Lotua Europa 5 Speed Twin Cam on 2040-cars
Frederick, Maryland, United States
1972 Lotus Europa Twin Cam 5 speed. This Europa has undergone a VERY comprehensive 3 year rebuild to its original specification. The only real change to the car has been the addition of a 5 speed gearbox from a later Europa Special. Prior to my ownership, the Twin Cam motor was completely rebuilt. I doubt that it has more than a couple thousand mile on it. I have owned/rebuilt/lost a fortune on many Lotus car in the past and at have rebuilt/restored at least 4 Europas. I learned a lot and have used everything I learned on this car. It is outstanding. The only reason for sale is another Lotus has followed me home and will require all I own to put it back together. I am serious about selling, so please feel free to make me an offer. 2416R has approximately 47K miles. I have no reason to doubt this is correct. The motor was rebuilt approximately 3K miles ago. When used regularly, it will start right up without the choke and idle smoothly. I have resealed/re-gasketed the engine so no oil leaks, oil burning or blow by on start up. It is tight. The oil stays clean and consumption is negligible. Both carbs have been rebuilt and are now semi-adjustable--for Strombergs--and work great. the carbs are currently running a Pipercross filter, but I've got the original air filter and box. Starter is new, alternator rebuilt. Petronix ingnition Brakes are excellent. Both boosters were removed prior to my ownership. I have either removed or bypassed them on previous cars just so there would be two less things to go south. I do have them and they go with the car. The body & chassis unit are straight as can be with 0 signs of any previous crash or rust damage. Completely stripping the car to bare glass revealed a straight damage free upper body as well. It was incredibly poorly painted, but the crack repair work underneath was of very good quality. We fixed-correctly-any damage or cracks we could find and repainted the whole car-windows and trim all pulled-to the correct shade of its original Lotus Lagoon Blue. The paint code is L14 and is etched onto the VIN tag in the trunk. All seals, gaskets and trim emblems were replaced with new. Headlights are Lucas Tri Bar. All bumpers, door handles and chrome are excellent. Windshield trim is adhesive chrome trim and is in in great shape. All corner brackets are present. Glass is original and good. Rear window seal and stretcher are new. Doors open and close perfectly. NO DROOP. The chassis is excellent. Rust free and straight. Never out, never damaged. All bushings, joints, tie rod ends are new. Shocks are all fully adjustable from Banks Service in the UK. Rear output shafts are all newly sealed. All wheels were stripped and painted with correct gunmetal inserts. Lotus badges are new. Tires are correct, 175/185 front and rear sizes per factory spec. The car was corner/weight balanced. It handles like nothing you've ever driven. I have a 7 and an Elan. No contest, this will run and hide from either. And pretty much anything else. The gearbox is a 5 speed out of a Special. It has been rebuilt and resealed. New clutch, T/O and Pressure plate. The incredibly ridiculous shift linkage was removed and rebuilt with all new Lotus parts and with hand made brass bushings. If you know Europas, you know the shifter is their weak link. It can make an otherwise lovely Europa a huge chunk of awful. This is the best I've ever driven. Still a bit to get used to; you will be hard pressed to find another Europa that shifts this smoothly. The cooling system performs excellently. The original radiator was removed, tested, cleaned, repaired as needed and replaced. A new cooling fan, pusher style, was installed utilizing a manual switch. The car does not overheat. Period. The interior is the the original beige color. All carpeting is new. Headliner custom made using correct material from Banks. Banks console has been padded and covered. Door panels are matching. Dash top is fiberglass core, from Banks, padded and covered with French stitching on the leading edge. New shift boot. New window switches. Dash is from Maderia Concepts. The "Lotus" on the radio plate will come off. It is the original dash re-veneered. Stunning. Original steering wheel was re covered. All new rockers. They all work. Gauges all rebuilt. All work and light up, too. The interior door light works. WOO HOO. New instrument bezel. Seats are original and re-padded. Window motors rebuilt. windows go up and down relatively quickly in their new felt runners. Where I to keep the car, my future "To Do" list is actually pretty short. I would go for stainless steel gas tanks and a cassette water pump. Neither of these areas have shown any indication of failure. I just find these mods to be good insurance for longevity. I would also rebuild and replace the brake boosters. I'd add hood struts. Since the easiest way to do these tasks would be to pull the motor, I decided to wait until it was urgent, or wintertime. I'd give the motor compartment a good detailing at the same time. I have the original spare, tools, workshop manual and some parts. Not much, but some. This is not your average Europa. I, and many others, busted our collective asses on 2416R and it shows. I know this thing inside and out. I wanted to get as close to a brand new Europa as I could. I used almost 30 years of Lotus experience to do it. Not just as new, it has some real neat upgrades for performance and reliability. Yes RELIABILITY. I would attempt to drive this anywhere. I've had it on a few long trips without incident. I have pics of the work and pretty much all of the receipts. There are no excuses or disappointments here. This is a spectacular Europa. I've sold a lot of Lotus stuff on ebay, made a few good pals doing it. I do not want to jeopardize any of that by selling poo. If you want the car, give me a call. If you don't, or just want to break my balls, please leave me alone. This is serious auction for serious bidders that want a quality automobile. $1000 at auctions close. Car goes nowhere til funds clear. I'll do all I can to make this the best deal you've ever made on ebay and help as best I can co-ordinating shippers etc., but all post sale arrangement are up to the buyer. Thanks. Jim 240-626-9032 in Maryland. |
