It has shipped!

Got word today that that the Se7en project shipped yesterday, 4/15! It's due in tomorrow, 4/17!!!

Now I need to figure out how to get it from the receiving terminal to my garage...

My posting has been a little dry (such is life during the workweek), but I have been doing some research on the car. In order to finish this car under budget (i.e. using the cash I have on-hand), I'm going to have to make some compromises on the parts that I want to use. Here are some of the biggies:

1. Will use a stock Miata gauge cluster rather than a set of standalone gauges from somebody like Autometer. Savings: ~$250+

2. Will use motorcycle shocks or the like with an engineered pushrod system instead of off-the-shelf QA1 or Strange coil-overs. Savings: $350+

3. Will use steel for the floor instead of aluminum sheet. Will order aluminum sheet for body cladding in smaller pieces to save on astronomical shipping costs, at the expense of having some additional visible seams. Savings: ~$350

4. Will use an inexpensive used wheelset (e.g. stock Miata, or perhaps some 4x100 Civic wheels that are supposed to be coming my way for free) and cheap all-season tires rather than ordering new wheels with sport rubber. Savings: $300+

5. Will order automotive spray-paint-in-a-can instead of having the panels professionally painted. Savings: $300 (estimated)

6. Will use Kirkey Economy Drag seats instead of nicer, padded ones. I'll cut my own foam padding and somehow make some covers. Or maybe I'll scrap the Kirkey idea altogether and just use a bench seat like the original Lotus Sevens did (but I'll get mine from the junkyard as The Book suggests). Or maybe I'll make some seats from fiberglass. At any rate, I'm not buying expensive seats. Savings: $hundreds per seat

I think that there are a few more areas of savings, but those are the ones I could think of off of the top of my head. Had I not purchased the pre-built chassis, I probably would not have to make all of these compromises. However, I probably would not ever build this car either. The pre-built chassis is the headstart that I need to actually make this project something that I can realistically complete.