(first posted 5/24/2015) Lotus has a history as the most innovative of all the small British car builders, with a slew of innovations and “outside the box” thinking going back to the 1950s. The company also has a long record of innovation in design and the use of materials, and of course in chassis and suspension design and tuning, much of which is completed for others and is kept private. Even now, Lotus’s consultancy business is probably more important than its car building, at least to the accountants. The man behind Lotus was, of course, Colin Chapman, perhaps the most innovative race and sports car builder of the last half of the twentieth century.
The Europa was not the first mid-engined sports car, or even the first compact, affordable one – compared with the contemporary Lamborghini Miura at least – the Matra Djet probably takes that prize, but it carried on the Lotus tradition of innovation. Not least of these was using a Renault engine rather than a more likely expected British engine. For this was a car of its time, designed for Europe, and named accordingly.
Lotus was one of the first and leading proponents of the mid engine layout for Grand Prix and Indianapolis format racing cars, and won the 1965 Indy 500 with Jim Clark (one of the greatest racing drivers ever, without a doubt) driving a Lotus 38, with a Ford engine. This was the first rear engined car to win the Indy 500, although rear engine is a slightly misleading term, as the engine and transmission were ahead of the rear axle, rather than behind it, VW and Porsche style. Mid engine is perhaps a better term.
The Europa came to the market in 1966, using a styling concept rejected by Ford for the GT40. It may not have been beautiful, but it was certainly striking, and very different to any other compact or affordable sports car of its time.
It is worth checking how small this car is. Length was 130 inches, width 64 inches and the height a mere 42 inches. You can see from the photographs how the driver’s eye line is almost directly in line with the bumper of the Accord ahead of, and that’s the reason I’ve left the mail box on many of the pictures. The roof of this car is pretty much at the height of a kitchen work top. It weighed in at around 1500lbs.
There is a back story to the Europa. From 1957 onwards, Lotus had been building progressively more sophisticated sports cars, starting with the primitive Lotus 7 (The number is a type number, not a horsepower rating, and the road cars and racing cars shared the same series of numbers.) The Lotus 7 may look like something from the 1930s, but underneath that most basic aluminium bodywork was a double wishbone front suspension and steel space frame construction. Lightness was its key, and still is, as the car is still in production nearly 60 years later, as the Caterham 7.
Lotus’s next car the Lotus Elite, which was the first Lotus built around a glassfibre (we would now say composite) monocoque with a steel subframe carrying the front suspension and engine. It was powered by a 1216 cc version of the Coventry Climax FWE all-aluminum four, developing between 75 and 105 hp. The “Feather Weight” engine was originally developed by CC as a small portable fire pump engine. Its light weight and good power attracted the interest of Colin Chapman, among others, and enjoyed a distinguished racing career.
Later came the Elan, with styling aped by Mazda for the MX-5 Miata. The Elan was powered by the 1557 cc Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine, which used the block of the popular (and cheap) Ford 105E engine, with a DOHC head developed by Harry Mundy and further refined by Harry Weslake. It produced about 100 hp, and would also be used in the Ford Cortina-Lotus/Cortina Twin Cam.
Lotus faced two issues in achieving the volume Chapman aspired to with these cars. They were simple but labour intensive to build, and the unusual and expensive engines hampered overseas sales. Many cars were sold in kit form in the UK, getting round some of the labour issues and saving the owner/builder a sizeable amount of tax as well.
Chapman (1928 – 1982) wanted also to produce a mid-engined car for the road, to build on the Indy racing and Grand Prix success, and key to this was having a suitable engine and transmission available. The one Chapman selected was from the 1965 Renault 16, and this was used with a steel back bone chassis and composite body construction, to create the Europa, officially known as the Type 46.
The name Europa works in various ways – it starts with E, as all Lotus names did and still do (though no one seems to know why, or indeed where the name Lotus came from), it suggested, in the UK at least, a modern, outward looking image and linked the car to its intended major market – continental Europe. The Europa was announced and sales began in 1967. Early sales were exclusively in continental Europe, to establish a presence in the Common Market. Sales in the UK began in 1969.
