Cliches abound when discussing Colin Chapman’s iconic Lotus Seven design but regardless of whether you consider it to be ‘a four-wheeled motorcycle’ or ‘a racing car for the road’, there is no denying that it offers one hell of a driving experience.

Little wonder then that Caterham jumped at the chance to acquire the Seven’s production rights and tooling etc when Chapman decided to move Lotus upmarket in 1973.

The first Caterham Sevens were nigh on indistinguishable from a Lotus Seven Series 3 and all the better for it.

The world was a very different place in the mid-1980s which goes some way towards explaining why this Super Seven was listed with the DVLA as a ‘Caterham Ford’ and given a date of first registration by them of 7 th April 1967 despite being built in 1985! Of course, the fact that it looks just like a Lotus 7 Series 3 (headlights and wheels aside) doubtless helped.

An accompanying invoice from Caterham Car Sales dated 4 th May 1990 describes ‘ROY 435E’ as a ‘Caterham ...