Titled as a 1957 Lotus 7 (but a replica), with a clean title, in my name. This was (likely) a 1970s build; unsure if it was ever finished. I found it on Craigslist derelict. I've spent nearly a decade building and sorting it.
My vision was to build it to appear like a 1960s Lotus 7 build, with cost effective, solid and proven parts. This car is quite different than most builds.
I didn't adhere strictly to the Locost community's thoughts; I often borrowed hot-rodder ideas (the HAMB, etc) and many of the parts were sourced from Speedway Motors.
To the best that I could, I wanted the car to be safe. The roll bar continues (bolt in) down the back of the car to the bottom so, if rear-ended, the offending car will hopefully travel up and over. Australia loves these cars but has strict rules about how the frames must be welded due to stress testing; I adhered to those guidelines. My roll bar is to SCCA racing specs (thickness, material, mounts, bolts, etc.). The column is a collapsible column from Speedway Motors. The fuel pump is on a switch that only allows pumping if oil pressure is sensed (so it won't pump fuel if you're crashed). Five point harnesses for seat belts. Appropriate side reflectors on fenders. Etc.
2" stack of receipts adding up to more than $16k in parts, and some of those were a phenomenal deal (I bought a World Class T5 transmission for a fraction of what one costs now).
Here's a list of what I've done, in terms of parts:
Two-row aluminum racing radiator, with overflow tank with sight gauge.
Electric radiator fan activated off temperature - signal goes to a relay, power drawn straight from battery (but fused).
Stainless steel Dietz style headlight buckets.
Halogen headlights.
Stone guards on headlights.
LED turn signals.
Headlights activated from a relay, as is the fuel pump. This means the signal from a low-voltage switch signals the relay, which then takes the power straight from the battery (fused). This reduces wear on the switches as the full power doesn't go through them.
Speedway Motors Mustang II disc brake calipers in the front.
Speedway Motors hubs, bearings and vented brake discs in the front.
Mustang II spindles.
New front ball joints.
Extended racing wheel studs at all corners.
Chevy/BMW lug pattern 5x120 or 5x4.75. Five lugs is heavy duty for these cars, most are four lug.
Cool Dzus vintage-style fasteners for the hood and nose.
Lotus badge on an older circa 1970s nose with a cool air dam at bottom.
Fully adjustable front end; castor and camber can be adjusted. 6 pages of geometry to design the front and eliminate bump steer.
Rack and pinion, unknown source (in the car when I bought it). Possibly MGB.
Had a machine shop adjust the length of the rack to be the right size to give the right radius to help eliminate bump steer.
I took the (70s?) frame down to metal and repaired each structural junction; there are a still some ugly 1970s welds, but they are in non-load bearing places.
I added the Australia required frame pieces that have been shown (through CAD, engineering, and crash tests) to increase safety.
Ford Focus Zetec blacktop 2.0 engine - circa 2000 twin-cam motor.
Crank bolts have been replaced with ARP bolts; the factory bolts are a known weakness of the Zetec.
Splitting the bottom crankcase to put in the ARP bolts did cause a small leak; drops several drops of oil between drives (quarter size mark on garage floor). I used a new gasket, and a new bottom crankcase.
Oil pan from a different Ford that used the Zetec motor (Contour, I think) that has more ground clearance.
Carbs are from a Kawasaki ZX9R motorcycle. These have a throttle position sensor which is used to provide the "load" input to the ignition box for timing.
Carbs re-jetted appropriately for car and usage. The carbs also have a throttle speed control knob accessible on passenger side of engine compartment.
Custom aluminum intake manifold, made to mount motorcycle carbs to Zetec, by DanST Performance Engineering.
Cars setup this way typically produce 150-165 hp. I have not had my HP output measured.
Fuel pressure gauge and Holley regulator before the carburetor (to get the fuel pressure just right).
Aluminum fuel lines from the fuel pump/tank at rear to the front.
Clear see-through fuel filter, just before carb, with replaceable filter element.
Megajolt ignition box with laptop programmable timing. This is accessed by a USB port under the passenger side of the dash. The app is a free download, Megajolt.
Oil breather catch can with dipstick. Oil canister unscrews for easy dumping but I haven't had any oil build up in it.
Ram horn exhaust header.
Stainless steel muffler, made in America by ZZPerformance. Isoclastic mounts (rubber between frame and mounts).
Serpentine belt setup with automatic tensioner.
Modern high-output alternator.
Taylor Street Thunder spark plug wires.
Oil pressure fuel pump switch - for safety; if there's no oil pressure the electric fuel pump will not receive power. If you're in a wreck this keeps the fuel pump from pumping fuel in to the wreck.
Painless wiring harness and fuse box, all color coded.
