Intended as the replacement for the Lotus Seven, the Europa was a mid-engined, two-seater enclosed sports car with a fibreglass moulded body.
It was a stripped out sports car designed and produced with the enthusiastic driver in mind.
The mid-engined car, although only packing a 1,558cc engine, was paired with a very light body, tipping the scales at less than 700kg, and legendary Lotus handling to make it truly one of the great Lotus cars produced.
The 1972 Twin Cam Lotus Europa featured the more powerful 105 BHP engine which gave it a top speed of around 120 MPH and a 0-60 time of a shade over 9 seconds.
This Lotus Europa was dispatched from Lotus on the 28th March 1972, originally finished in Lagoon Blue Metallic and, after only 2 owners and relatively low mileage it was left abandoned in a garage until it was rescued by the current owner in 2004, who had always wanted to own one of the Lotus sports-cars.
For the next 10 years the car was completely and carefully rebuilt from the ground up, starting with a complete and new galvanized chassis.
The engine was stripped and rebuilt and a new clutch was installed, along with all new gearbox and engine mountings.
The suspension and brakes were stripped, calipers reconditioned, hubs and drive-shafts replaced, new brake discs fitted at the front and new shoes fitted at the rear along with new brake lines. Brand new rubber bushes and stainless-steel nuts and bolts were used where appropriate.
The wiring loom was checked thoroughly from end to end replacing contacts and wires as necessary.
The fuel tanks were repainted gloss black and all new fuel pipes and all new fuel pipes used along with an electric fuel pump.
The carbs were stripped, cleaned and re-built and are now fed air through K&N air filters.
The radiator was renewed along with the heater matrix replacing all existing hoses with more modern and reliable silicon ones and a replacement electric fan was added to the cooling system.
The original manual windscreen washer system was also replaced utilising a more modern electrical washer pump and switch, and the windscreen was replaced along with the surround and all new sealing rubbers.
Having replaced or renovated all the mechanical items a huge amount of time was spent on the body to remove all the small cracks in the gel coat…no small task, but the result was worth the effort.
The door hinges were replaced with fully adjustable brass ones and various small but necessary changes were made to the body to ensure a much better panel fit and look than the original cars.
Inside the cockpit things were similarly upgraded, using leather for the dashboard top, seats & door cards, brightening up and seats, brightening up the interior with red door inserts and red seatbelts.
The headlining and carpets are all brand new and to finish off the whole upgrade a very nice burr walnut dashboard fascia was fitted.
The last MOT was recorded in 2014 after the bulk of the restoration was completed and then it was returned to the garage for further work and final touches to be finished.
The V5 is present showing 2 previous owners and there are numerous receipts for the mountain of new parts that have been purchased over the years of the restoration.
The whole body was treated to a professional re-spray in Ferrari Rosso Corsa and with the painstaking work done on removing all gel coat cracking and imperfections it really does look very striking indeed.
New reproduction wheels and brand new A539 Yokohama tyres finish the car off perfectly.
It is in near immaculate condition with just a small paint run in the engine cover rain channel and some minor scratches on the door frames but that’s about it.
Mechanically, as in every other department this car is in about as good a shape as you’ll ever find anywhere and, because it has most of its time being renovated and perfected the engine is still to be fully run-in.QWWAgkNiAgIItyx01RnEAWNVTayJIu3HdUscqz9J.jpeg603.45 KB
THE APPEAL
There will always be a place in the heart of every motoring enthusiast for a Lotus of any kind, especially the Lotus Europa Twin Cam.
With its legendary race pedigree and handling this car can’t fail to stir the blood of every keen driver out there and, its mechanical simplicity makes it an easy car for anyone to work on and enjoy for years to come.
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