The engine in the Series 1 cars was a 1470cc pushrod 4 cylinder from the Renault 16 making 78 hp, complete with the Renault gearbox, although with the crown wheel inverted on its pinion to make the sure the car had four forward gears and just one reverse, rather than the other way round. Still, 9.3 seconds to 60 mph and 120 mph was claimed, and measured by some of the UK Press cars.
The first cars were truly spartan; the interior was cramped to say the least, the windows were one piece removable panels, the seats fixed and the pedals adjustable only with tools, one windscreen wiper and the ventilation pretty well non-existent. Chapman was a great advocate of low weight and simplicity (he is quoted, maybe anecdotally, as saying, as a design philosophy “Simplify and add lightness”), and this showed in the level of comforts allowed into any early Lotus.
The Series 1 cars had a rear buttress or sail panel that rose almost to the full height (if you can use that word about the Europa) of the roof, limiting rear visibility even more, and giving almost the appearance of a very low van. Chapman justified this on aerodynamic grounds and indeed the early cars had drag co-efficient of 0.29, in 1966.
Like any Lotus from the 7 to the current Elise, Exige and Evora, the Europa was a real driver’s car, with a focus on handling and roadholding that enabled full benefit to be taken of the low weight and consequent power to weight ratio.
Later cars addressed some these issues. The 1968 series 2 had electric windows, adjustable seats and even a wooden dash. One key difference for the Series 2 was that the chassis was now bolted, rather bonded, to the monocoque, making repair easier. The car went to the US in 1969, with many changes to meet US regulations, including a larger 1565 cc Renault engine rated at 88hp.
In 1971, Lotus fitted the car with the 1.6 litre Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine, With the Lotus changes, the engine, still with 2 valves per cylinder, was now up to 105 bhp, compared with around 78 bhp in the first Renault engined cars. US units were closer to 105 bhp, though. Performance was now around 6.5 seconds to 60 mph and 125 mph. The rear styling was revised to give greater—but not great—visibility, as seen on this example posted in the CC Cohortby LeSabretooth Tiger. Is that the shallowest rear window ever?
There were many variations on the Europa, with differences in trim, power and appearance. Perhaps best remembered are the John Player Team Lotus black with gold pinstriping, matching the early 1970s Grand Prix cars and my personal favourite, red over white two tone Gold Leaf Lotus versions. Not for any preference for the cigarettes, but the colours so suit any Lotus of that era.
The feature yellow car is a Twin Cam, seen in California earlier this month by Passin’Gas and placed on the CC Cohort. This car is a rare sight now, so thanks for posting it. Around 10,000 Europas were built between 1966 and 1975 and there are perhaps only a hundred or so in remaining in the UK.
Colin Chapman floated Lotus as a public company in 1958 and in the 1970s Lotus started dong consultancy work, including (in)famously for John DeLorean. Chapman died, suddenly, in 1982, but personally I’m sure he would have approved of the current Lotus cars. After all, everyone like brilliant sports cars and “Simplify and add lightness” has a real appeal to those of us with engineering backgrounds.
Terrific article.
Lotus is a company I have long heard about but knew nothing about. Their consultancy now makes sense as I can think of a few cars touted as having engine work by Lotus.
“Simplify and add lightness”. I think I am going to start using this and some derivatives I can think of!
The expression is also associated with the great Kelly Johnson of the Lockheed “skunk works” in the ’50s and ’60s.
Actually it’s “Simplicate and add lightness,” and it’s attributed to William Bushnell Stout, whose design work led to the Ford Tri-Motor aircraft, among other things.
Parts left off cost nothing and cause no service issues.
The Douglas Skyhawk (chief designer Ed Heinemann, who went on to be engineering VP @ GD overseeing the F-16’s development) was another example of aggressive simplicity. It went against the baneful ’50s trend of larger, heavier combat planes. Despite its age, it doubled as an adversary fighter for Top Gun trainees, & even gave the Brits trouble during the Falklands War, since it was a popular export.
Colin Chapman and Lotus are fascinating history, I’ve read a few books on his work.
When I do career day at high school or we do take your kid to work day I do a presentation on my engineering heroes. Chapman is one, the others are Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Elsie MacGill and Arch Atkinson…
http://news.boldride.com/2015/03/yes-the-isuzu-impulse-with-handling-by-lotus-was-a-thing/73234/
Isuzu even had a Lotus connection with two generations of their Impulse
And likewise the front-drive Elan was powered by Isuzu.
