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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Race recap: 2015 British Grand Prix is a testament to timing
Mon, Jul 6 2015In front of his home crowd, Lewis Hamilton actually had to work for pole position at the British Formula One Grand Prix. The World Champion couldn't get on top of the setup for his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on Friday, lapping behind teammate Nico Rosberg and the two Ferraris. Come Saturday, after a few alterations and a whole lot of wing to clamp down on understeer, Hamilton returned to his regular program at the front, taking pole position by just over a tenth of a second from his teammate. Williams, thought to be headed for another stretch in the weeds a few races ago, showed its best strength all year. The Grove team got both cars on the second row and in front of the Ferraris, Felipe Massa qualifying ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, but they were eight and nine tenths behind the Mercedes'. Kimi Raikkonen out-qualified Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel for the second time this year, and only the first time in a straight-up battle with two healthy cars. But more than a second behind the two cars at the front, and with two nearly-impossible-to-pass Williams' in front, neither the Finn nor the German is happy with where they are. Daniil Kvyat claimed seventh, his side of the garage at Infiniti Red Bull Racing having got through the weekend to that point without a single complaint about their Renault power unit. Carlos Sainz, Jr. put a single Toro Rosso inside the top ten in eighth position, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who did the same for Sahara Force India by slotting in ninth. The second Infiniti Red Bull driven by Daniel Ricciardo did have an unspecified engine complaint – his car kept "bleeding power" on the straights – but even so he managed to qualify tenth with his second-fastest lap. The stewards deleted his best lap because he ran three centimeters outside the track limits at Copse, an infraction that stung a few other drivers as well. Up in front, what would sting the Mercedes-AMG Petronas drivers the most was the start. That's when a dearth of grip struck both Hamilton and Rosberg, allowing Massa and Bottas to slide right up the middle between them and take the first two places. The leapfrogging was so surprising that it looked like the Mercedes drivers were giving the Williams drivers a head start. They diced through the first corners, Hamilton sliding past Bottas into second place halfway through the lap. And then the safety car reported for duty.
Stock Miata beats bunch of high-powered cars in wet 1/4-mile drag race
Thu, 06 Jun 2013When is a stock, 167-horsepower Mazda MX-5 Miata quicker than a Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini Gallardo, Lotus Elise and a Porsche 911? When it's raining. Sort of.
Mazda Canada arranged a unique drag race to show off the fact that the Miata's optional power retractable folding hardtop can go from top-down to top-up in just 12 seconds flat. In this video, all six cars line up for a drag race, and it starts to rain (well, sort of - but you'll have to watch the video all the way to the end to see what we mean). The green flag is waved, and the timer starts as soon as the convertibles begin to put their tops up. But because the Miata's roof mechanism gets the car's roof back up a full 5.1 seconds quicker than the second-place car, the Mazda gets a serious advantage off the line for the actual drag race.
It's a fun video. And while we've spoiled the results (come on, the video was uploaded by Mazda, you knew the Miata was going to win), be sure to see how it all unfolds, below.
Lotus' new position: Much improved, if Volvo's experience is a guide
Wed, May 24 2017Out today is the news that Geely Holding will acquire controlling interest in British sports car maker Lotus Cars. While some 20 years ago the Chinese acquisition of a British automaker might have inspired grumbling from aggrieved Brits (and the handful of Lotus enthusiasts), the world has moved on. And so – thankfully – can Lotus. To suggest Lotus' business history has been checkered is to broaden the definition of "checkered." With its beginnings in the early '50s as a maker of component cars for competition, Lotus founder Colin Chapman – in a manner not unlike his postwar contemporary, Enzo Ferrari – was always hustling, living a hand-to-mouth existence in the production of road cars to support a racing program. Regrettably, Chapman never found a Fiat, as Ferrari did toward the end of the 1960s. Lotus had Ford in its corner for racing and as a resource for powertrains, and later benefited from the corporate support of both GM and Toyota for relatively short periods. Lotus Cars, however, never enjoyed the corporate buy-in that would have allowed Chapman to race and let someone else build the cars. Regardless of what Consumer Reports or Kelley Blue Book might have thought (if they had ...) about those early Lotus cars, a great many are now regarded as classics. My first knowledge of a production Lotus was when Tom McCahill, the 'dean' of automotive journalists in the US, tested an early Elan for Mechanix Illustrated. While we're still not sure, some 50 years later, how McCahill's XXL frame fit into the tiny roadster, he had nothing but praise for the Elan's athletic chassis and now-timeless design. In today's Lotus portfolio, the Elise and Exige continue that light, athletic tradition, while the larger Evora seems to strike wide – literally and figuratively – of the "less is more" ideal. With the Toyota-powered Evora, more is more. But in an eco-sensitive era demanding more of the original Chapman mantra – add lightness – there's little reason that Lotus can't regain relevance if given the financial resources. Geely's acquisition of Volvo, the fruits of which appear regularly not only in the news but on the streets, suggests the Chinese investment will provide strategic vision (along with money) while allowing Lotus talent to do what it does best: Create an exciting product. And while at various periods in its history the product has been worthy, Lotus in the US has been ill-served by a flailing dealer network.