Well it all began… I was a car show in my local town showing the 69 Europa when a gentleman walked up and began talking about my car. He proceeded to mention that he had a Lotus Europa that he needed to sell because the property was being sold. I could bearly keep my jaw from hitting the ground. And that started the next adventure. July 2015. I ended up owning two Lotus Europa (69 & 74)
I didn’t learn enough from the previous car I got too excited about wanting the car and paid too much for a non-running car that had been parked for too many years. Oh well. But it was a “John Player Special”, twin cam Ford/Lotus overhead cam engine with a 5-speed trans and 33542 miles on the clock. Such potential.
I learned alot about cars and gained confidence through the previous car and applied it to this one. The engine was frozen and wouldn’t move even after soaking the pistons for several days. So, I pulled the engine and trans for a rebuild. I’d was on first name basis with R.D. Interprises, that company sells Lotus parts. I sent the engine to one of our local speed shops for a refresh. The block is a Ford product. I then took it to our area foreign car service guys who raced and worked on Lotus in his younger years to be put back together. In addition to that I installed electronic ignition which meant I needed to rebuild the tach. Oh, the speedo needed repair also and I rebuilt that as well. A new dashboard and dash pad were replaced. In the process of that ment that the window needed to come out and that was broken and replaced with a new one. I also installed new brake assist units (2) and master brake cylinder. These are just the major parts of what I did during the rebuild.
Ah, but driving it was a joy. 1600 pounds with 128 horse power and nimble. What fun. I do miss that sensation. It was a trick getting into/out of that car. But, once you were in it, it was great.
Of course we can never pass up a good deal. Each car has it’s own story. Next a 1964 Austin Healey Sprite dropped into my garage.
Additional photos are available in the 1974 Lotus Europa JPS Gallery