In yesterday’s Comments, Reader Darwin pointed me to his “review” of the Bridget, revealing an unashamedly-retro yearning for sports-car driving of yore. And I’m in full agreement therewith.
Of course, somebody already made the Bridget: it’s called the Caterham 7 Sprint, and I want one so badly my toes are twitching:
Read both linked articles, if you want to know what kind of car man I am.
My only gripe with the Caterham (and for that matter, the Bridget too) is that once seated therein, one’s ass would be mere inches off the ground. That means, in my case anyway, the assistance of one of these to get me out of the damn thing:
Other than that, I’d already have one of the Sprints. Or the Bridget. Or, if Honda ever decided to restart production, the S600 (which the Bridget resembles, according to Reader Darwin), or… don’t get me started.
I did sort of have the Honda S600 in mind, with a leavening of 60s MGs and Fiats looks-wise, but without the excremental electrics, and pot metal auxiliary pieces. I think it could be done easily enough, from a technological standpoint, but from an increasingly stultifying regulatory standpoint not so much, at least in terms of a full-bodied production vehicle that would not require the tortuous hoop jumping required to license something like a Caterham or Atom for the road.
My dad had either an S600 or an S800 convertible (I think the latter). I pleaded with him to hang on to it until I got my license, but he (perhaps wisely) chose to sell it to a Panamanian guy (we lived in the Canal Zone).
I remember a funny design quirk: it didn’t have a horn button or bail on the wheel – instead, there was a long toggle switch on the dashboard that you would operate with the tips of your right hand’s fingers.
He found out a couple of years later that the buyer had attempted to use it to smuggle a quantity of cocaine into the US, and had gotten caught. So perhaps there’s a DEA agent out there still tooling around in it….
Man, that was a fun car. You couldn’t hold a conversation in it, though.
Absolutely stunning – if I’m not going overboard.
If they won’t ship them across the pond, I’ll just have to make do with a Polaris Slingshot built (assembled) near Sioux City, Iowa
Darn close to the Bridget, but a little heavier and nicer was my Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce.
Light, nimble, neutral handling that was as sweet as you could imagine. Only 1300 cc, twin cams, twin Webers and a 4 speed. The car virtually read your mind. I used to rat race my elder brother’s TR4, 2.2 litre Triumph, usually to a draw. I’ve had a lot of sports cars after that Giulietta, but none as satisfying.
I could be persuaded into that lil’ Alfa… or any Alfa from before 1975, for that matter.
Not to nitpick, but the Caterham is a reproduction of the Lotus Super 7.
Having spent time in my 40’s in a Super-7, and being of an XXL size, I can assure you old friend that a crane is a wise accessory for egress, and also a copious quantity of KY for ingress.