KeithBarrett Online

In 1981 I took a trip to London and Wales. This was my first solo vacation, my first foreign country visit, my first use of a passport. I arranged everything – this was not a package deal. The trip lasted about 6 days because that was all I could afford. It was a time before the internet. Before Email. Before cellphones. Before low cost long distance calls. I arranged all my hotel reservations via Telex communications through a travel agency.

I landed in London just as the Pope got shot. I spent the next 2 days enjoying all of the tourist sites, hopping from place to place by tube. Then I took rail across the sheep ridden countryside to my destination in Wales. It took all day and the very last stop on the run was closed, so they piled us into buses and drove for about 2 hours along very dangerous narrow cliff roads, the side of the bus scraping against the cliff wall whenever a car needed to get by us. I was not in my comfort zone.

I arrived at my destination, Portmerion, to participate in the annual “The Prisoner” television show convention in the village. I was the only American there. I was interviewed for the London newspapers. It was fun and educational.

But that is another story.

It was at this convention I met Roger, then president of the Prisoner fan club. He happened to arrive in his Caterham Seven auto. The first one I ever saw in person. The first I ever touched.

I proceeded to pump him for all the information I could. What is a Caterham? Where are they made? How much does it cost? When I returned home I wrote to government agencies about the process of shipping cars from foreign countries. I contacted the CT DMV about registering home built vehicles. I wrote to Caterham Cars about purchasing a car. They wrote back and said the best way for an American to own one was to contact one of the only 2 places in the country building the car for the racing circuit. One was in California, the other in Marblehead Massachusetts. I was living in Connecticut, so I drove to the place in Marblehead — DSK cars. It was a small shop with a few car bodies on saw horses. I left a deposit with Clayton, the owner, to have a car build for me for street use. I then went home to figure out how I would actually pay for it.

The whole process eventually took 4 years. Four years of sending funds when I had it. Fours years of cereal and mac & cheese dinners to save money. Four years of delays by DSK. Four years of working with the bank. Four years of taking the car from place to place to have various parts manufactured, fitted, painted, and installed. Four years of working with the DMV to get the car inspected, registered, and insured. Four years…

Then I was on the road I was one of the few in the country that owned the coolest, fastest car you have ever seen. Everyone would stop me, chat with me, give thumbs up. And driving it — anytime someone irritated me or did something stupid, I just hit the gas and was out of there! It is the most fun I ever had driving a car!

A year later DSK went out of business.

I had lots of unique experiences; like the time I came out of a store to see a pair of legs sticking out from under the car, or when I had service performed on it by Paul Newman’s garage team, or went under a toll gate before it raised…

But those are other stories.

Four years later, in 1989, I got engaged to the sister of my best friend and sold the car to help finance the wedding, reception, honeymoon at Disney World, engagement ring, and eliminate our joint debt. The car sold within 48 hours of my placing the ad in Hemmings Motor news. I bought the car for about $18k, and sold it quickly for about $11k in cash.

A few months later our apartment complex was was flooded by 4 feet of water. We were interviewed by the local newspaper. The apartments were above their garages, so we only lost everything in our garage. People’s cars were being loaded onto car carriers eight at a time and carted away. Good thing the Seven had been sold.

In 1999 we were living in NC and I joined a famous dot-com computer company. I was surrounded by many wealthy people driving fast expensive cars, and my middle age-ness kicking in, I began to pine after the days I had a small, high speed convertible with manual transmission. We were debt free and doing fairly well, so I started to think about buying a car for myself. Then I wondered… could I buy a Seven again? It would be a faster and cheaper car than most others.

I looked into it and learned that Caterham now had a USA headquarters and 7 dealers scattered throughout the country. And the car was even cooler — leather interior, bucket seats, faster engine, more room, softer ride, and a much higher price tag to match. Having already going though the process of building one, I sought and found one that had already been built professionally by a dealer, so I bought it in 2000. I also bought every optional item that existed for it.

I loved this car and drove it all through North Carolina every weekend. I joined clubs, did autocrossing (and won awards), helped create the USA internet discussion group, and helped to create the first owners gathering at Summit Point race track. One of the top 5 best days in my life was driving this car through the twisty roads of NC and VA, in the rain, to the race track.

Then I was laid off and 9/11 soon followed, causing financial hardships and an eventual relocation to central Florida, where it is always too hot, too wet, too cold, too ugly, or too buggy to enjoy driving a convertible. I tried to sell the car but could not generate any interest. The loan was paid off. The car went into storage.

A year later we finally had a house with a garage again. I fixed the car up and started driving it on good days. I entered it in local exotic car shows and it won both times. On very rare days where the weather was perfect, I would drive it throughout Disney World and Celebration. It was fun, but this happened infrequently and a nagging wrist injury served as a reminder I needed to sell it and apply the money to other things. You have to do what you have to do, so two weeks ago I advertised it for sale on the internet.

I received 2 offers this week.

Yesterday I accepted one of them.

In 7 days I will be a bit wealthier and have my garage bay back.

I may even buy a new sporty car eventually.

It won’t be the same.