Beschreibung
Lotus Europa Chassis number 54/ 252PR was originally built at the Lotus factory in Hethel UK in 1970, destined for the US market. The PR suffix showing this was to be a Press car for the launch of the model in the US.
It was in the first batch of Series 2 cars built with the larger capacity 1565cc Renault engine (up from 1470cc of the early cars). The extra engine capacity helped to counter the loss of performance that came from fitting emission control equipment for the US market. Unfortunately Lotus built this small batch of cars whilst waiting for the outcome of homologation activities and it failed, so they rebuilt the car as right hand drive and sold it in the UK instead.
The car retains the 1565cc Renault engine, but now runs a Webber DCOE carburettor with no emission control equipment and a new stainless steel exhaust system that exits the engine bay through the rear grill, as original. It has the original 4 speed Renault 336 gearbox and an electric fuel pump feeding from a modern copy fuel tank made in aluminium. The clutch is new and is operated as original via a new cable and an all new pedal box. The engine sounds lovely without being too noisy and although the gearshift mechanism has all been refurbished the shift is vague, as it is on all of these cars, because the mechanism is so long and complicated. You do quickly get used to it!
The whole engine and gearbox has been rebuilt to standard specification using all new parts where required. It had a new cam chain, water pump, all seals (including the hard to find valve stem oil seals), new complete distributor (very hard to find New Old Stock from France), new alternator, new differential and main shaft bearings.
The chassis of the car has been removed and refurbished at Spyder Cars where they grafted their own design of front end onto the original rear half of the Lotus chassis, before powder coating the whole assembly.
All of the suspension has been fully refurbished using new bushes and new fasteners everywhere. The suspension is to the original design except the lower rear arms which are adjustable in length to help with set up. It uses modern adjustable shock absorbers with new springs to the standard stiffness and the ride is astonishingly good.
Steering is via an original ‘springall’ steering wheel fed through the refurbished standard steering rack, with new ball joints, gaiters, etc. and again the steering feel is lovely.
The front compartment houses a new, modern, aluminium radiator with a modern electric fan connected to the engine in the rear by aluminium pipes and silicone hoses. The water swirl pot is also a modern copy in aluminium. Original cars use steel pipes for water transfer and they rot horribly.
The bodyshell of the car has been striped right back to bare fibreglass and fully refurbished. An original damage repair to the front of the car was cut out and properly redone in new fibreglass, the floors of the car were also fully redone and stiffened. Most importantly the rear bulkheads which are wood in these cars were carefully cut out and replaced with quality marine ply of the right thickness to ensure the integrity of the chassis. The wood was then carefully waterproofed using epoxy resin.
All the seat belt mountings were replaced with new stainless steel plates and to my horror I discovered that nobody ever replaces the shoulder seat belt mounting when restoring a Europa. I phoned all of the specialist dealers and restorers and none of them knew what was behind that long fastener that pokes out by your shoulder. So I proceeded to remove it all properly and I produced an engineering drawing of the shoulder mounting plate. Steve at SJ Sportscars made it for me for free on the basis that he could then sell it to everyone else.
The body was protected underneath using a well renowned ‘bed liner’ product and then primer coated and painted in Lotus Colorado Orange. This was a standard colour for a Lotus Europa in 1971, although it is not the original colour for this car. In all the car received 7 coats of paint to achieve a good finish.
The bumpers were re-chromed by the absolute best people in the business at a cost of £850. It has new complete headlights and front indicators, new badges on the rear, a good original black badge on the front, complete new windscreen surround, new door handles and all new locks (front and rear luggage compartments keyed alike, both doors keyed alike, ignition switch is the original but with a new electrical switch part fitted on the back).
The wheels are the upgraded Minilite style which was a popular aftermarket wheel of the period and there is a full set of five, with one fitted in the front storage compartment as it should be. It obviously runs a new set of five tyres and the wheels were fitted using all new wheel studs and wheels nuts. The wheels run on hubs that have all new bearings, ball joints, etc.
The brakes of the car are all entirely new with the exception of the rear drums which were in good condition and have been repainted. A new brake master cylinder was used supported by a vacuum assist servo which is a new addition. The front brakes are the original disc set up using all new callipers, discs and hoses. The rear drums have all new cylinders, shoes, adjusters and handbrake cable. All the brake pipes are new. The brakes feel great and the handbrake works well.
Inside the car uses new seats supplied trimmed by Banks Europa and the centre console was also supplied trimmed. The dash pad is a new fibreglass copy part that required a lot of adjustment - I think because the car was originally built left hand drive and then converted to right hand drive by the factory, so the dash vents are not in the normal place - this was adjusted, fitted and trimmed by me. The door cards are the restored original fibreglass parts trimmed with a new trim kit, new interior door handles and a new carpet set was fitted. The car has a new headliner and re trimmed sun visors. Behind all the trim the entire inside was covered first with sound deadening material because these cars are famously noisy. The bulkhead at the back of the engine bay is covered with a thick heat proof insulation layer too. It is now a very sensible volume when driving.
The dashboard of the car is the original wooden item with some holes adjusted and then the whole thing dyed black - my preference. It is fitted with mostly refurbished original instruments that had new glass and bezels. All the switchgear has been changed for a new design of rocker switch that is as close to the original as I could get. The original switches are a strange design with no bezel that screw on from behind the dash, mine were not operating reliably and there isn’t a way to fix these. The ashtray is a good condition original and if you have tried you will know these are like hens teeth to find. It took me 9 months!
Fitted in the dash is a modern stereo playing through a pair of modern door speakers, chosen to be as subtle as possible. The stereo features Bluetooth streaming and has an iPhone connection cable in the glovebox. The radio aerial is one of those you would normally stick to a window, but is hidden under the carpet in the driver footwell and works surprisingly well. The wonder of a fibreglass car!
I should explain that I bought this car in March 2018 as a retirement project. I had recently retired from a long and successful engineering career that included Chief Engineer and Technical Director roles at several Formula One teams. It was a lovely project to re kindle the manual skills I had been taught all those years ago as a Rolls-Royce aircraft engine apprentice. I found the project really interesting - there were bits that I found really easy and bits that were laborious and horrid! I am very proud to have saved this car and can genuinely say that every single nut bolt and washer has been removed, evaluated, either refurbished or replaced and refitted properly. The project took 1130 hours and three years to complete - finishing in the spring of 2021. I had expected it to be finished much sooner, but I was talked out of retirement and now run the Lunaz Design business as Managing Director.
If you do a little homework you will see that Lunaz restore and electrify the best classic cars in the world. Through my work I have now seen the quality of most of the famous restorers and I have to say they are not that great and I understand why. All classic cars go through a period when they are cheap, even E Types were cheap once! Whilst they are cheap they all get bodged in order to keep them running until they come out the other side of the price curve and start becoming valuable again. To do a proper job of restoration all of that bodgery has to be undone and redone again properly, but almost everyone doesn’t do this and cuts corners to save cost.
So commercially, car restoration projects on vehicles as cheap as this Lotus Europa don’t make any sense. I did it because I wanted to do it, not because I thought it would make money. I chose the Europa because I liked Colin Chapman and his racing ethos and the Europa was mid engined and unusual. Since I have owned mine I have only seen three others.
This is an honest car that is close to the original specification but with modifications I like to think Colin Chapman would have approved of because they fixed obvious issues and made it lighter. Like all classic cars you will need to fiddle with it every now and again. I haven’t driven it very much and have not yet ironed out every little issue. The only known issues right now are:
The speedometer has stopped working, even though the odometer still works?
The left front tyre rubs on the plastic cover at the back of the wheel arch / front of the sill area on full left lock
The horn works intermittently - I think it needs a relay because the modern twin horns draw quite a lot of current
There are a few small paint blemishes that I intended to touch in once I had finished running it in and setting it up, but I won’t now get around to those (but I do have paint left over)
My work at Lunaz has really ramped up lot lately and I don't get the time to either finish off the last little bits or use the car.
The car is for sale at a fraction of the cost of getting a Europa to this specification and I hope that it goes to someone that loves it, drives it and makes the most of a fascinating little car.
