Back in time
It looks like a vintage 1960s British roadster simply because it was designed to look like a vintage 1960s British roadster. Launched at the 2016 Goodwood Revival festival last month, the Caterham Seven Sprint is a deliberate celebration of the British marque’s long-running super lightweight Caterham Seven roadster.
The Caterham Seven has always had a tinge of retro to it, even back when it was launched as progeny to the Lotus Seven in 1973. Caterham has revamped the Seven countless times since, swapping engines and tweaking aesthetics every time, and with the Seven Sprint, reached back further in time. Squint, and you could almost imagine Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in one winding in the hills above Monaco in Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief.
With only 60 models produced, all of which sold out in first week of availability, the Seven Sprint may not be biggest or most powerful Caterham, but it certainly the one with the most panache, with a design that echoes the original Series 2 Lotus Seven by Colin Chapman. Proof that as much as the car world looks to the future, there is still a huge allure in the golden age of the glitzy past.
