Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars based in Caterham, Surrey, England and part of the British motor industry. Their only current model, the Caterham Seven, is a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman.

Caterham Cars had been a major Lotus dealer during the 60's, and its founder, Graham Nearn, purchased the rights to continue manufacture of the Seven design from Chapman in 1973, after Lotus announced their intention to discontinue the model. Caterham initially restarted manufacture of the Lotus Seven Series 4; however, when this proved unpopular, production switched to a Series 3 model in 1974.

The Lotus/Caterham 7 is widely regarded by car enthusiasts and the media as one of the iconic sports cars of the 20th century. With production entering its 50th year in 2007, the Seven still leads the market in track performance and driving enjoyment.

As with their Lotus Seven precursors, Caterhams are constructed of aluminium sheet attached to a tubular steel chassis. All Sevens are front engined with rear wheel drive and two seats. Their extremely high performance is achieved through light weight (less than 500 kg (1,102 lb) on some versions) rather than particularly powerful engines.

Chapman and Lotus helped to pioneer the British kit car industry. The Lotus Seven was offered in kit form to allow buyers to avoid new car tax in the UK. Subsequently Caterham continued offering cars in 'complete knock down' kit form as the tradition of hand building your own Seven was well established amongst enthusiasts. Today, all Caterham Sevens are still offered in kit form in the UK except the CSR model.

In the United States Caterhams are sold as kits only, lacking some modern safety features required of manufacturers, but which are not required for individually-assembled vehicles. Buyers can either choose to construct the cars themselves or pay their regional dealers or local builders to assemble them. Typically the engine and transmission are sourced separately as a unit- often from Caterham- but all other components (including frame, suspension, differential, driveshaft, interior, wiring and instruments) are provided in kit form. In the UK, the vehicles can be obtained as kits or entirely assembled by Caterham and registered for the road under SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) regulations. In the 60's the original Lotus Seven was sold only in kit form in both the UK and the US, in order to evade the very high taxes on complete new cars that were not assessed on automobile parts.

In 1987, production moved to the Dartford factory.

In the late 90's, Caterham also produced a model called the '21'. Mechanically the 21 was almost identical to the 7, but instead of the uncompromising narrow, open body and wheels, the car had a wider roadster body, including a proper windscreen and fold-away hood (convertible top). While a solid car, the 21 never sold particularly well due to competition from the Lotus Elise and was discontinued after only a few years.

Check out the Caterham wallpapers and Caterham Pictures (pics) collection below: