Widebody S4 Lotus Seven

[cossie]

Hello down under,

I found this thread the other day and have read it with great interest. I have done a lot of research on the Lotus 7 and the Lotus approved Seven derivatives. I take pride in getting the history as accurate as possible, because I believe that there are enough inaccurate books on the Seven already. I have during the past 20 years personally talked to many former Lotus employees involved in the Seven. Unfortunately there is only one remaining former Lotus executive left who I finally got to talk the other day. I am a Lotus owner myself. I have done some research on the "company X 7", but after reading this tread I believe that my research is far from over I am only interested in the Sevens manufactured by "Company X", not the Seven kits they imported from England. Here is what I am told so far:

“Company X" build Lotus 7 S4 in a "country close to Australia". Caterham and/or Lotus send a frame jig and a body mold to them. These Sevens were build from approx. 1973 to 1976 on a 3 year licenses issued by Caterham. They made 97 cars - 50 with the Lotus twin cam engine & 47 with the Lotus 907 engine. They used the Lotus name on their cars but that was never approved by Lotus. They even tried to get the 907 EPA/DOT approved for export to the US but that never happened.”

Please feel free to correct the above.

*It has been told that it was Lotus who licensed "Company X", but according to reliable source that is probably incorrect because Lotus reached a binding agreement with Caterham in July 1971. In that agreement Caterham took over the production rights of ALL Lotus 7 types and committed themselves to support existing Lotus Sevens. The agreement was however first finalized in May 1973.

*Does anybody have the VIN numbers for the "company X 7"? I have some.

*Is the 907 engine "company X 7" all widebody Super 907?

*Was the Super 907 ever approved for road use?

*Paul (Wilkinson) the VIN (chassis) no. 3094 you display – Is that the VIN for your widebody Seven?

I am looking forward to be hearing from you all.


Mike