To some, a Lotus is a flower that represents purity, beauty, and strength in Buddhist culture. To others, it’s a sports car that was the brainchild of Colin Chapman, a famous race driver and brilliant engineer. In this case, it’s the latter, and this bright-yellow 1970 North-American-spec model is up for sale here on craigslist, out of Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks go to reader Ron, let’s take a look!
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (more commonly Colin Chapman) founded Lotus in 1952, and he and his team came up with some rather advanced automobile ideas early on. His design philosophy centered around lightweight cars with superb handling, rather than traditional wisdom of brute horsepower. He is quoted as having said: “Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere.”
Lotus did design work for other marques, and eventually created their own line of cars. Many modern vehicles have elements of Lotus’ suspension designs, and the mulitple models which they produced in-house are legendary, for both good and bad reasons. The Europa, which we’re looking at today, was revolutionary as well as dangerous during its 1966-1975 run, for a total of about 3,600 units. Early cars ran modified 1.4- or 1.6 -liter Renault engines and transmissions, while later ones had Ford-based mills. The bodies on them were completely fiberglass, bolted to a sort of ‘backbone’ metal drivetrain setup, with fully independent suspensions and mid-engine layouts. There was even a specific model for export to the United States! Long story short is that they weren’t the biggest or most powerful things on the road/track, nor the safest, but they sure could haul you-know-what around corners.
The example before us looks to be in really good shape, even with some incorrect bits attached. It’s evident that someone has taken the time and care to keep this car in one piece, and that’s a huge plus, because good luck finding new replacement parts for it! The seller is a bit shy on details, but we are told that it has traveled about 49,000 kilometers (30,500 miles), has a replacement 5-speed Renault transmission, and newer aftermarket wheels. It apparently runs but needs a battery, and we can surmise that it probably drives, and likely stops properly.
I have a friend whose father had a ’74 in light blue with beige/tan interior. Let me tell you, that thing hauled you-know-what on the curvy back roads of Berks County, Pennsylvania. The owner kept a fire extinguisher in the car at all times, because the electrics on those cars were notoriously ‘problematic’ to put it nicely. It was uncomfortable to sit in, and I’m only 5’7”, but man, what a rush it was to drive!
That’s my take on it, what say you? Let us know in the comments!
Nice car. Over priced. Yellow my favorite color on these, of course having a race car the same color sort of sways my opinion. Nice to see one maintained properly.
It looks like there have been smart modifications done.
Bob, I don’t know the value of these cars, but $14,800 USD doesn’t seem bad compared to many cars of that era. What is fair market for one of these?
Steve R
I first saw one in the early 70’s and could not believe how low it was. I was driving a MGB at the time so it wasn’t because I was not used to small cars. They are very hard to get into-out of but very kool.
Good paint and body work could easily cost a good chunk of $14.8K on these cars. The fiberglass is wafer thin compared to a Vette. Anyone trying to restore a $3k Europa will likely end up with more than $14.8K invested.
The engine is not stock, but a higher performance unit from a later car…with the headers and a different fuel system.
Loads of incorrect items on this car for the purist, but it was clearly built to satisfy the owner’s performance whims.
Steve… 14K is a good price but the Craigslist asking price is $19,999. These cars are fun. Also, after owning two, you can enjoy them getting a chair and a beer and just sit and look at them.
It’s located in British Columbia, the ad says prices $19,999 CAD. That’s why I was curious since their dollar is 25% lower than ours.
Steve R
Correction on that. Didn’t catch the CAD at the bottom.Shouldn’t talk money before the second cup of coffee.
I guess we are both guilty of typing before reading. I responded before I scrolled down.
Steve R
The wheels look huge. What are they, 16″?
I don’t agree with the choice of going with a modern wheel and tire size. Weight is everything on a Europa, and there is no way the original suspension is controlling the mass of a wheel and tire package that weighs at least 50% more than what it was designed for. I’ve had cars where the availability of high quality tires in the original sizes has evaporated over time, which makes switching to a larger diameter wheel for tire supply reasons tempting. This is much too extreme a change on a car where any change is likely to overstress Chapman’s marginal approach to component strength and finesse approach to speed.
I’ve worked on several Europas and found them all very difficult to drive for an extended time, and the ease of entry/exit is very poor. For anyone considering the purchase of one, please try to take an extended trip of at least an hour’s worth of driving, to see if it’s comfortable enough for you. At 6’1″ and 200 pounds, I decided long ago they were not for me.
I’ve owned a few of these along with Elans. Currently building an S2. Is it tight? Oh yes! Pedal spacing is tiny. The payback is extraordinary handling and flat out fun IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 60s. The 1565cc motor made eighty something h.p. (83 in stock form as I recall).
I don’t think Chapman gave a flip about driver comfort. Couple of hours in the cockpit would be a lot, but that is plenty of time for me.
Performance comes at a price (always) and these cars are somewhat crude and fragile. Closer to street going sports racers than daily driven sports cars like an MGB.
Price seems fair, but would rely completely on condition and would need to be examined for frame issues as well as final drive, rear suspension. Most of the other bits are from various other Brit cars of the era and are available. Glass is proprietary as well.
It was either a Renault power plant or the Lotus twin cam. The bottom half of the TC was shared with the British Ford 1500/1600 engines, but that is as close as they got to a Ford engine.
I have a 72 I took from Portland Oregon to New Orleans when I was young, they are a young mans car. This one has the r 17 cross flow hemi head on it so probably raised it from 80hp to about 125.I would guess the r 17 5 speed was put in at the same time. Good memories.