March 2007

We went back to the showroom and had a look around a few more cars at which point I told Dominic that I was definitely interested in purchasing a kit and that I wanted to formally look over a few options. I ended up going for pretty much what is described above, (which included the 1.6 engine rather than the 1.4) except I decided not to go for a full paint job, but to keep the main body of the car as aluminium. Also, I went for a Tonneau cover as I thought that this would be more practical for everyday use.

It was made very clear to me that I could make changes to the overall spec at a later date. The main thing that I would alter is that I would like a Momo quick release steering wheel....in fact this may well be something that I may opt for!

Having considered all this, today was the day that I actually put a deposit down on the kit!

I am very happy, but apprehensive at what lies ahead in terms of building the car. At the end of the day though, the car is exactly what I am looking for and the prospect of building it myself is amazing. I've been given a rough delivery date of around July or August....it's going to be a long wait.

The following pictures are taken from my second visit to the Caterham Showroom in Surrey, following my test drive and subsequent order. They show examples of the cars without a full paint job, which is the kind of style I am looking for.

This is a car with black nose and arches. I currently have ordered a similar colour scheme to this, but with yellow nose and arches. I actually like the body just showing the aluminium colour. This type of scheme comes at no extra cost.

This is a car with green nose and arches

11th March 2007

Added a Contact Me page and associated email address

Maybe now is time for a bit of a recap of the last month or so.

When I started this website, in my mind it was going to be a kind of Blog and that is what it is going to continue to be. This means that I am not going to go back over previous pages and reedit them based on any knowledge I currently have (apart from correcting the odd typo!). I really want this site to show the thought processes that went though the research and (hopefully!) build and drive of a car.

However, I realise that it appears that I have only been focussing on Caterham's, which is probably quite accurate. I have investigated other manufacturers and am fully aware that cheaper alternatives exist. The main reason why I discounted these other types of cars is mainly due to the fact that a donor car is required, which is a project I am not interested in pursuing....may be next time! Also, I admit I have been drawn in with the Caterham history and heritage and that is important to me in the choice of car as well.

It has felt like a bit of a whirlwind. Basically in the time between 13th February and 10th March, I've gone from knowing virtually nothing about a Kit Car build to putting a deposit on one. This is very nervewracking considering on 13th February I wasn't totally sure (although suspected) that it would be possible to buy a Kit Car that would be within my budget and technical abilities. Of course, it may end up being outside of my techical abilities, but it is a risk I am willing to take at this point.

On 16th February I had concerns over if my garage would be big enough, but I now think it will be. I would much prefer to do the build at my house, because it would be much easier to do an hour or two, when I get the time, as opposed to having to drive to the build location.

23rd February was my first visit and this was when the thoughts of owning one of these cars became a serious possibility in my mind. Dominic at Caterham was very helpful and I was able to take loads of photo's.....I went home and that weekend a lot of head scratching occurred to think about owning one of these great cars. Then, after another visit and test drive on 10th March, I actually put a deposit on a car with my choice of options. Wow!

All this and Claire is totally supportive of this project and has even offered to buy me a professional socket and spanner set, such as this. What a lucky chap I am....very fortunate!

15th March 2007

Received official confirmation of my order from Caterham - there's no going back now! July has been officially confirmed as the month I should be accepting delivery of the kit. It sounds like a long way off, but I have quite a bit to do in preparation.

16th March 2007

I had the day off work today, so I took the opportunity to go out and buy a few things in preparation for the build. As such, I bought a full set of professional sockets and spanners, a torque wrench and some other bits and pieces. I also bought some floor paint, oil remover which I will use to clean up the garage floor.

This is a picture of my garage as it looks today, prior to any clean up work. There's quite a bit of work involved in getting this ready for a kit car build. I need to properly clear it of junk so that I can have room to move - the idea is to clear everything out so that only the car, tools and lighting are in here.

Also, I need to make it a clean working environment, so the oil remover and floor paint will be used.

24th March 2007

Today I made a start on preparing the garage of painting. I properly cleaned everything down, and used Gunk Driveway Concrete Cleaner ro remove excess oil from the floor. This has had good results, so the floor is now ready for a coat of paint.

I also decided to actually release my Guest Book page. My service provider doesn't allow for ASP code, so I have had to deploy it on another site for now.

26th March 2007

I have been in touch with Caterham again today, as I have (hopefully!) made my final change to the order. I have gone back to my original idea of having the car painted in Caterham Yellow (as opposed to having an aluminium finish), so I called Dominic and wrote a letter to this effect.