The Inspiration behind my Locust

Series 1 Seven

I remember the first time I ever saw a Lotus Seven. I was 12 years old and I was a passenger in the back of my dad's Ford Cortina 1600E. We were travelling from York to Bradford, when as were were passing through Harewood I heard the sound of roarty exhausts. Then 4 cars which looked like the nearest thing to a racing car on the road I had ever seen streamed past and disappeared into the distance. It was as if we were standing still.

I later realised that they were Lotus Sevens and they must have been either participating in or spectating at the Harewood Hill Climb. Since that day I have always loved the shape and looks of the Seven.

Quite a few years later I saw a repeat episode of The Prisoner series starring Patrick McGoohan, it featured a Lotus Seven in the opening sequence.

With the advent of Youtube you can now watch this on line

 

Years later I saw an advert for a Seven kit called the JC Locust. I was working in Germany. I sent for the brochure and discovered amongst other things that JC stood for John Cowperthwaite who had previously built a traditionally styled roadster called the Midge. He was now using similar principles to build a Seven style car. I decided that I would build one when I could. The brochure included some glossy photographs of the Locust below.
JC Locust Demo
A few years later I dusted off the brochure and went to the Newark Kit Car show to see if the kit was still available. I found a stand for T&J Locust. They had a beautiful white demonstration model. I wandered around for a while and too my suprise I saw the JC brochure Locust on one of the owners stands. I had a good look at the car then returned to the T&J stand and placed an order for the plans.
T&J Locust Demo