Lotus’ work with Toyota is well known, less well known is their behind-the-scenes involvement with the original MR2, which was of identical layout to the later Elise.
Great piece. According to Karl Ludvigsen, it was a guy called Gordon Hooton who came up with ‘simplicate and add more lightness’ when working in Detroit in 1919 on an aircraft design. He was working for William Bushnell Stout who so liked the phrase he put it on the workshop wall and then recounted the tale in his 1951 biography which its assumed Chapman read.
The one thing that bugs me about the S2 and S3 is the top chrome edge of the door frame, it looks like they bent it upwards to accommodate the quarter window and even though its a small thing, really throws the design out of whack in my eyes.
Good call on that chrome strip on the door. It looks really sloppy on how the quarter window was made a bit too tall, then the chrome strip calls attention to it.
I’ve figured out what the problem with that window is. The S1 originally had a non-opening window there! (simplify!). (and suffer!!) And that fixed window had a compound curve to it, that turned in quite sharply in the front.
Looking at images of the S1 shows most have the side window totally fixed; the one I’ve attached has hinges and can be swung out some, for a bit of air.
That fixed window was obviously a big problem, so the solution for the S2 and up was to install an opening side window, but a flat pane, and then a strongly-angled quarter light. The apparent upcurve of the top of the window line depends significantly upon the perspective. It looks much worse from some angles than others. But it was the only way that could apparently fit a flat pane of glass into such a curved door.
From this shot, it’s clear the compromise that Lotus had to make to fit an opening pane. And from this angle it’s clear that the top window line is not actually curving upwards, but it looks that way when seen in profile. It’s a matter of perspective.
It curves around the door, upwards is an optical illusion.
What a great piece. I do like the way these Europas look, not unlike a low, wicked, British El Camino with a tonneau cover.
The appearance of the Europa is always going to be criticized. The ergonomics are terrible. They tend to be fragile and yea have a kit car quality to them. None of that really matters. The way they drive makes up for all that.
The Europa is the concept taken to its most extreme, I don’t really think you can make a fast car smaller than that and still have it practical. And it ain’t even practical. The concept was expanded and refined for the Esprit. I don’t know how much is common between the Europa/Esprit, but I know the prototype was nothing more than a Europa-chassis that had been lenghtened and widened. And the Esprit is still a very tiny car, but perhaps just big enough to not be the nuisance the Europa was.
Among known owners, I know that Martin Scorsese owned an Europa in the 70’s. But he has always liked tiny cars, for some reason, almost killing himself crashing in an Autobianchi Bianchina in the 60’s.
Generally speaking, smaller cars have the advantage on a race track.
Lotus used the sheetmetal backbone frame in several designs. While structurally efficient a backbone frame offers next to nothing for crash safety. In the case of the Europa, just thin glassfibre.
The reason they fitted power window was so you could lower them, Two guys in one of these makes rolling a window down by hand impossible, a house mates brother had a S3 awesome car on a twisty road,
open the door to roll the window down
Excellent choice of photographs. The first photo with the Mustang and the Saturn in the background is just about perfect. The ad with Jim Clark wearing a kilt and stating the obvious really made me smile, and so did that old black-and-white shot of a leggy model attempting to preserve her modesty while exiting a Europa. Good writing, too (as usual).
Yep, great photos – I like the Clark one and the one with Chapman and Andretti.
Don’t forget- Lotus also designed ( or helped to design ) the four-cam, 32V V8 found in the 90’s Corvette ZR-1.
Indeed. And Mercury Marine built it for Chevy.
Has nobody said ‘Lots of Trouble, Usually Serious’ yet?
Or indeed Loads Of Time Underneath Servicing, as a Europa-owning friend of mine used to say.
I have heard it said (not that I can remember where or by whom) that the derivation of the Lotus name was from a legendary fruit (in Greek mythology (?)) which induced drowsiness in its eaters – Chapman spent many late nights working on his early cars and named them in recognition of his being half-asleep all the next day as a result. This may be an urban myth, though.
