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Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!
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 Post subject: UPDATING AN OLD RECORD
PostPosted: June 2, 2020, 2:32 pm 
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Joined: June 1, 2020, 6:56 pm
Posts: 4
I've had reason recently to search the net to see how much Ken Howatson touched the Se7en scene. Today, I came across his name in your listing of Canadian 7 type builders. Ken was an amazing builder and created the MCC 7 from the Fejer Super 7, when he took the brand over. To the uninitiated, they didn't look that much different, but driving them was like night and day.

Unfortunately, Ken died suddenly and tragically August 4th 2004. I met Ken in late 1969. He was 18 when I gave him his first job as an apprentice in my repair shop. He stayed with us for a year and he made no secret about wanting to go racing. We stayed in touch after he left us and in a couple of years, he worked his way up to being Crew Chief for the Fejer/Eaton USAC racing team, the highest level of car racing in the US at that time. That fell apart when (George) Eaton (of the Eaton Department Store Chain) was too slow following a serious crash and was black-flagged more times than enough.

Ken took Fejer's Super 7 line on and opened his own shop to build the redesigned MCC 7. If Ken had an Achilles heel, it was electrical work. We struck a deal and I built wiring harnesses for the cars he built and for his other Customers building their own cars. In exchange for building the harnesses, Ken paid for the supplies for me to build a car for myself. My MCC 7 turned out close to perfect. It looked terrific, 0-100kph it was the quickest thing I had ever driven. It turned like a bike and was a thrill every second of driving it. I sold that car for asking price (I started high) in just 2 days. I built the car on the weekends and made wiring harnesses at home in the evenings.

Ken wanted to repeat the deal, so we did. Ken started work on my second car while I was wiring one of his new ones, which is what I was doing on the weekend when his wife called me to tell me that Ken had died the previous Wednesday night. He had drowned in Lake Ontario. For various reasons, it became necessary to close the business ASAP and liquidate all we could. We held an auction on the following Tuesday evening, which was well attended and Ken's friends and customers showed up with cash and were all quite generous.

I took everything home that I needed to continue to work on the LAST MCC 7. I was moving it along and got it set up in my garage at home. Unfortunately, the fibreglass work wasn't suitable for a world class finish. I actually spent over 2 years, 2 hours per evening, fixing the panels that looked good, but were badly perforated. I became ill and had developed a heart condition. I began to realize that I couldn't work long or hard enough to keep the build moving in the right direction. I tried to do a small task every night, but the big stuff was looming.

We were living in a large house in Mississauga and had been talking about downsizing for months. A perfect opportunity to downsize presented itself so the LAST MCC 7 had to go. We had a buyer (from the Ottawa area) and 3 months to be moved and in the end, our buyer wasn't ready. We had 2 weeks to move and solve the MCC 7 issue. With a moving crew, we put the MCC 7 into a 5' x 15' storage unit. It never occurred that we wouldn't be able to show the package, but that lockup is jammed.

It has been in storage for a year. Our simple Kijiji Ad has had approaching 10,000 visits, there's certainly interest. We decided to put together an expanded portfolio of the MCC 7, the package we have and just as important, a retrospective of Ken's life and career. While the MCC 7 isn't a Locost, I believe it would be of great interest to your members.

The new MCC 7 Kijiji add is expanded with much more of Ken's story (he did have a secretive side) and lots of detail about the MCC 7. With the right builder to finish it, it'll be a really nice, incredibly fast machine.
The link is https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/mis ... 1503983466

Geoff Finlay geofffinlay0@gmail.com


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