The father of Caterham Graham Bradshaw Nearn was born on 20.9.1933 in Catford, southeast of London. After his military service, he worked in the timber trade, but developed a strong fondness for cars and racing. He had a 1937 Jaguar SS 100, which he could buy in the postwar for a cheap 250 pounds, later he drove an DB 2. One of his equally enthusiastic friends in the local rugby club, David Holmes, 1959 wanted to buy a car dealership with the garage The sale was owned and owned by racing driver Anthony Crook (Anthony Crook Motors Ltd.). Behind a gas station in Caterham, Surrey, in the south of London, was a small workshop with a few garages where Crook prepared his Cooper- racing cars for racing. Crook, Britain's largest Bristol dealer in the 1950s, replaced , a grandson of the founder of Bristol Aircraft, and became its owner. Nearn was asked to become one of 5 partners in the start-up of Caterham Car Services. The others were David Holmes lan Smith, Nick Carter and Alec Bromley. Smith was a car journalist (and author of the standard work The Story of Lotus 1947-1960) and a friend of . Chapman arrived in his Ford Zodiac to visit the company and was apparently sufficiently impressed; therefore Caterham Car Sales became one of the first in 1959 Lotus Center. Shortly thereafter, 2 kits were delivered - an Elite and a Seven. And already the young company made the first experiences with Lotus: you had to take care of spare parts yourself. In 1962, the British government abolished gasoline price inflation (which had sprung from the post-war shortage) and the partners sold the gas station to Esso. The four comrades retired after the series from the business, which is now by Nearn as 18 sole proprietor. There were now Caterham Car Sales and Caterham Coachworks, which in times of slender profit from car sales, was to ensure the company's survival in bodywork and repairs. Nearn bought a Land and a trailer, with which he picked up the car from the factory or collected leftover cars on behalf of customers.

In 1964, David Wakefield was hired as a workshop manager, Nearn focused on the sale. Both enjoyed weekend races with Sevens the showroom (which was washed clean afterwards in the sales room ...). For the television series "The Prisoner" Nearn drove the required Seven S 2 to London and was immediately hired as Komparse.In the last episode he parked the car in front of number 6'Haus.

Since one of Lotus alone could not live, was temporarily taken over the representation of TVR, and Marcos, as well as everything repaired on sports cars which arose, i.a. MG and Austin-Healey. 1967 saw Nearn with an order for 20 S 2 Sevens that Lotus after the move to Hethel (Norwich) in the fall of 1966 resumed production - it would be otherwise the premature end of the Seven, as Chapman had planned the new Europe as a replacement and also wanted to sell in the future rather high-priced sports cars.

In early 1971, when Warner left Lotus, Graham Nearn feared that the end of the Seven was approaching. He had a conversation with Chapman to explore the possibility of a license production by . Obviously, the idea was not bad, because Nearn offered in addition to a payable sum to be paid an amount to be determined per vehicle that Lotus should receive. In a letter of July 19, 1971, he declared his willingness in principle to place the production rights at Seven in the hands of Nearn:

"Dear Graham, Although it will take at least 18 months, I confirm with this letter that if we stop producing and selling the Lotus 7, we will give you the first option to purchase them. This of course would entail that we hand over all the necessary drawings, specifications, body shapes, straightening blocks, etc, etc and come to an agreement on spare parts, etc.

Looking at your past and present connection with the Lotus 7, I'm sure you'll see you're in a far better position to take over the production when it's time than any other organization that might be interested and we'll be happy To give you all the help to make this a reality.

Yours Colin Chapman "

Thus, the way was clear and the future of the Seven, at least in principle, first secured.

