Caterham Cars Ltd., Caterham, Surret, UK 1973- 1987
Caterham Cars Ltd, Caterham, Surrey and Dartford Kent 1987 to date

When Lotus decided, after 16 years, to end production of the "7" the jigs and tools were taken over by Caterham who had been one of their most popular dealers.

The Lotus 7 had been designed in 1957 to take over from the Lotus 6, which had a space frame chassis and swing axle front suspension. The "7" was intended as a simple self assembly sports car with no frills that could be put together by any enthusiast in his own garage. This saved money, but more important it saved the iniquitous "purchase tax" on new cars. The chassis was a simple square tube space frame with independent front suspension and a live rear axle with coil springs. There was a choice of engines, but most were Ford units. It immediately became apparent that this was a very competitive sports car as the handling was way ahead of anything produced by the major manufacturers. It was so successful that for many years it was not allowed to compete against other makes.

Initially Caterham continued with the S4, but demand was greater for the more traditional S3 so it was dropped after only 38 had been made. From 1974 the Caterham Seven was available with the Ford 1300, 1600 or the Lotus Big Valve Twin Cam. The latter giving about 126bhp.
When the Lotus engine went out of production in 1981 they fitted the Vegatune Twin Cam.
There was A Sprint model with 110bhp and a Supersprint with 135bhp. Over the years various components from current volume production cars were used apart from the engines. The rear axle from the Morris Ital was used from 1980 and a De Dion type rear suspension system was an option from 1985.

In 1984 the Cosworth Ford engine giving up to 170bhp was an option for the HPC model and prospective purchasers had to have driving test before being allowed to buy one. The later HPC models were fitted with a tuned Vauxhall 2-litre engine giving 175bhp. By 1992 the engine options were drawn from the Rover K Series range in various states of tune starting with 1.4-litres, 1.6-litres and 1.8-litres.

4-wheel disc brakes were standardised in 1988 and a Bilstein dampers from 1991. Six speed gearboxes were an option from 1995.

There was a lightweight version called the JPE, which stood for Jonathan Palmer Evolution, and used the 250bhp engine from the Vauxhall British Touring Car Championship cars and a model called the Superlight R with a tuned Rover 1.8-litre engine giving 190bhp.

In 2000 the R500 with Rover engines tuned to 250bhp by Minster Race Engines was announced. These Caterham Sevens are one of the fastest accelerating road cars available if the lack of doors, comfort and weather protection is not to be considered. There are also many club racing fixtures and championships for these cars.

Caterham started production, in 1996, of a more sophisticated model called the "21" with doors and a modern all enveloping body mounted on a modified "7" chassis. This attractive 2-seat sports car with was designed by Iain Robertson.