Arrival

(References to "The Prisoner" are part-and-parcel of any Caterham/Lotus 7 discussion!)

The scheduled delivery date for my Caterham kit was the first week of December 2010. Unfortunately  nature stepped in and dumped a load of snow on southern England - I think the Caterham factory actually had to close for a few days. I was going away on vacation in the weeks before Xmas, so we decided to delay the delivery until the New Year.

So, first day back at work in 2011, and there's a big van outside my house...

I went outside to say hello, only to find the Caterham delivery driver deep in conversation with a local guy in a beat-up old Land Rover Disco, who claimed the Caterham van had clipped his rear bumper in the narrow lane outside my house. It all ended amicably though - the Disco was falling to bits anyway, and the driver admitted that the Landy was an MOT failure...

(Check out the personalized plate. On the van, I mean...)

Cup of tea later and the driver & I set about unloading the boxes and various bits and pieces. Note to anyone else thinking of doing a build - Gravel drives are not ideal for small-wheeled barrows! The two of us had to hand-carry the engine 20 metres to the garage, nearly did my back in. Here's what I had after the driver left:

The first few days after delivery were occupied with a good check through the various boxes, to make sure everything was present and correct. Caterham are slightly notorious for forgetting the odd few bits and pieces... There are a number of lists and photos in the Assembly Guide to help with this process, but unfortunately the Guide is not exactly up-to-date ("guide" is the correct description for this document) and some of the items vary depending on what spec of car you have. Sean at Caterham Cars is your best mate now, he'll sort out any shortages pronto.