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2015 Japanese Grand Prix is a little Mercedes, a lot of zen
Mon, Sep 28 2015Just one week on from the issues in Singapore Mercedes-AMG Petronas appeared to have solved its clamp problems and everything else. Daniil Kvyat at Infiniti Red Bull Racing took the two Free Practice scalps on Friday, but when it came time for qualifying the front of the grid looked really familiar: Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took his second pole position of the season, Lewis Hamilton next to him in second. Kvyat had a hand in that, too, the Russian getting into a big accident in Q3 when he put two wheels on the grass heading into the hairpin and veered into the tire wall so hard that he flipped. That ended qualifying before a number of drivers had a chance to improve their times, Hamilton among them. That's how Valtteri Bottas got in third for Willliams ahead of Sebastian Vettel fourth for Ferrari. Felipe Massa had the second Williams in fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo lined up sixth for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, a team we're going to have to enjoy watching for the rest of the season since it might not exist come 2016. Romain Grosjean gave Lotus some good news by getting into eighth, the team so strapped for cash that it couldn't get into its hospitality area, so it held press conferences outside and ate at Bernie Ecclestone's Paddock Club. Sergio Perez took ninth for Sahara Force India, and Kvyat slotted into tenth after not setting a time. The Russsian's race would begin from the pit lane once his mechanics rebuilt his car. It wouldn't be a Formula One start lately without someone at the front having clutch problems. This time it was pole man Rosberg, whose power unit got too hot and put him a few horsepower down on Hamilton through Turns 1 and 2. That's half of how Hamilton took the lead from the lights going out, and the Brit kept it throughout the race. Rosberg, however, said his race was lost when Hamilton pushed him wide through Turn 2, a move Hamilton defended. Rosberg finished almost 19 seconds behind his teammate, a gap that probably isn't fully explained by that opening incident. Hamilton's race was so uneventful that we almost never saw him on camera – that is, we saw him so much less than we usually see him when he's out in front and unpressured that Nikki Lauda said he'd ask Ecclestone why the cameras avoided him. The conspiracy theory holds that FOM was punishing Mercedes for not supplying Red Bull with engines next year.
Elise Time Attack could be most extreme Lotus yet
Mon, 07 Jul 2014The Lotus Elise has given birth to some seriously fast and varied machinery. Aside from Lotus' own models like the Exige, 2-Eleven, 340R and Europa, electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster, not to mention the never-released Dodge Circuit and Detroit Electric SP:01, are all based on the Elise's platform. As were/are the Melkus RS 2000, the Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 and the Hennessey Venom GT. But this could be the most extreme use of the lightweight chassis yet.
This Series 1 Elise has been built by one performance-obsessed Brit with a single purpose: to compete in the UK's Time Attack championship. For those unfamiliar, Time Attack is something like a rally or a hillclimb event, only it takes place on a racing circuit. Each vehicle goes out on the track by itself and sets the best time it can, without needing to worry about other competitors until the finish line is crossed and it's the next racer's turn. That's what drove Lee to modify his Lotus so thoroughly, with more wings, diffusers, flaps and carbon fiber than a Boeing factory. Check it out in the video below.
Lotus to layoff a quarter of its workforce
Thu, 18 Sep 2014Lotus has issued a press release to day, wherein it indicates that a "need to both reshape its organisation and to reduce costs" may result in the loss of "up to 325" jobs. That's a fairly significant number of layoffs for any company, but considering that Lotus currently employs 1,215 people (per the company's bio in the same release), it could mean a full 25-percent of the automaker's workers could soon be sharpening their resumes.
CEO Jean-Marc Gales says in the statement that Lotus has "worked very hard to avoid the need to make this proposal," but admits that it is now "essential" to the future of the company. The chief indicates that post-restructuring, he expects Lotus to be a "leaner" and "more competitive" organization, one which - and we can all see a little silver lining here - is focused on "producing class-leading sports cars and innovative engineering."
The 325-job number appears to be soft at this point, with the statement indicating that some negotiation about which and how many posts will be cut is yet to come. Further, the company may "redeploy" some employees, and may even recruit new blood for "key roles," all with an eye toward running the strongest possible team going forward. Though, we imagine that the recruitment bit won't fly well for those employees getting the sack.