All electrical connections crimped, solder applied and heat-shrink protected.
Wire bundles wrapped/protected in sheathing.
Battery shut-off switch accessible from the driver's position.
All wiring is after fuses just off the battery (located on the firewall shelf).
Desirable metal heater hose mount for the back of the Zetec motor (only made for several years, then they were plastic).
Collapsible steering column from Speedway racing (for safety).
Isoclastic motor mounts, made from Chevy truck rear leaf spring bushings.
Hood louvered to release engine heat.
Uni air filters mounted to each of the carbs.
All grounds ran to a common ground on the passenger's side of the motor.
Heating system with multi-speed heater box, with a driver's side defrost vent.
Overhead swing brake and clutch pedal system by Wilwood. Pedals are often floor mounted, for ease and space, in these cars, but the overhead pedals have a more natural feel. This is considered an upgrade for these cars.
Drilled metal Wilwood brake and clutch pedals.
Aluminum brake box.
Front and rear brakes each have their own master cylinder and system. Also, the clutch has its own hydraulic system. All are mounted on the firewall in engine compartment.
The rear brakes have a Summit racing bias control valve.
Brake light switch is line mounted and pressure activated.
Rear brakes are GM disc brakes.
World class T5 Chevy 5-speed transmission. This is the stouter T-5, hard to find, that came in V8 Camaros.
Speedway Wissota Bellhousing (steel).
TKO Pro-5.0 short shifter setup.
New clutch and pressure plate.
1990s Mustang hydraulic slave cylinder.
Slave cylinder has a remote bleed, inside the engine compartment, for the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder.
Shift knob with appropriate shift pattern etched on it.
Gauges all match, and all look mechanical.
The speedometer is a GPS unit, so no cable from the transmission.
But, when I was putting the transmission in, I took apart the rear transmission housing and put in the correct odometer gears for this car setup.
High beam alert light wired into dash.
Floor mount high beam selector (like 1960s vehicles).
Aluminum scuttle and dash; often these are made of fiberglass, I like aluminum more so I made it from aluminum. Dash bolts to scuttle, so it can be removed and gauges worked on.
Late 60's Ford choke and heater valve pull controls; for period look and feel.
Gauges include Tach, Odometer, Water Temp, Oil Pressure and Voltage.
Speedway Motors headlight switch.
High-amp rated turn switch, horn button, and emergency flashers switch.
Also, a rally map reading light, switched) wired to the passenger side of the dash (British Leyland style).
Stopwatch dash mount for rally racing on passenger side. Also, earlier mentioned battery switch.
Cobra rear-view mirror.
Model T windshield wiper mount - for legality really, but might work in a pinch. Quickly unbolts. I hate it but don't want to be pulled over.
Tasteful small bluetooth stereo that connects to your phone with all mechanical (looking) controls on the front (does not look modern and bluetooth).
Quick release steering wheel hub.
True 1970's wood steering wheel.
Driver's side windshield-frame mounted rear-view mirror, in a classic British sports car style.
Windshield glass cut by local automotive windshield shop; truly windshield glass. Windshield bolts on; you could take it off if you wanted to go Brooklands style... or wear goggles ha.
5 point racing harnesses legal through 2023. They are the turn release style.
Harnesses all connect with Summit Racing safety harness eye bolts.
Harness bolt locations all placed according to racing recommendations.
Houndstooth (like) seat cushions, and center arm pad, made from high wear count rated material and automotive foam.
Extra seat cushion for passenger side to take child passengers.
Driver's seat moved forward 3" for 5'9" driver (me). It could be moved back and a 6' driver could drive this car. Also, the low seating position would probably still keep a 6' person under the windshield height. I weigh 200. I doubt you'd want to be much heavier... but you could get rid of the seats and build the traditional seat which would allow you to go wider.
On the topic of weight, I pulled into a semi weigh station - 1800 with me in it and fuel/oil, so it's probably a 1550 pound car dry. This is a (likely) power to weight ratio of about 1hp per lb. = 155 hp/1550 lbs.
Stone guards at bottom front of rear fenders.
Aluminum fenders all around. This is somewhat rare for these cars. Many have fiberglass. It was a challenge to get aluminum fenders and I had to have the rear fenders custom tooled, but I don't like fiberglass so it was worth it.
Front fenders mounted on tubed mounts, as recommended by the 1932 Ford crowd on The HAMB.
KandN fuel pump - American made, with fuel filter on input.
Driveline cut and built to length, with new u-joints; prepared by Six States in Portland.
Fuel cell at rear. Accessed under rear deck.
Fuel cell has rollover protected breather on top (breather has a valve that closes if car goes upside down inside).
