Originally Davrian Orange (apparently Adrian Evans' "fetish colour", according to a friend of mine who knew him when he used to test them out of Finchley, (she actually referred to him as "Adrian Davrian"... and told me he often sported an orange enameled Davrian lapel badge....)
It was then pink for a few years due to my inability to make a decision between white or red, then in 1991 went to white.
During its French racing period it got a bit battle scarred, so I decided to restore the body for I think the 4th time. This includes the new bubble roof, side scoops, and a new flip front.
I recently painted a Caterham SV in Citroen pearl white with red stripes, and I love the effect as the paint traps light in the ground mica particles and bends it round the curves....at least that's what it looks like.
I'm just wondering how successful this would be on a Davrian, with all its body surface wobbles and general lack of symmetry. It certainly has the curves, why not flaunt it? And stripes too.....hell yes!
Anyone tried this paint?
Here's the effect on the SV...it really does look like pearl....quite unlike flat white.
I reckon if I make a new lightweight flip-front I can afford the extra weight of new paint.
Last edited by Hal Mercier on Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I may unfortunately have to let go of the Davrian and return to classic car ownership next year, if I were to buy something else in the future I am very interested in Caterham 7 (nothing too potent), I'm currently trying to work out how I can keep the Dav as it's great and I'm unlikely to find another, but out of interest how does the 7 compare? Easier to live with? Better handling etc?
I understand that it will be hard to be objective but I'm just interested, I've always been a fan of Imps and Imp based cars, but also always wanted a 7 since I was a lad but have never driven one.
Well I also own a Davrian and a Lotus 7 !
I've owned the 7 since 1974 and originally used it daily as my only car often clocking up 70 - 100 miles a day commuting to building sites. She was off the road for about 10 years but has now been continuously on the road since 1988, although now only used as a fun car, but I still use her regularly...I did about 40 miles yesterday and although I don't do too many longer trips, I have been down to Goodwood from West Dorset a couple of times this year.Beano is a little unusual these days being a S2 with an A series engine, she is pretty raw compared to modern Caterhams but is not totally outclassed relative to the less powerful models and has a better power to weight ratio than the new 160, grip is at a premium with 145x13 tyres but is fun in the heavier traffic of today and the potholed roads.
My Davrian is a Mk 8 and is also unusual in having a transverse A series in the back, she was featured in the Maximum Mini book, but the photos are rather flattering and she's rather tatty especially as she's been sat for about 5 years now! I originally bought her in 1984 as a track car but converted her to road use with lights, hand brake etc. Panels and shell are thin and fit where they touch.I have done a few hillclimbs a good few years back and some track days about 7/8 years ago, but I have not done much in the way of regular road mileage.
So to make a comparison is very difficult as they're totally different, especially one being open and the other hard top.....I'm lucky to have them and hope to have both on the road in a couple of years after building a decent garage/
workshop having moved recently.
Interesting to see the progress on your car,give me a pm if you want any more info, I don't think I'm too many miles from you, and you may not realise that my brother has a Mk7 and Mk8 both Imp powered but just over the border into Devon.
Hi! Sorry to hear you are thinking of passing on the Davrian but with luck you'll find a way to keep both.
I think both cars are brilliant in there own ways. The Seven is definitely an inspired 1950s design, from the time when a competition car would ideally be driven to a circuit, raced, then driven home again. An attitude I like, though many would call it 'optimistic' specially with the way some people drive on track these days...
I've never used a Seven as everyday transport, I have driven a standard chassis type on trips in France with my wife before we got a dog....it would be impossible with the dog in the car as well.
A couple called Angus and Tessa bought one new,used one for years as daily transport, leaving it outside all year, clocking up a large mileage, till eventually it got so ratty that the UK Lotus Seven and Caterham owners club sponsored a total rebuild for them! A & T had done a lot for the club, including designing the club logo.
