The Lotus 7 is a small, simple, and lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus between 1957 to 1972. Design by Colin Chapman, the 7 was considered the embodiment of the Lotus philosophy of performance through low weight and simplicity.

In the early ’60s there was a heavy British tax on automobiles, one of the ways to get around this was to essentially sell your car as a kit. However, if you supplied assembly instructions they would still levy that tax upon you, so Lotus actually provided disassembly instructions that people would follow in reverse. After Lotus ended production of the 7 in 1972, Caterham bought the rights and today still produces the kits and fully assembled cars based on the original 7.

Fitted with 13″ wheels, and chrome hub caps, these wheels look great on the 7. David has resprayed the wheels silver and after not getting much use over the past 10 years they remain in excellent condition. 

The rubber looks great too, with lots of life left on each wheel we didn’t spot any major cracking along the tire wall either. Please take a look at the photos and videos for a closer look at the sporty wheels and tires.

Designed with racing in mind, and lightness being a primary focus for Chapman, a very lightweight steel space-frame is covered with unstressed aluminium panel bodywork. The body panels are flat to avoid the expense of more elaborate curved bodywork, and the simple cloth-lined plastic doors were hinged from the windscreen. The nose-cone and wheel arches were painted fiberglass on the S3.

All 7’s thanks to their extremely lightweight (approx 500g) bodies have excellent acceleration, by the early ’60s the top of the line improved Ford-Cosworth engines could take on most high-performance sports cars with 0-60s times as low as 7s. 

Fitted with a Ford crossflow 1600cc engine, Weber carbs, and a Ford gearbox this Seven is not short on power.

BODYWORK
BODY TYPE 2 seater roadster
NUMBER OF DOORS 2
DESIGNER
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTS
WHEELBASE 2286 mm 90 inches
TRACK/TREAD (FRONT) 1245 mm 49 inches
TRACK/TREAD (REAR) 1321 mm 52 inches
LENGTH 3702 mm 145.7 inches
WIDTH 1537 mm 60.5 inches
HEIGHT 1124 mm 44.3 inches
GROUND CLEARANCE 114 mm 4.5 inches
LENGTH:WHEELBASE RATIO 1.62
KERB WEIGHT 590 kg 1301 lb
WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION
FUEL TANK CAPACITY 34.1 litres 7.5 [9] UK [US] gal.
AERODYNAMICS
DRAG COEFFICIENT
FRONTAL AREA
CDA
POWERTRAIN
ENGINE TYPE naturally aspirated petrol
ENGINE MANUFACTURER
ENGINE CODE
CYLINDERS Straight 4
CAPACITY 1.6 litre
1599 cc
(97.577 cu in)
BORE × STROKE
80.96 × 77.6 mm
3.19 × 3.06 in
BORE/STROKE RATIO 1.04

VALVE GEAR overhead valve (OHV)
2 valves per cylinder
8 valves in total
MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT
(DIN) 87 PS (86 bhp) (64 kW)
at 5500 rpm
MAXIMUM TORQUE
(DIN) 125 Nm (92 ft·lb) (12.7 kgm)
at 4000 rpm
SPECIFIC OUTPUT
(DIN) 40.1 kW/litre
54.5 ps/litre
53.8 bhp/litre
0.88 bhp/cu in
SPECIFIC TORQUE
(DIN) 78.17 Nm/litre
0.94 ft·lb/cu3
ENGINE CONSTRUCTION
SUMP
COMPRESSION RATIO 9:1
FUEL SYSTEM 1 We carb
BMEP (BRAKE MEAN EFFECTIVE PRESSURE) 982.4 kPa (142.5 psi)
MAXIMUM RPM
CRANKSHAFT BEARINGS
ENGINE COOLANT Water
UNITARY CAPACITY 399.75 cc
ASPIRATION Normal
COMPRESSOR N/A
INTERCOOLER None
CATALYTIC CONVERTER N
PERFORMANCE
ACCELERATION 0-80KM/H (50MPH)
ACCELERATION 0-60MPH
ACCELERATION 0-100KM/H
ACCELERATION 0-160KM/H (100MPH)
STANDING QUARTER-MILE
STANDING KILOMETRE
MAXIMUM SPEED
POWER-TO-WEIGHT RATIO Higher is better
147.79 PS/tonne (1000 kg)
0.15 PS/kg
108.7 kW/tonne (1000 kg)
0.11 kW/kg
145.76 bhp/tonne (1000 kg)
0.15 bhp/kg
0.07 bhp/lb
WEIGHT-TO-POWER RATIO Lower is better
9.2 kg/kW
15.37 lb/bhp
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FUEL CONSUMPTION
UNIVERSAL FUEL CONSUMPTION (CALCULATED FROM THE ABOVE)
LITRES/100KM
KM/LITRE
UK MPG
US MPG
CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

CARFOLIO CALCULATED CO2 ?

VED BAND (UK)
CO2 EFFIZIENZ (DE)
CHASSIS
ENGINE POSITION front
ENGINE LAYOUT longitudinal
DRIVE WHEELS rear wheel drive
TORQUE SPLIT N/A
STEERING
TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK 2.800
TURNING CIRCLE 9.10 m
FRONT SUSPENSION I.CS.
REAR SUSPENSION LA.CS.
WHEEL SIZE FRONT
WHEEL SIZE REAR
TYRES FRONT
TYRES REAR
BRAKES F/R Di/Dr
FRONT BRAKE DIAMETER
REAR BRAKE DIAMETER
BRAKED AREA 1587 cm2
GEARBOX 4 speed manual