Beschreibung
1974 Lotus Europa Special, JPS colours, 5-Speed, Full Restoration to better than new condition.
I was fortunate enough to have owned a Europa Special in my youth, and chose to maintain it myself completely, and so learned just about every nut and bolt on the car. That particular car was sold in the 1990s, but I jumped at the chance to acquire this fully restored example a few years ago. After a few very minor corrections to the restoration, we have enjoyed driving it and showing it at various local classic car shows.
Now in my early 60s, and still 6'2" tall, I am finding getting in and out something of a challenge, and I have to concede that it is probably time to pass the car on to a new owner who can enjoy it to the full.
The previous two longer term owners of this car spent a huge amount of money on this car, the earlier being the one who first had the car resprayed from its original Roman Purple, to its present Black livery with Gold stripes, the JPS colours of the period, and indeed the most popular colour scheme for these models.
The previous owner had a full "nut & bolt" restoration performed - on two Lotus chassis, as he felt the first one wasn't quite straight! The present chassis has been very well painted/ coated on top of the galvanisation, and looks as if it will last forever. Some sympathetic upgrades have been included in the restoration that depart from true "originality", but the very large invoices included in the cars history files show that "Banks Europa" was a major supplier of spares, which include front wishbones (Lotus originals' mounting holes go oval), Door mounting kits (Lotus originals' allow door to drop, and the pin seizes in the bushes), and adjustable shock absorbers all 'round (the Armstrong Lotus Originals' last about a year and have poor ride height maintenance). Inside the car, the seats are full leatherette (without the easy stain Lotus fabric centres), the carpets are of far higher quality than the originals, and the wooden dashboard has been replaced with a "new" universal Twin-Cam/ Special item.
The car has so many new parts that I cannot really list everything - but in essence there are probably more new parts than originals. The Engine and Gearbox have been fully re-conditioned. The car has just over 90, 000 miles on the clock, but quite frankly this number is fairly meaningless, as everything is either new, or thoroughly and expensively re-furbished.
During my ownership, I have had to replace the Brake Servo, which I have done with the Standard "Universal" type for classic cars, as true originals were not exactly great, and are stupidly expensive. I have also completely restored the gear linkage with replacement mid-mounting and Universal joint/ adjuster. All gear linkage parts are "Banks Europa" parts - so it works without having to remove the central springing of the 365 'box.
The car has had six owners from new, and was first registered on 7th August 1974, hence it has an "N" plate. The car was completed in the Lotus factory in November 1973, whence it was sold to a Peter Leonard, a Welsh Dealer as a demonstrator. First actual ownership, and invoices suggest that it was then sold via Len Street in Chelsea to a local man, then in 1980 was sold to an RAF gentleman based in UK/ Germany, in 1982 it passed to its longest term owner in Devon, who had it between 1982 and 2010 (and had it resprayed black), and finally the previous owner (Essex) who had the full restoration done.
The Car is located in SE London/ NW Kent, and viewing is by appointment.