To be honest I generally find the design of the Europa rather nasty looking, and the low van profile isn’t actually what is totally offputting to me either, the whole rear end looks like it’s upside down with the taillights where I’d expect the lower body tuckunder to be and vice versa, the bumper location really accentuats it(the later Lotus Excel also possessed this). The other thing that drives me nuts is that forward upsweep the side glass makes above the vent windows, I actually prefer the early ones with the removable panes aesthetically since it’s not so pronounced. Plus having seen a couple of them in person in person (Saddest sight I ever saw in a junkyard was a shell of a Europa plopped atop some Japanese appliance) I can attest to the absolute tininess described. These cars are very very small, so small that when taken into account the ugly details, the fact that the body is plastic and the build quality is, umm, sloppy(nicest I’d describe it), it really comes off not just as a kit car, but a kids a toy car. They really seem like a(slightly) blown up version of a Revell model in person, and my rather unsatisfying models I built as a kid were about on par as far as fit and finish goes.
I do quite like them though, regardless of whether or not they were the first at being mid engined or whatever I still consider them pioneering cars, and frankly underrated ones at that. Like anything Lotus the mechanical designs are just so intriguing and work so well(functionally, I didn’t say reliably lol)and that’s what actually endears the Europa to me. I’d love to have one to drive and tinker with, in fact this seems like the quintessential car to do so in a way. Look at though? Not so much. I’ll take the later Esprit for that.
The feature car though is the best looking Europa I have ever seen. Perfect color for it, and these wheels really make it compared to the dog dishes on the earlier ones, these look much more sporty and purposeful to my eyes.
IMO that is one ugly car. Just not my cup of tea, at all. I love drivers cars and sports cars but that looks like some kind of weirdo kit car. The back end doesn’t go with the front, at all.
It reminds me of those hideous 70’s station wagon Corvette conversions, looks wise.
I don’t have a problem with the looks. I like it. But I do have a problem with 2 seater mid engine cars in general…not in the way the look or drive or handle…that is all outstanding.
I don’t feel comfortable in a car with the driver’s seat up against a wall and a back window. It makes me claustrophobic. I also do not like center consoles. They also make me a little bit claustrophobic, however not nearly as much as having the rear window right up against the back of my head. But combine the two into one car and its the worst.
Well lucky for you the rear window definitely is not behind your head in the Europa 😀
NO THANK YOU
As for lotus cars…I like these better. I have not figured out how to add multiple pics to one comment on this site so it will be one pic per comment.
First, the fastback version of the Lotus Elite:
Now, the +2 version of the Lotus Elan…meaning it has a back seat and a real roof with working windows:
…and finally…the GT fastback version of the Lotus Elan
another view of that GT Elan:
I had the Matchbox version of this as a kid. Without any size context, I assumed it was something like an El Camino. It was a bit of a shock to see the actual thing years later.
Here’s a mystery Lotus for everyone’s amusement:
Similar to the ’77 Mercury Cougar Villager wagon, a car that was probably much more commonly seen as a Matchbox than as a real car. IIRC, the Matchbox version was kind of a lavender color.
I assume you’re saying the Europa was lavender? Because the Cougar Villager was definitely green. (Or, less commonly, blue.)
These have been my dream car since I got a Matchbox Superfast version when I was 6 or 7. No1Son has promised to buy me a real one when his career takes off. (Hopefully I’ll still be young enough to drive it, let alone fold myself into it…)
There are actually 3 Europas on ebay right now, from $15k to $30k+….
The Europa is perhaps the best looking Lotus car I’ve ever seen. I remember seeing one in person being restored. It wasn’t running at the time.
I had a Lotus Twin Cam JPS back in the ’80’s. Funny, I put over 40 thousand miles on it, to and from grad school, almost 200 miles each day, three times a week, for two years. It left me on the side of the road only once in the two years when I was doing serious road work with it. A rivet in the distributor rotor came loose and sliced the distributor cap in half that night.
I did find the rear wheel bearings and hubs a tad fragile and expensive, until I learned Chapman, in his legendary cheapness used common electrical shaft bearings rated at 6 HP and ran over 100 hp through them, with predictable results. And significant mark-up. I upgraded the bearings and kept on driving it with great pleasure.
The Achilles heel to the car was not mechanical, but rather cabin air flow. In the humid North Carolina summers, that big windshield would greenhouse and cook you, to the point when I stepped outside on a 100 degree day, it would seem cooler!
