Driving the Caterham Seven 360, the British throwback on American soil

In England, they’ve been building the Caterham Seven or something like it — that is, the ne plus ultra in sports car minimalism — seemingly forever. It’s been so long now that one’s point of entry to Seven awareness could be a recent turn in GranTurismo5, or as far away as the celebrity role it played starring alongside Patrick McGoohan in the semi-obscure 1960s British television classic, "The Prisoner." It was known as a Lotus 7 back then. But in 1973, long after the TV show was through and a full 16 years after the 7’s debut, tiny Caterham of Surrey, England, licensed rights to the design from the founder of perpetually cash-light Lotus, Colin Chapman. Much to everyone’s surprise, not least Chapman’s, the Seven then refused to go quietly into the night. Today, 41 additional years later, Chapman is long gone but Caterham is still building his seminal, no-frills go-kart for the road, with no end in sight.