Roll bar is built to racing standards. DOM tube appropriate to weight of car. GBE mandrel bent the bends. Mounts and bolts to SCCA rules on thickness/grade and location/number of bolts.
Rear roll bar tubes extend to bottom of frame, protecting the fuel cell. They bolt in, in case the fuel cell ever needs to be removed. The hope is that if rear-ended, the car will travel up and over. I've seen this in a video of a Lotus 7 being rear ended.
Race car steering wheel pads used as head rests (crash protection) behind heads.
Jeep fire-extinguisher roll-bar mount.
3.73 Limited-Slip differential from a 1990s GMC Jimmy - this was the better rear-end/gear ratio found in the s10 vehicles.
Self-lubricating rod-ends from Rod End Supply on rear suspension trailing arm Heim joints.
1950 Pontiac LED tail lights - A nice round taillight; this was hard to find.
There's another brake wire coiled under roll bar/rear deck, I was considering putting another brake light up high (on the roll bar) but haven't yet; ready to go if you want to.
Beehive British Leyland amber glass rear turn signals.
License plate light is British Leyland style light (same as map light).
LED rear backup light mounted under rear, works because WC T5 has switch.
All body panels aluminum (except nose).
Body panels mounted using traditional rivet method, but also with Sikaflex between the aluminum and frame to limit any rattle.
Aluminum panels designed to hide joint under rear fenders; there's one aluminum piece in the back and two long side pieces. Some people split the side panels, but I didn't want rivets mid-way down the body.
Chassis designed/built with BMW E46 M3 wheels. The cost of new tires for the M3 wheels was so expensive, that I used new 1967-69 Chevy Camaro rally wheels (same bolt pattern) and tires. Also, these rally wheels look a lot like the wheels used by Lotus in the 60s. New beauty caps were added to the wheels to add to the classic look. Tires are from Les Schwab and newish (just several thousand miles). Tires are astonishingly affordable (circa $60) at Les Schwab for this size.
Car will come with the BMW M3 wheels that need tires (set of four fronts from the e46 m3).
I actually like the higher profile Chevy Camaro tires more, they ride softer.
Adjustable QA1 coil-overs at each corner.
Here's videos of the car drag racing and autocrossing (the rattling is not the car, my camera mount rattles) -
https://youtu.be/DwaqU_g4VCAhttps://youtu.be/rZ-ZwvWhedwHere's a video of a walk-around last night:
https://youtu.be/dtlr4vnLgkoThe car is reliable. Doesn't get hot autocrossing. Doesn't break drag racing.
The drag racing was just to see what it would do. A little over 16 seconds at 83 m.p.h.. Sounds slow, but it's not bad for a four-cylinder. Also, the Lotus 7 is known to have push a lot of wind at high speeds. It's not an interstate cruiser, it's a back roads carver. It's feels like you're driving a street legal go kart.
I talked to a track steward about getting into more serious events. He said I'd need a HANS device, HANS compatible helmet and arm restraints, but other than that the car looked good (he did say the fire extinguisher needs to be recertified, also).
It won "Best Rat Rod" at the 2021 SW Bible car show. I didn't enter any class and found this somewhat humorous but a compliment.
I wrote a book while I was building it. You can find it on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Among-Class ... 09KN2QKZJ/Selling because I have another car and three kids... I just don't have time to enjoy two cars. Actually, five cars/trucks... and several motorcycles run and are registered at my house. I need to simplify.
Cons - the Speedway Motors GPS speedometer resets every several months so you never have your miles travelled.
The 2" of travel in the back isn't for the weak. Not a wet-weather car.
Who should buy it - Someone that catches and likes the vision. This is for someone that would like a Lotus 7 but a little bit bigger. It's not a Caterham, and you won't be hanging out with the Ferrari boys if you own this. This is the car that always gets comments (for better or worse). A thick skin is advised. But, that being said, what I chose to use is simple, reliable, well-sourced and easy to change.
Things you could still do: 1. try and make it turbo or supercharged, 2. build a top and doors for it (not as hard as it sounds), 3. get an aluminum nose-cone made, 4. and continue to polish out the aluminum (I probably have 20 hours of polishing in and it's starting to get mirror-like but isn't there yet).
Price based on Bring-a-Trailer sales. Average looks to be above $25k (photo at end of photos). I have over $16k of receipts in a 2" folder. Price is best offer but... I spent many years building this and will be sad to see it leave. I'll need to make some money for my labor or I won't sell.
I don't need to sell. No rush. Looking for the right buyer so we're both happy. Shoot me an email (
isaiahmcox@gmail.com) letting me know you like the vision and are interested. Must see in person to purchase.
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This is the price for if someone really does want it. We'll both be happy. Perhaps a dream; if so, I keep it. I like the car.