The Lotus Seven and its modern progeny, the Caterham Seven, are iconic motor cars on par with the Volkswagen Beetle, the Land Rover Defender, the Mini Cooper and the Ford Mustang. What most people don’t know is why the Lotus is called the Seven, and that there was a Lotus One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six that came before it.
The team at XCAR recently decided to tell the story of the Lotuses that came before the Seven – and in their typical style its an entertaining and well researched short film, full of interesting historical trivia. By the time its 12 minute run time is over you’ll be very well versed in the history of the Seven, and you’ll probably be heading directly to the Caterham website.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The Nissan R382 The 1969 Nissan R382 is one of the most impressive Japanese race cars of the 1960s, it’s fitted with a mid-mounted 6 liter V12 capable of touching the 600 hp mark and despite the engine’s complexity, it proved remarkably reliable. Fans of ’60s era Can-Am racing will likely see an immediate resemblance to…
Showroom Stock racing is exactly what it says on the box, cars are strictly limited to factory fresh condition with no performance modifications allowed. Only safety mods are permitted, typically limited to a roll bar, fire extinguisher, and multi-point driver restraints. This particular race was never televised and you can hear the commentators slipping between…
At first glance this 1958 Ice Speedster looks like a prop from one of the original Star Wars films. In fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if George Lucas had encountered one and used it as a base for the X-34 Landspeeder driven by Luke Skywalker on Tattoine. Snow Planes Those of you from…
The new Sirocco motorcycle gloves by 78 Motor Co are designed for three-season use during the cooler months, they have a soft micro-fleece insulating liner to keep your hands warm and comfortable and each pair is made from high-quality, pre-waxed 1.3mm aniline cowhide leather. 78 Motor Co is run by a talented Irishman named Anthony…
These are the original six drawings for the patent application for the Ferrari F40, the application was filed in December 1987 listing Leonardo Fioravanti of Pininfarina as the inventor and Ferrari as the assignee. The Ferrari F40 is remembered today as possibly the last great analogue supercar, from a time when electronic systems and driver…
Armed Forces Rally in Land Rovers is a short film by the team at Patina that covers the Armed Forces Rally Team (AFRT), a racing outfit made up of serving British military personnel competing in lightly modified examples of the UK MOD-specification Land Rover Wolf. The Land Rover Wolf is essentially a Land Rover Defender…
