“The Car the Club Built” – is back in the fold!
Under new ownership and now club members, Marc and Sarah Nelson-Smith get a very special insight into the world of sevening with a one-off car that raised over £33K for LRF in 1997-98 from the generosity and efforts from club members, Caterham Cars and Arch Motors.
Marc says “We are now the proud owners of the car. I had intended giving the car a make over but it looks so much better in the flesh than it did on E Bay.
The cars second owner, a Dr, bought it at a local auction in Carmarthen in Sept 2000. At the time it had then covered around 350 miles. It then lived in Ferryside, a small village near Carmarthen and was run for a further 3 years before being taken off the road.
I spotted the car on E-Bay as it had a very low reserve. The colour scheme put many people off from bidding but I have wanted a 7 since seeing one in a Fast Lane magazine in 1984.
I travelled to Ferryside on the train (6 hrs) and on seeing the car I was a little disappointed as it was not in the same condition as the photos on E-Bay suggested. It had only ever had 1 service. After years by the sea it looked a lot older than its 3000 miles suggested.
I bought it, as I knew the history from your web pages.
The drive back was fun; I’m 6'4'' and only just fit in! (8hrs!). When back home in Stamford, Lincs, I took it to a local specialist for a major service and it’s had a lot of t-cutting to get the colour back.
We have decided to carry the torch for a while and have joined our local branch of Leukaemia Research to do our own fund raising at events. Collection tins and T shirts are at the ready!
We may make the car look more like a race car (and race it) next year but keep to the original theme.”
Good luck to you both, I doubt you will have any difficulty in getting advice and assistance from club members as we all have a great deal of affection for the car. Hope to see you and the car at many club events in the future.
Picture: The ‘drivers’ are Marc and Sarah’s sons, Owen 5 and Thomas 3, starting a petrol-head career at a very early age! They don’t look bad at tin rattling either!