The only thing I did electrically to help it was upgrade the alternator to a Delco and clean all the grounds religiously every year. The car was a solid runner that belied its reputation as fragile. It did need maintenance including a replacement water pump which required working in limited space, and valve adjustments, which meant disassembling the cams and replacing shims under buckets, a similar arrangement in Jaguars and some Toyota Camry’s, for that matter.
But the road holding, even with 175/70 13’s in the front, and 185-70’s on the rears, the driving and cornering is an unrivaled experience, and the acceleration is not bad either. Sometimes, I felt as if I could defy the laws of physics in that car.
Chapman, being cheap, also did some favors for owners. A lot of the parts came from other British sports cars, and the national club, Lotus, Ltd, has cross-over parts lists which made maintaining them pretty easy and reasonable.
I still miss the car, and look at them longingly. If only they came with factory air …
Easily-obtained & reasonably-priced parts is the saving grace of cottage makes like Lotus.
There’s a joke that Lotus is an acronym for “Lots of trouble, usually serious.”
I actually like the looks of the Series 1 better before they cut down the sail panels, as at least it looked kind of like a shooting brake. Or, more fittingly, a sedan delivery sports car. With the cut-down sail panels it just looked odd. Though I’m sure the improvement in rear visibility from “absolutely none” to “a miserably small amount” was appreciated.
Wonderful cars, I’d love to drive one someday. Doubt I’ll ever get the chance, as I’ve never even seen one in the metal.
Five years later I discover this story.
About the curve of the side windows: that allows the top of the window to mate with the top of the wind screen visually. The lines at the bottom also complete each other.
About the front vs back styling, maybe it’s a matter of taste, but having one and observing it closely reveals inspired styling that very much works.
Photos do not tell the same story.
Seeing it in the flesh and close up is not reproducible via photo.
They are indeed fragile. Also, beautiful. Also comfortable. Fun? There are only a few things in life as consistently pleasurable and they all have their caveats as Europa’s do.
Highly recommended, but only if you accept that yours will need care for to a degree not found in modern cars. That’s part of the deal.
I always wanted one of these go karts. The first time I saw one in the flesh up close I was shocked at how small it was. I will probably end up with a later model Elise but wow. I would have to swap in a turbo. More power, please!
Mr Fenimore is no doubt correct that the seemingly odd curves to the window opening look correct when observed in the flesh. But the claim that the top edge of the door window does not curve upward toward the front, made six years ago, is belied by the straight-on side view of the car, as seen in Mr Carr’s fourth image at the top of the thread.
Here’s a question: as light weight was of maximum importance to Colin Chapman, what explains the depth and bulk of the window frame of the door, as seen in the fourth black-and-white photo above ? Is the door frame an active (i.e., a stressed) part of the car’s structural scheme ?
Jim Clark; THE BEST racing driver EVER. PERIOD.
The overall length of the Europa is 155”-160” inches depending on sources, not 130”. It’s dimensions are similar to the Porsche 914, the Fiat X 1/9, and the Toyota MR2 (all generations), except it is 4-6” lower and at least 500 lbs lighter. Crash safety exacts a price in weight.
Recently I have been obsessed with the Europa. The backbone frame was influential in sports car design, appearing in the De Tomaso Mangusta, the Lotus developed DeLorean as well as the Lotus Elan, Europa and Esprit. The backbone frame resembles a capital Y with a cross bar like an inverted T. The engine goes in the V of the Y, and the top of the T is where the suspension attaches. The Europa had the V at the back, the Elan, Elite and Eclat had it at the front.
Crashworthiness of all backbone framed cars is limited, and the Europa is extremely unsafe in that perspective. As part of my recent obsessions, I have been wondering about putting a Europa body on top of a space frame with an integrated roll cage. Considering the importance of keeping the unhelmeted occupants heads away from the 1.5-1.75” tubing, even when padded, the limited space of the Europa becomes challenging. I assume that either raising the roof, stretching the wheelbase and or widening would be needed in order to fit a 6”2” human inside. I think one could raise the body 1 inch without too dramatic a visual problem, but more would be needed for those unhelmeted heads to survive a crash.