As it turns out, the Fiat 500 isn't the only iconic
European automobile celebrating its 60th anniversary this year; so, too, is the
timeless Seven, originally launched by Lotus and still produced by Caterham.
The legendary Sir Colin Champan first launched the
Seven back in 1957. And in a spectacular thumbing of the nose to the “they
don't make 'em like they used to” crowd, it's still very much alive and well
today.
To mark the occasion and illustrate the point,
Caterham brought together a cross-section of Sevens old and new at the test
track at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. Among them is an original Series
1 model from 1957, a replica of the Seven used in the 1960s TV show The
Prisoner, an early twin-cam SS, the Cosworth-tuned CSR 260, a Superlight R500
like the one that stunned Top Gear's audience in 2008, and two of Caterham's
current models: the retro-tastic Sprint and the bonkers 620S.
