The iconic Caterham car brand has been much loved by owners and enthusiasts since the 1970’s and today as the hand-built car maker looks to the future it has strengthend it partnership with refinish paint manufacturer Spies Hecker.

Spies Hecker has been supplying the Ctaerham assembly premises in Dartford, since 2018 with its high quality painting systems now providing the new Caterham 7s with a stunning finish.

Graham Macdonald, CEO of Caterham Cars, says, “for many years, Caterham Cars was seen as a small, traditional quaint English company, known for building specialist cars in a little factory in Surrey. While we are still a relatively small, bespoke manufacturer, producing no more than 600 cars a year, we wanted people to understand that our cars are actually technologically advanced. They may look like the same lightweight and fun cars to drive, but the use of modern technology has enabled us to increase the engine power and deliver much better performance.”

In the past Caterham often sent out vehicles to be painted at local bodyshops but this meant inconsistences in the quality of the finish. The decision was made to take the painting process in-house and Spies Hecker provided not just the paint but also great expertise. Graham comments, “Thanks to the excellent on-going on-site training our painters receive, the quality of the paint work and finish is exceptional.“

The decision to go with Spies Hecker was made following a visit to the Axalta Refinish Academy in Welwyn Garden City. A Caterham 7 was taken to the Axalta Refinish Academy and a team from Caterham Cars watched the whole refinish process using Spies Hecker products.

The painting process involves preparation using Spies Hecker Priomat Wash Primer 4075, Permasolid® HS Performance Surfacer 5320 and Permasolid HS Vario Primer Surfacer 5340. When ready for painting, the car is finished with Permahyd Hi-TEC Basecoat 480 and Permasolid HS Race Clear Coat 8700.

Caterham 7 owners like their cars to stand out and to reflect their individual personalities so Spies Hecker has worked closely with Caterham to develop a series of signature Caterham colours that are saved in the brand’s Phoenix digital colour database. This makes it easy for other bodyshops to identify the exact colour formulas for repairs.

Jodie Henly, Marketing Specialist for Axalta says, “It has been very exciting to help Caterham Cars set up its paint shop and find the solutions for their specific work processes. And the results speak for themselves. The cars look fantastic and the quality of paint and finish is excellent. We look forward to accompanying Caterham Cars on this exciting journey into the future.”