Caterhams Old And New Gather To Celebrate The Seven's 60th Birthday [33 Pics + Video]

As it turns out, the Fiat 500 isn't the only iconic European automobile celebrating its 60th anniversary this year; so, too, is the timeless Seven, originally launched by Lotus and still produced by Caterham.

The legendary Sir Colin Champan first launched the Seven back in 1957. And in a spectacular thumbing of the nose to the “they don't make 'em like they used to” crowd, it's still very much alive and well today.

To mark the occasion and illustrate the point, Caterham brought together a cross-section of Sevens old and new at the test track at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. Among them is an original Series 1 model from 1957, a replica of the Seven used in the 1960s TV show The Prisoner, an early twin-cam SS, the Cosworth-tuned CSR 260, a Superlight R500 like the one that stunned Top Gear's audience in 2008, and two of Caterham's current models: the retro-tastic Sprint and the bonkers 620S.

If you've been keeping count, you'll notice that's seven Sevens. It's a heck of a way to mark a significant milestone, and you can check out a piece of the action in the photos and video below.