Original Caterham Blackbird- Good news?
Discussion
Hi Mate, Ive been looking at Caterhams for a while now and this caterham has a Honda Blackbird Engine.
It is a 1,137cc engined ( 170Bhp ) with a Top speed of 132Mph and a 0-60 time of 3.9 Seconds (According to Caterham)
and a 0 - 100 - 0 in just 16.69 seconds ( Done by Autocar )
It originally cost £25,750 so if the one you have found is in good nick it might be worth a punt..
Cheers
Dan.
It is a 1,137cc engined ( 170Bhp ) with a Top speed of 132Mph and a 0-60 time of 3.9 Seconds (According to Caterham)
and a 0 - 100 - 0 in just 16.69 seconds ( Done by Autocar )
It originally cost £25,750 so if the one you have found is in good nick it might be worth a punt..
Cheers
Dan.
As a Blackbird owner I can confirm that they handle superbly, but this is not sacrificed for poke.
Yes, they do thrive on revs and yopu will spend most of the time at 5000rpm+ but thats part of the fun. They will pull cleanly (and rapidly) in any gear from below 6000rpm.
Sub 0 - 60 in less than 4 seconds with no large repair/refresh costs associated with other R400/R500 cars.
Alicat
Yes, they do thrive on revs and yopu will spend most of the time at 5000rpm+ but thats part of the fun. They will pull cleanly (and rapidly) in any gear from below 6000rpm.
Sub 0 - 60 in less than 4 seconds with no large repair/refresh costs associated with other R400/R500 cars.
Alicat
Murph7355 said:
Alicat said:
...with no large repair/refresh costs associated with other R400/R500 cars....
Just a bit of a lash up reverse gear set up, clunky box and...being able to pull cleanly from below 6k revs 
Horses for courses.
BTW I know of someone who just bought one for around this mark...
Bund said:
Murph7355 said:
Alicat said:
...with no large repair/refresh costs associated with other R400/R500 cars....
Just a bit of a lash up reverse gear set up, clunky box and...being able to pull cleanly from below 6k revs Horses for courses.
BTW I know of someone who just bought one for around this mark...
Don't believe Caterham made these for very long so there won't be too many originals about. Will be a number of others done privately though.
For better or for worse "factory spec" cars always hold their value better, so worth sticking to these if you suspect you may sell on at some point - unless you get a good deal
Murph - a small price to pay for such performance.
A lash up gearbox? Depends what sort you have got, electric, chain driven or none at all. The Nova box as fitted to factory cars is not the best, and dependant up on mode of operation can be tempremental. But, the costs of sorting out are cheap compared to a refresh for other box/engine combinations.
Clunky? Yes, but thats because its a bike box. You get all the benefits of the bike box and can be upgraded with flat shifters, or flappy paddle controls. Only really clunky at low speed, once on the move changes can be made smoothly, and at speed barely noticeable.
Bangs per buck hard to beat for performance and running costs!
Alicat
A lash up gearbox? Depends what sort you have got, electric, chain driven or none at all. The Nova box as fitted to factory cars is not the best, and dependant up on mode of operation can be tempremental. But, the costs of sorting out are cheap compared to a refresh for other box/engine combinations.
Clunky? Yes, but thats because its a bike box. You get all the benefits of the bike box and can be upgraded with flat shifters, or flappy paddle controls. Only really clunky at low speed, once on the move changes can be made smoothly, and at speed barely noticeable.
Bangs per buck hard to beat for performance and running costs!
Alicat
Had a Blackbird and it was absolutely brilliant for blatting round the A roads. Surprisingly more torque than you'd expect and always willing to go well past 10k revs! I sold mine though as I do quite a mix of general road miles (on motorways/dual carriageways/town driving) with the kids and I found it quite unsuited for this type of driving as keeping it to the legal limit on the motorway was extremely boring - much like a big bike when they seem to suit a much higher cruising speed - or going through the town in stop/start traffic could be a bit of a pain if you got stuck there for quite a while. Don't get me wrong, the Blackbird could easily cope with these situations, it was more that I preferred a return to normal CEC's instead.
When I got my BEC, a trip to the Stelvio Pass and Nurburgring was already planned. One decent trip along the motorway though soon had me changing my mind to either trailer the car there (bit of a waster for a touring trip!) or take another car instead... I sold the BB and took out an SLR instead which is
When I got my BEC, a trip to the Stelvio Pass and Nurburgring was already planned. One decent trip along the motorway though soon had me changing my mind to either trailer the car there (bit of a waster for a touring trip!) or take another car instead... I sold the BB and took out an SLR instead which is
I don't ever see the Blackbird as being a "collectible" model. I tracked down the 2 Jordan liveried cars when I was considering buying one and both could be had at a surprisingly good price considering their potential value.
I bought an HPC and sold it a year later for very good money - more than I bought it for. I'd say that only the JPE could be thought of as an "investment" Caterham - Lotus 7s excluded of course.
I bought an HPC and sold it a year later for very good money - more than I bought it for. I'd say that only the JPE could be thought of as an "investment" Caterham - Lotus 7s excluded of course.
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