Graham Nearn had received written confirmation after being given the first option to take over the production of the Seven when Lotus was due to end it. When Lotus Racing (formerly Lotus Components) was shut down, the problem for Lotus was to get rid of 54 Formula Ford race cars already no longer corresponded to the state of the art and claimed precious space in the factory buildings. Nearn agreed to take over the cars if he got the production rights to the Seven. The detailed negotiations began. The sales and profitability calculations submitted by Lotus were not encouraging. The supply of spare parts proved to be the main problem, because still enough parts were in stock, but some helpful soul had disposed of the written documents to the suppliers. Finally, in May 1973, Nearn had the impression that the project could get going, and in June, a press conference was convened at Pub Lotus, Primrose Hill, North London, to hand over the production of Lotus to Caterham with a handshake between Chapman and nearn to document publicly. The contract included an undisclosed sum that Caterham had to pay to Lotus for the acquisition, the 54 Formula Ford race cars, more than 50 Lotus Twin Cam engines, a cargo of spare parts, drawings, a new emblem that Lotus developed (the by Caterham for Lotus. This contract was renewed in the early 2000s. In addition, a six-month warranty for a new Seven (the same period that Lotus generously offered) could be redeemed at each Lotus Center.

A little toad had to swallow Nearn: a truck and construction company in New Zealand, Steele Brothers, successfully negotiated with Lotus over one 3-year license for the Seven. After all, a few dozen Seven came out of it before this production was stopped.The Seven had arrived back where it was originally started. The workshops of Caterham were about the same size as the original Lotus garages in Hornsey! The new car could continue to be called Seven and was in fact the old car, since the first cars manufactured at Caterham were screwed together from already produced parts. The glass fiber body parts were further manufactured by Lotus, Arch built the chassis and the remaining parts were purchased from suppliers. However, they were not particularly built when Caterham ordered 10 turn signals and also wanted to have a discount. Officially, the company was now called Seven Cars Limited, in reality, however, quickly got the name Caterham Cars. Two months after the takeover, the first Caterham S 4 left the halls at the Town End in Caterham and about one car was produced each week. In the meantime, the selling genius Nearn brought the Formula Ford racing car to the man - with a favorable partial payment for the recreational racer!

Nearn was promoted from the dealer to the manufacturer of the Seven. The "Seven Car Co. Ltd." was founded because the name "Lotus" could not be used for product liability reasons, the car was simply called "Super Seven." The customer quickly made it "Caterham Super Seven", a name that has remained. Nearn and his wife Jane loaded the first car for export on their trailer and drove it by ferry over the canal - to Germany! After the initial production of S 4 vehicles, Nearn quickly realized that this was for his small car 20

Company was uneconomical. Therefore, sen. "Too fast to race": with this slogan he was able to advertise a limited edition of 25 Seven S 3s. From 1986 initiated on. The success was overwhelming and the Nearn a separate racing series for the Seven, which is still successful today. In the early days In the 80s, Nearn found the "Long Cockpit ", the driver and passenger a little more Legroom meant. Soon after, there was the old "Short Cockpit" is not anymore. Slowly, not to the traditionalists scared, one developed the Seven, without however, to touch the outer shape. First at SV grew the car (especially in the Width) to the increased body circumference to take account of the clientele. Various generations of engines came and went, the old rigid axle was replaced with a de Dion suspension, adjustable single seats with headrests became standard, the Weber carburetors were replaced by an injection, catalytic converters came and finally the long front fenders disappeared to new Cycle Wings place In spite of all this, the Seven always remained what it always was, a pure driving machine. Caterham under Graham Nearn missed the title: "Custodians of a Legend" and they are to this day, even after two sales of the company.

In 1985, Caterham received the visit of his deputy and then Secretary of State Sir Geoffrey Howe. However, Nearn had forgotten the appointment and had gone golfing. So, just a few days later, Sir Geoffrey came and stirred the drum for Caterham. Gradually, Nown withdrew from the management in favor of his second son, Simon, and in 2005, the company was first sold to a group of enthusiasts under Ansar Ali, who became the new boss. On 24.10.2009 Graham Nearn died and left behind Mrs. Nearn, two sons, Robert and Simon as well as two daughters, Nina and Eliza. Enthusiasts around the world mourned a man without whom the Seven would not have become a legend limited number was fast to forget.

In the 70s and early 80s could be in the Seven usually not participate in racing series in England - since Sevens always won, they were excluded 21