RE: Lotus Europa: Spotted
Discussion
For me there are two sorts of Lotus, those with horrid pop-up headlights and those without, do some people only drive by day?night driving is good.. Europas are great, just don't let anything hit you. I knew someone who ( g-d knows how?) crashed into a petrol pump in his Elan+2, the result was a buckled sheet chassis in a nasty puddle of Alu, glass and fibres.
Had a very good chinwag with the owner of this S2 at the NEC today, he's owned it for forty years, looks like a barn find but is on the button and he drove it up from Surrey for the show...
The strange upward kink in the top of the side window frame makes a bit more sense from this angle where it follows the roof line to line up with the screen surround...
He very kindly let me sit in it for a while, at 5'3'' at fits me like a glove and I found the driving position very comfortable, more so than most cars I've driven in the last thirty years. I also had the chance to sit in a Marcos GT on the club stand which felt just as good, from the driver's seat the bonnet looks like it goes on forever! Seriously tempted by the Europa now though.
The strange upward kink in the top of the side window frame makes a bit more sense from this angle where it follows the roof line to line up with the screen surround...
He very kindly let me sit in it for a while, at 5'3'' at fits me like a glove and I found the driving position very comfortable, more so than most cars I've driven in the last thirty years. I also had the chance to sit in a Marcos GT on the club stand which felt just as good, from the driver's seat the bonnet looks like it goes on forever! Seriously tempted by the Europa now though.
Strela said:
P5BNij said:
he's owned it for forty years, looks like a barn find .
That's a cheeky way to describe him, particularly after he let you sit in his car....
He told me that not long after he bought it he repainted black, as you can see it's all been stripped back now for another repaint but he can't decide which colour to go with, he hates the original Bahama Yellow. He also said that he's had the engine out of it eight times due to head gasket problems with the original Renault head but he seems to have cured it using a different Renault one. One of the reasons he bought it in the first place was that his previous S1 Europa was unbearable to drive in hot weather, so he wanted a S2 with electric windows.
More random Europa stuff...
Another one off I believe, looks like Earls Court.... the alloys look like those from a Porsche 914...
Silverstone Players Trophy race, 27th April 1968...
Silverstone BRDC International Trophy race, 1968...
Silverstone Daily Express Trophy race 1968...
Nurburgring 1000km, 1967...
I'm knee deep in old car magazines at the moment and came across this last ad night in the July '71 issue of Motorsport...
''Lotus Europa 47 : Ex- keith Holland Racing Type 47 in road trim (registered 1971), fitted with BMW 2-litre rally engine, Hewland gearbox, 10'' and 8'' knock off mag. wheels, absolutely immaculate in 'acquamarine', carpeted etc, phenomenal performance. Best offer secures. Tel : Sharnbrook (Bedfordshire) 247''
I wonder what happened to it...
''Lotus Europa 47 : Ex- keith Holland Racing Type 47 in road trim (registered 1971), fitted with BMW 2-litre rally engine, Hewland gearbox, 10'' and 8'' knock off mag. wheels, absolutely immaculate in 'acquamarine', carpeted etc, phenomenal performance. Best offer secures. Tel : Sharnbrook (Bedfordshire) 247''
I wonder what happened to it...
They were available in kit form, which was the way my Brother got his twin cam Europa. The car was essentially complete, and just needed to have the suspension, and engine installed
What seems so remarkable now is how different they were to just about everything else on the roads in those days. and in terms of performance and handling there was relatively little that would match it for the money.
They did have problems though, like the way the doors were mounted, and the fact that the front boot was not very well sealed, which lead to wet luggage in bad weather. Once he took it through a car wash, and when using the heating system to demist the windows, streams of bubbles came through the vents because the front boot (which acted as a plenum chamber) was full of soapy water.
The twin fuel tanks was also a feature which seemed to upset some other motorists at filling stations because once he finished filing up one side, the bloke in the car behind would think he was taking the p*ss, when he then walked round to the other side to fill the other tank.
Perhaps the funniest incident was when two girls starting fighting with eachother, over who was going to get in the passenger seat, after my brother had offered to give `one' of them a lift. Those were the days!
What seems so remarkable now is how different they were to just about everything else on the roads in those days. and in terms of performance and handling there was relatively little that would match it for the money.
They did have problems though, like the way the doors were mounted, and the fact that the front boot was not very well sealed, which lead to wet luggage in bad weather. Once he took it through a car wash, and when using the heating system to demist the windows, streams of bubbles came through the vents because the front boot (which acted as a plenum chamber) was full of soapy water.
The twin fuel tanks was also a feature which seemed to upset some other motorists at filling stations because once he finished filing up one side, the bloke in the car behind would think he was taking the p*ss, when he then walked round to the other side to fill the other tank.
Perhaps the funniest incident was when two girls starting fighting with eachother, over who was going to get in the passenger seat, after my brother had offered to give `one' of them a lift. Those were the days!
P5BNij said:
I know it's very bad form to quote your own posts but on the way home from work this afternoon a diversion well away from the M6 took me past Sunningdale Classics so I felt a sly old shuftie at the Europa was in order! I only had time for a brief perusal but it's stunning, not to mention very striking in the flesh, it sits a lot lower than it looks in the ad photos and the colour takes you right back to the days of the Milk Tray man jumping into shark infested waters and 'Dave Allen At Large' on the Beeb. There aren't many standard spec S2s knocking around these days and it's a highly tempting proposition, although I'm still sorely tempted by a Marcos GT.
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