The Seven was designed around the dimensions of Colin Chapman, who was not very big....and it shows. I personally found the biggest problem for me was the lack of space around the pedals, the car isn't really usable with normal shoes, and I don't have big feet...size 8 UK.
We've had three of the original type Caterhams, a Lotus Twincam live-axle, a race prepped Crossflow 1600 with deDion back end, a 1700 crossflow SuperSprint with live axle, and this one, which is the bigger chassis SV. Larger in all dimensions, 11cm wider in the interior and with bigger seats, it's definitely easier to live with, and only 25kg more.
I prefer the SV as it's far more comfortable for any distance driving. We used it for a trip to a meet of the Swiss Seven club in summer 2006 and I was very struck by how much more practical it is....plenty of foot room, I can drive it in normal wide soled shoes instead of racing Pixie-boots, there's even room to rest the clutch foot alongside the clutch pedal rather than UNDER it, as in the older cars.
I did use the Davrian as sole transport for several years back in the 80s and 90s, but at the time it wasn't properly developed, it was way too low and kept breaking the drive doughnuts. It got to the point where I could change the doughnuts on the grass verge.....which I had to several times.
The Mk 4 was not really the car I wanted.....it was running a stock Imp Sport engine, and I always lusted after more power. I just missed a nice Mk 5 or 6 with a good 998 Carter engine, owned by a racing driver in Purley. The Mk 4 was the only Davrian I could find at the time in early 1980.....so I grabbed it while it was there...
In the 80s when I lived in Bristol we used it for all sorts, I recall returning from London with a girl and her very young baby....which was snuggled up behind the seats....and a large antique mirror somehow attached to the roof!
In many ways the concept of the two very different designs is the same. Adrian Evans was a motorsport fan, and the car was clearly designed more as a competition machine which was also usable for the road, the Seven was the same idea.
The Davrian is probably more usable all year round than the Seven, as the Seven with hood is not too pleasant...claustrophobic and a pig to get in and out of, it makes the Davrian feel like a luxury limo!
I'd say the Davrian is more like a forerunner to the Lotus Elise, though the S1 Elise is more difficult to get in and out of, due to its very high 'doorstep' which is the deep aluminium chassis. The S2 chassis rail is 4" lower for this reason.
The Elise was designed to be 'the Seven for the 1990s'.
So....for road use, the Davrian, properly developed, is perhaps better as an all rounder.
From my own POV I prefer the Caterham on circuit, but that's partly because when I raced the Davrian here in France I found myself overheating.....being inside the little body in Nomex etc and a balaclava under the helmet, it was just too hot for me.
The Seven I found much cooler, and the ultimate was a Lotus 59 Formula Ford monoplace but that was a borrowed drive! Wheeee....that was brilliant fun, at Pau-Arnos, one of my favourite circuits.
Here in France, Sevens are well know, while the Davrian is treated as some sort of wildly exotic creation. It was very highly regarded by the organisers of the race series it was running in 12 years ago, and I have a French petrolhead friend here who is totally besotted with the white Mk 4.
I do enjoy its rarity, I must admit....and I love its lines (although on mine the front has never been right...I hope to sort that next).
The craziest thing about Davrians is they are still so cheap to buy.....when you consider a Teal, a copy of the Bugatti Typo 35 with an MGB engine is now £35,000 secondhand, and has zero competition history, I don't quite get this, given Davrians held over 90% of lap records in class on UK circuits throughout the 1970s....and it's an original design, not a copy of anything. It also overcame the problems Chapman stuggled with on the 1957 Elite, which was also a GRP monocoque but had fragility issues.
The Davrian is a very solid construction in comparison.
As far as handling is concerned I'd say the Seven's handling is probably better straight out of the box, as it were, but the Davrian, once properly set up by someone who knows what they are doing, is on the same level. Given its rear weight bias, it's more like driving a single seater with mid engine, but mine hanled none too well originally due to being on some weird bias-belted tyres which were also past their throw away-by date by several years.
