not have a plaque / number.

However the kit was sourced from the factory and this was confirmed by CC cars when I contacted their Archive Department with the chassis number when investigating the car's provenance before purchasing. I then found out that the car was originally built for a customer of Millwood Caterham and Jon Millwood was extremely helpful in providing me with details about the builder, who built a number of cars for his customers. Can't recall his name but he apparently had close ties with CC as a supplier and John mentioned that the car had most probably been assembled better than factory spec anyway and with considerable attention to detail. The knowledgeable chaps at both PGM and Track 'n' Road have also commented about build quality and I've never had any issues on road or track.

I did think twice though and spent a week finding out as much as I could about the history of the car before taking the plunge, which the seller (2nd owner) fully understood.

And I don't regret buying for a second!





Edited by JustCallMeMac on Wednesday 5th April 12:03


Edited by JustCallMeMac on Wednesday 5th April 13:42

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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My understanding is that each car in a particular model has a number that is stamped on the chassis as per the photo (in this case a R400 2008 car 31). 2009 is very early for a R500D and I would expect this number to be very low. If it is not there, or obviously out of sequence, then this is not an original R500 car.


mike150

493 posts

199 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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Oysterman said:
How did you guess?
I enquired about the car a year ago and got lots of pictures of it and it looked in superb condition with no wet use unlike every other one I have ever looked at.................I waited too long and it sold. I saw it for sale 2 weeks ago again and the dealer contacted me about but my circumstances have changed. In January I took delivery of a new 420R, they did try to talk me into it but I haven't even run the 420R in yet. A year ago it had no aeroscreen, no tow stickers and was running CR500's, otherwise it looks the same.

My next Caterham, if I ever do change the 420R, will be a 620S.

Good luck with it and look after it. It should have been in my garage a year ago!

BTW, I also enquired about the lack of dash plaque but from memory they told me they checked with Caterham you confirmed it was a genuine factory build car.

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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mike150 said:
I enquired about the car a year ago and got lots of pictures of it and it looked in superb condition with no wet use unlike every other one I have ever looked at.................I waited too long and it sold. I saw it for sale 2 weeks ago again and the dealer contacted me about but my circumstances have changed. In January I took delivery of a new 420R, they did try to talk me into it but I haven't even run the 420R in yet. A year ago it had no aeroscreen, no tow stickers and was running CR500's, otherwise it looks the same.

My next Caterham, if I ever do change the 420R, will be a 620S.

Good luck with it and look after it. It should have been in my garage a year ago!

BTW, I also enquired about the lack of dash plaque but from memory they told me they checked with Caterham you confirmed it was a genuine factory build car.
Hi
Yes the condition is quite exceptional for a 8 year old car! I also saw it come up on Oakmeres website two weeks ago and I was travelling to Snowdon that Friday so checked it out there and then , mulled it over for the weekend and called on the Monday,SOLD!! the weather gear and screen was sold on by the previous owner ,not that i am too bothered by that it would have been the first thing I removed . interestingly the other sequential shift R500 they have at the moment has a dash plaque!
I have seen the original order for mine and it confirms it is a genuine factory R500,

stigthecadman

20 posts

84 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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I may be able to help with the chassis number / plaque number question. I also have a Duratec R500, which was delivered as a kit in October 2008 and built over that winter.

It was clearly one of the very early ones - I was told that only 3 or 4 owners were 'allowed' to build their own. The chassis number is 08 C154, which looks more like number 154 of all versions not just the R500. And I remember when I askefor the dashboard plaque during the build process they just gave me the next one they had in the pile; they're not linked to the chassis.

Hope this helps - I'm sure you'll enjoy it now Spring's here

Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for all the relevant info chaps ,a wealth of interesting info and opinion, the remaining fact is that CC's official line is " we didn't fit number plaques to R500 D cars ! I think I need to speak to a more senior member .........

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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stigthecadman said:
I may be able to help with the chassis number / plaque number question. I also have a Duratec R500, which was delivered as a kit in October 2008 and built over that winter.

It was clearly one of the very early ones - I was told that only 3 or 4 owners were 'allowed' to build their own. The chassis number is 08 C154, which looks more like number 154 of all versions not just the R500. And I remember when I askefor the dashboard plaque during the build process they just gave me the next one they had in the pile; they're not linked to the chassis.

Hope this helps - I'm sure you'll enjoy it now Spring's here
That's interesting! Perhaps you're right and this is the build number for the year, but 154 seems low for all cars by October, so there must be more to it.

sfaulds

653 posts

277 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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The number stamped on the seatbelt boss bears no relation to model. Similarly, dash plaques are pretty random - I built a few K series Superlights, and the plaques certainly didn't go on them in any kind of order.

KieranR

51 posts

119 months

Wednesday 5th April 2017
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I've just put a deposit down on a r500d too.

The car I went to view is in the 20s on the plaque and the chassis stamp is 08 C29X.... Just short of 300.




Edited by KieranR on Wednesday 5th April 21:55

nigelpugh7

5,996 posts

189 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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Who at Caterham told you they don't have plaques? Do they actually work for Caterham, I'd be shocked if any current employee didn't know about the R500 dash plaque!

I have owned two R500 Duratecs, the first one I built as a kit, the second was a factory build.

The actual number of the plaques is a bit random, but as far as I know every genuine R500 had a plaque.


Oysterman

Original Poster:

27 posts

84 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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Hello Nigel. A guy called Martin Phipps, I was told he was the guy to contact regarding the 'Archive' .
Gav.

subirg

717 posts

275 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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Most R500 D's have the plaque, but not all. I've just bought number 50. Plaque most certainly present!