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Race Car of the Day : April 21, 2015; Matchbox '71 Lotus Seven
Topic Started: Apr 20 2015, 10:11 PM (715 Views)
craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

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The race car for today is the 1971 Lotus Seven from Matchbox.

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Wikipedia.com
 
The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car produced by Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1972.

It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and has been considered the embodiment of the Lotus philosophy of performance through low weight and simplicity. The original model was highly successful with more than 2,500 cars sold, due to its attraction as a road legal car that could be used for clubman racing


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Wikipedia.com
 
The Lotus Seven was launched in 1957, after the Lotus Eleven was in limited production. The Seven name was left over from a model that was abandoned by Lotus, which would have been a Riley-engined single-seater that Lotus intended to enter into the Formula Two in 1952 or 1953. However, the car was completed around Chapman's chassis as a sports car by its backers and christened the Clairmonte Special.

Based on Chapman's first series-produced Lotus Mark VI, the Seven was powered by a 40 bhp (30 kW; 41 PS) Ford Side-valve 1,172 cc inline-four engine. It was mainly for lower budget club racing on short tracks (750 motor club).

The Lotus Seven S2 followed in 1960 and was supplemented by the Lotus Super Seven S2 from 1961.[5] The Super Seven initially used the larger Cosworth modified 1340cc Ford Classic engine and later examples were fitted with 1498cc or 1599cc engines.[5] The Seven S3 was released in 1968. In 1970, Lotus radically changed the shape of the car to create the slightly more conventional sized Series 4 (S4), with a squarer fibreglass shell replacing most of the aluminium bodywork. It also offered some "luxuries" as standard, such as an internal heater matrix. What is believed to be the oldest of these Series 4s survives to this day, and can be seen most weekends around Sussex and Kent. The S4 brings a familiar face to Lotus events up and down the country; this was the second Series 4 ever built. It has proved critics of the S4 wrong; its looks have aged better than many predicted, and its performance and reliability are unsurpassed by any of the original Sevens.

The British tax system of the time (Purchase Tax) meant the car could be supplied as a kit (known as "completely knocked down" or CKD) without attracting the tax surcharge that would apply if sold in assembled form. Tax rules specified assembly instructions could not be included, but as the rules said nothing about the inclusion of disassembly instructions, they were included instead and all the enthusiast had to do was to follow them in reverse.

Having joined the EEC on 1 January 1973, the UK had to abolish Purchase Tax and adopt VAT instead. VAT does not allow for concessions such as "CKD", so the tax advantage of the kit-built Lotus Seven came to an end.


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Additional information can be attained by visiting Wikipedia.com.

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Scored this in a large lot of vintage Lesney Matchbox models last September at an Amish farm toy auction. It's in minty shape and looks okay if a bit too large scale wise compared to the 1/1.
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corvairjim
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Fullsize
I had one of these when I was a kid and replaced it with another one a couple of years ago. Great memories!

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Edited by corvairjim, Apr 21 2015, 01:45 AM.
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cody6268
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Minivan
I have two, one as shown as the COTD, and another with a black stripe label. '

Even though it's "fat" compared to the current Matchbox Caterham Superlight, which is technically the modern version of the Super Seven, there's just something that makes it better than the current one, likely because the old one was made in England.
Edited by cody6268, Apr 21 2015, 08:29 AM.
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nice classic open fender roadster! My cuppa tea!
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Hobie-wan
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SUV
"Simplify and add lightness."

I have one of these a little worn and without a windshield that at some point will hopefully be made into a KAR 120C.
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
Nice older piece. Great changeup for a CotD choice.
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
A real nice model from back when you could count on Matchbox to have some quirky British cars in the line-up. :)
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