In the rain it was dangerous, I spun it on the Horse Fair roundabout in Bristol, fortunately not hitting anything.....and it wasn't the first time it had spun in the rain!
With the suspension set up correctly, and decent tyres, it's brilliant. I reckon Dolores could have won the race series back in 2002 on first results, but I was obliged to pull out due to a problem with oil escaping from the scroll joint and getting on the rear left tyre causing spectacular slides à la 'drifting', not what you want in a pack of over 30 cars, really.
With the corner weights set properly and all other suspension parameters optimised, it's hard to beat....
By the way, Nugget, what does your car weigh? What engine is it running? My Mk 4 is over 600kg, the Mk 7 is 490kg.....
Cheeser, Lucky man! Not many S2s still on the road I think.....lovely things.
The SV is fairly crazy compared to the original concept, it has a full-race K1800 engine putting out somewhere around 220bhp, but the stock Sierra based 5 speed box, giving it a nice relaxed cruising speed. I've not yet driven it in this configuration and am looking forward to its launch date.
Last edited by Hal Mercier on Sun Nov 16, 2014 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Back to paint, I just recalled that the car used at the launch at the London Motor Show by Davrian was painted pearl yellow, so pearl white isn't inauthentic.....
Thanks for your time putting together your comprehensive responses, food for thought.
Luckily there is a Caterham garage about an hour away from me (Millwood at Dursley) so I can at least try one first (they have a nice 1993 Supersprint at the moment).
I think the questions I need to ask are:
Is it an car that is more capable/easier going on long journeys.
Could I potentially use it as my daily for my 9 mile commute (I can't see why not)
Ultimately is it as involving an experience as the Davrian
One thing a 7 does not have is the exclusivity of the Davrian which really appeals to me, the looks (IMO there is nothing comparable to the Davrian in the same price bracket), and of course the link to the Imp.
Ideally I would have both if I had the room but in the short term I may no choice but to have neither, but like I said I'll do what I can to keep the Davrian, especially after I nip out the the garage and have a look at the wee beasty
Oh and I should have said the pearlescent white with red stripe looks great on the Caterham, the Davrian done in the same "team" colors would be lovely
Is it an car that is more capable/easier going on long journeys. The Cat is very capable, lots of people do mega mileage in them. I've done far longer trips in Cats than with the Davrian. I think a standard Cat has more luggage space than the Mk 4, but my Mk 7, which I've never used as it needs full rebuild, would be easier to use, with a decent sized boot accessible from outside.. With a good engine spec, the Davrian should be a nice car for long distance touring. An SV is better than the standard Caterham (in my opinion) as that much bigger.
Could I potentially use it as my daily for my 9 mile commute (I can't see why not) Definitely you could. Get a car with a good heater! AND heated screen as there is no provision for blown warm air to the screen.Try the Caterham with the hood up, it's rather like being in a high speed tent only noisier. That's really the only caveat as far as all year use is concerned. Many Sevenists seem to be masochistic enough to make it a point of honour to never use the hood....which is a total bastard to erect if it's cold, and really needs to be heated with a blow heater before it's stretch and supple enough to fit....
Ultimately is it as involving an experience as the Davrian Yes.
One thing a 7 does not have is the exclusivity of the Davrian which really appeals to me, the looks (IMO there is nothing comparable to the Davrian in the same price bracket), and of course the link to the Imp.
Ideally I would have both if I had the room but in the short term I may no choice but to have neither, but like I said I'll do what I can to keep the Davrian, especially after I nip out the the garage and have a look at the wee beasty
Regarding the Caterham given the way I have seen them perform on the track and your comments and the fact that the basic design was penned in the 50's it amazes me that they perform so well, when a decade later MG and Triumph knocked out the Midget and Spitfire, which from my limited experienced having driven both (for my sins I owned a Midget 20 years ago) were bloody awful.
Another reason why I like the Davrian, a genuine killer of things MG and Triumph
