Caterham 21

Caterham 21 Register

Welcome to a site devoted to the Caterham 21, a great car from one of few remaining British car companies (and, according to Top Gear, the second largest sports car company in Great Britain).

Updates

Novmber 15th 1998 - reworked main page and updated Emily's story

What's it all about?

The idea of setting up a register of current, former, prospective and potential Caterham 21 owners is primarily to provide contact for the exchange of advice, information, stories and to arrange meetings and events. The register should also prove valuable in the years to come, detailing the history of the 21 and providing an independent source of vehicle details which will help prove the authenticity of cars.

The register is a voluntary service, provided by enthusiasts and assisted by (though not directly connected with) Caterham Cars Limited and the Lotus Seven Club of Great Britain. I am looking to get some patrons to add an element of authenticity to the register - watch this space!

If you are interested in the 21, the Lotus Seven or its descendants and imitators, you might want to consider joining the 21s or Sevens Mailing Lists. These are provided by Steve, a Caterham Seven owner who also runs a Sevens web site. To join the 21s mailing list, send an email to majordomo@boffin.beyond2000.co.uk with the SUBSCRIBE 21S in the text. To join the Sevens list do the same, but the text should be SUBSCRIBE SEVENS. Follow the instructions in the reply message. The lists are free and (usually) fairly easy going.

With regard to the actual 21 Register, it has the following goals:

  1. A record of all 21s produced, with details provided by Caterham and/or the owner (as appropriate). This information will be treated as confidential and will not be divulged to any third party without permission. The register will be free to join and (within reason) free to use.
  2. A newsletter, hopefully regular, containing the latest news from the factory, details of events, reports, and so on. There will be a small cost for this service, to cover copying and postage, and submissions will be gratefully received. So far, this has not happened! For there to be a newsletter, there has to be some news. I will chase my contacts in Caterham Cars to see what I can get, but I will also need something from owners. So, come on let me know how you are getting on.
  3. A chance to meet up and swap stories, check each others cars and generally find out the latest gossip.
Things are moving quite slowly (hence the delay of the first newsletter, which was to come out after the London Motor Show in October, though now looks more likely to come out only when there are enough people to make it worth the effort). This is partly due to me being rather busy, and partly due to Caterham being very busy and so unable to get in touch with the 50 or so owners to let them know about the register.

To get the ball rolling I am trying to put in place mechanisms by which all future owners will find out about the register when they order/collect their 21, so removing the problem of trying to get in contact with them later. My first attempt to do this failed, and I'm still sorting out the second, so things are still quiet. I have perhaps 10% of cars/owners listed so far.

As time passes, I hope to offer a variety of additional services to support the Caterham 21, much like those offered for the Lotus and Caterham Seven. One of these services will be to pass on details of 21 specialist services and products, so if you know of any (or provide such yourself), please let me know. Also, if you which to assist in the running of this register or have suggestions as to how it may be improved, your input would be welcome.

Note that this is not an official Caterham Cars web site, though there is one available here. Caterham are on 07000 000021 or contact Caterham Cars Ltd, Station Avenue, Caterham, Surrey, CR3 6LB (Fax 07000 646086). Their latest brocure (as far as I know) looks like this.
Note that Caterham are better known for the Super Seven, a wonderful car without which the 21 could never have existed.

I can be contacted by email or you can call me on 07020 960 210 and leave a message on my ansaphone. Note that is a UK number, so please check time-zones if calling from another country.

News and information

Caterham have (at last?) admitted that sales of the 21 are not up to their expectations and are looking to do something about it. Details are unclear at this time, but it seems a minor re-design will be used to make the car appeal to a wider market. While the 21 will never challenge mainstream roadsters (who would have thought that term could be used?) like the MGF, MX-5 or Z3 some improvements might give it a better chance. Areas such as non-winding side windows, getting in/out with the hood up and weather-proofing are all under review. I hope they also look into the headlight performance as this, after the non-winding side windows, are the main "faults" of the car. In fact, I would say that these are the only two things I would really change on the car - but then again I'm not part of the wider market am I?

Earlier this year Caterham managed to add the VVC unit to the 1.8 K-series engine range. This gives the 21 a good spread of models, though with some overlap. For a "touring" car, the VVC is ideal, though the Supersport models are as quick or quicker thanks to their 6-speed (short ratio) gearboxes.
There will always be some who want to do their own thing and fit something different, and so far I've heard of a Vauxhall 16v unit being used.

My first item of advice, for any owners of early 21's, is to get the high level air vents fitted. This will take a few days by the retro-fit has been done to my car and works very well. Windscreen and side-window misting is a thing of the past and the cabin can be kept warm without cooking your legs. I know of one other owner who has had the conversion, and also recommends it, but feedback from others welcome.

Also, perhaps, of interest is that Clive Denham - who used to run Tangent Motorsport (the people who built my 21 and supplied its engine) before it was shut down - now has his own company, Aryliam Motorsport. I wish him the best of luck with his new venture. He has a lot of experience and contacts in some useful places so he is well worth giving a call.

Since 21st February 1998, this page has been visited times.

This site is still under development, so check back in a month or so...

News

So far there have been two newsletters produced by Caterham for 21 owners:

Reviews

I have collected all the Caterham 21 reviews I can. The following is (I hope) a complete list of UK car magazines which have featured the 21: Also, perhaps of interest, are details of Tangent's VVC powered Seven (see Autocar 30th October 1996 or Cars & Car Conversions May 1997), the new racing Sevens (see Cars & Car Conversions Nov 1997) and the launch of the VVC by Caterham.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments on this site, please email me at andrew.edney@virgin.net.