Cazalea shares a deeply personal and nostalgic account of his lifelong dream to own a Lotus 7, inspired by the TV series 'The Prisoner.' This post chronicles his journey from early fascination in England to finally acquiring his dream car in San Diego, offering a vivid narrative of automotive passion.
THE PRISONER
You probably know the TV series -- and of course, the Star Actor:
Bear with me now as we embark on some time travel back into the past...
Once upon a time, when the world was young, and so was I, a car came into my life...
This really happened back in 1991 when I lived in England not very far from the village of Caterham.
(
NOTE - that isn't me chewing my fingernails but it might as well have been)
I fell in love with the Lotus 7 - can you imagine what it was thinking in the Prisoner? "I am not a number, I am a Free Car. He is not Number 6; I am not Number 7!"
The dream stuck.
I went to Hethel, home of Lotus and talked to people at the factory. I had conversations with Graham Nearn who at that time was working on the 7's replacement, the ill-fated Caterham 21 (you don't remember it?)
Another time I went out to the moors in SW England to a pub where only Lotus owners could get a drink, and I soaked in the delicious talk about deDion rear suspensions. I HAD TO HAVE A SEVEN. Yet in my heart I knew it was unlikely.
Only few years later while walking the field at Coronado Vintage Races that "it lodged in my brain" that I could actually own one of these ... and I knew by now which one I wanted. Not the motorcycle engine, not the V8 shoe-horned in, but a simple 1600 with Webers would be just fine. English racing green with yellow nosecone would do very nicely. Or screaming yellow, for safety's sake...
(NOTE - that isn't me sticking my nose into someone else's car but it might as well have been)
After that memorable moment, I scanned the "for sale" ads every weekend (no Internet in those days) and one morning I spotted a Seven for sale while I was visiting family in Seattle.
Like me, he was not a one-Lotus owner; like me he started with a Europa. Neither one of us was opposed to a test drive in the rain
(
NOTE - that isn't Paul Gerber, by the way)
What I couldn't imagine was driving this car all the way back to San Diego, in the winter, so I reluctantly passed on it.
But a few months later the green/yellow car that I had seen years before at the car show appeared for sale in my home town. I was on it in a heartbeat and for the price of a decent watch it was mine. Mine! All mine, my precious! With no need to drive 1000 miles in the rain to bring it home. AND luckily enough it was LHD. We already had one RHD car and my wife wasn't keen on another (though with a Seven it hardly matters).
Although unlike most Sevens, it came with the full complement of weather gear. A tent, which you erect on top of the body, and side curtains.
But you can't get in or out when the tent is erected.
Of course when you have a Lotus (Caterham) Seven, you have to hang out with others of the same persuasion. So I found myself at various events celebrating and exercising our "cars" (aka 4-wheel motorcycles).
We even squeezed in a day at Silverstone, courtesy of my client Autodata, for a Caterham-administered overdose of adrenaline.
My wife even got into the action.
After a few years though, my enthusiasm began to wane. I was having to pay tax, insurance, registration, smog testing on all these cars -- in addition to our "real" cars and the 4-5 Citroens we owned at that time.
The Caterham had the shortest range (its small tank, my weak bladder), it had the least safe environment, it was the slowest of my three Lotuses, and the hardest to get past the Calif smog police.
Honestly I had to take it over to the dodgy smog man, leave it for a day or two, and come back to get it and the paperwork (asking no questions as to how it passed).
So I put it up for sale, and it sold very quickly. The next day I went into hospital for surgery. I had a broken heart.
BUT WAIT, that's not the end.
This year Amazon Prime (not the next-day delivery, but the TV channel) has added Danger Man (Secret Agent Man) John Drake, and the follow-on cult classic series The Prisoner. As I was a teenager when it first appeared, I had not seen the whole series end-to-end, until now.
(I'm amazed at the number of watch-related shots)
Tonight we will watch the last, enigmatic episode, and I will pine for a Lotus Seven again.
With a yellow nose.
Cazalea
