I’ve had a Lotus Europa since 1969 — the handy Matchbox pocket size. To be honest they were not the kind of cars you saw much in the wild in East London where I grew up and I didn’t really take much notice of the more exotic fare when I went to Classic Car shows in the 1980s/’90s. Fifty years on, shows or classic race events are the kinds of places you’d expect to see them. Not in North Wales on the way to Sainsbury’s.
Until last Tuesday. It was rather damp and drizzly so I didn’t have my camera with me (no, I don’t have one of those phone things) and it was a route I walk each week, food shopping. But today, something yellow caught my eye.
I stopped dead in my tracks! Looked again. What a little beauty. Certainly brightened the day! But the weather didn’t improve; in fact worsened so the camera and I stayed in the dry. The forecast for the next day was better though.
I went out before breakfast, fully expecting it to be gone. It was still there. On the drive it was a bit boxed in, but I got most of the back. Then walked along to get the front. Yay! That was better.
Looking at the pictures, there’s a few things that don’t add up. The ‘J’ reg. gives a 1970/’71 date, but by then it should have the raised front indicators (looks so much better without them though, I think). It does have the later door handles, but the door windows are acrylic, not glass wind-down. Neither the wheels nor the chin spolier are original. I do wonder if this might have had some adaptations for track racing.
Why was I going to Sainsbury’s? To buy bread, of course.
And this week I got to meet the owner who very kindly invited me to take a look around his new toy.
A couple of things were cleared up. First it’s a 1971 s.2, restored and lightly modified, hence the chin spoiler and the plastic door windows. He wants to change the latter back to the glass, electric powered type. It is, of course, very low, 42 inches so getting in, the seats are a long way down.
Apparently the ride is quite harsh, though the seat did feel comfortable and supportive. There was plenty of room for me, but as I’m 5′ 3″ and around 120 lbs that doesn’t make it roomy. If you look out through the back window you can see the sky, but not much else.
The rear is very distinctive, the chrome bumper providing decoration rather than protection. Being fibreglass the lid over the engine is quite light. Opening it reveals the Renault 16 engine and the rear luggage area.
That black plastic luggage tray lifts out easily allowing access to the transmission (also from the R16), rear susension and exhaust.
Yes, that’s the pebbles on the drive. Unlike many modern cars you can easily see the ground. Pretty much everything has space round it, room for spanners, etc. There’s a second small suitcase sized luggage area under the front lid, but mostly that’s for access to the front suspension, radiator, heater/blower and battery.
This little yellow missile certainly brightened my week. I hope you enjoyed having a look round it too.
More: Roger Carr’s comprehensive history on the Europa
I had a couple of Matchbox Europi when I was a child, I had little idea of what they were, having never seen one in Canada.
What a great little toy, a very enjoyable look. I hope the owner gets some enjoyment out of it too.
When I started reading “Car” magazine in the late 80s I noticed a few patterns. One of them was to always refer to Volvos being blocky and the other was use the term “breadvan” for anything less sleek than a torpedo. I´d never seen a breadvan anyway. I think they either didn´t use them in Ireland or bread was delivered using a regular van like a Transit. It seemed to me to be a term that was unhelpful in that the thing it referred to was gone. I say all that by way of explaining that the Lotus doesn´t look much like a breadvan to me. Fun car though.
The first time I saw one of these was in the otherwise forgettable Candice Bergen/Charles Grodin diamond caper movie, 11 Harrowhouse.
I had a 1/24 scale model car from Tamiya in the 1980s. My friends thought it was a “delivery van” given the high waistline in the rear that almost lined up with the roof.
I have had one since 69 also. I’d still really love to have a full suze one. Maybe if I win the lottery….
Pic didn’t seem to attach last time
Here’s mine:
Wow. You were older or took ridiculously good care of your toys!
I was six when I got it. I continued to play with my cars -I had miles of track- until I was 12 or so. At some I decided to repaint it using the closest color blue Testors paint I had in my model building box. Let’s just say I wasn’t particularly meticulous…
I have the later pink one with wider wheels, this version had a part in the strange Australian film “The Cars that Ate Paris” it was used to recreate a car accident.
Yes, I was 12 when I got that. It was raced on the Superfast track my brother got for Christmas ’69 or ’70 though and that is the better side. The silver paint on the badge and in headlight recesses was my work at the time, no doubt reducing its value for a collector, not that I care about that.
Looking at the picture after reading the title of the post, I thought this was a kind of sedan delivery.
When I was in about 5th or 6th grade, my dad bought a 1952 Ford step van that had been converted into an RV. The seller said that it was a former Rich Loaf bread truck. This one from the web is a good facsimile, except the body was blue and it had a white roof. There was one small window on each side and no roof rack.
The Lotus Europa has always been my ultimate four wheeled lust object. I’ve only ever seen one Renault powered one (the first one I ever saw), every other one has been the twin cam version. Never came close to owning one, of course.
They’re not particularly expensive, last I looked $20-$25 would get you a reasonably sorted one. Not that I have $25k sitting around of course (let alone the cash flow for the mechanic…)
Like I said, if I win the lottery.
Looks good in yellow, with those aftermarket wheels. Really the poor-mans’ Lola Mk6/GT40
I love the photo of the engine bay with luggage tray removed. I never realised these were so DIY friendly.
My only short ride in a Europa, half a century ago, convinced me that I preferred a front-engined Lotus.
A flatmates brother had one of these Europa years ago awesome little weapon on the road but very cramped inside his had a Renault engine mechanically they are quite simple that was Chapmans genius.
I still have one of those Matchbox cars stashed in the house and I have seen a few in the fiberglass courtesy of the Portland All British Field Meet held at PIR almost every September.
Don’t know much about the Europa, but can say that the Renault Cléon-Alu engine is a little gem. I had a slightly more utilitarian version in my (US market) Renault 12 wagon, and it merrily ripped along, even being lashed to an automatic. That car truly made me wonder why Renaults didn’t sell well in the US.
Here are most of the rest of my cars. The Europa is older than all but half a dozen or so of them.
Thanks for the post. It was welcome on a very frustrating work day.
Nice! I recognise quite a few of those.
I don’t mean to piss in anyone’s oatmeal but I think that my wheelbarrow is better looking than this.
Great Pics especially of the transmission. Seems like a hinged arm pushes the selector sideways when the main gear control rod is move back and forth.. Is that right? The hinge looks light weight.
I had the Renault engine in my r16 back in the 70s great motor.
The Europa is very nearly as odd as, I dunno, a person of today who does not own a mobile phone, surely?
Colin Chapman always had a relationship to morality like that of his cars to weight – ie: not much, and then remove some – but here he surely overplayed his hand. Clearly, A Stylist worked for a few weeks on the front of the car, before a lack of payment meant that the thing reverted to some soul at Lotus whose engineering had made the chassis a great one but whose love of minimalism and lack of training outside his field led to the completion of The Stylist’s work with a ute.
It is not a pretty car, however so that came about.
But it is reputed, highly, for its superlative dynamics, and speed, even with power from the pushrod socialists in France and their attendant gearbag (as reversed).
The combination of pleb power and half-styling is also the greatest asset for CC types, as it means even now, they don’t charge much for one. Were it not plain scary-low in modern traffic, I’d try one, and maybe even buy it.
Nice pictures, Mr Taylor.
By the by, much and all as I might secretly admire your resistance to the overwhelmingess of the modern world, I do encourage you to buy a phone. They not only take pics and stuff, they also make calls and give one the ability to troll irritating people on the net when bored, and are generally quite useful otherwise, apart from mostly weighing more than your average Chapman Lotus.