Lotus Europa Parts

August 17th, 2009

Lotus_Europa_SE_moving_Front_3Qtr_1 While Lotus had already been successful racing mid-engined cars, company president Colin Chapman held off on designing a street version until he could get ahold of a widely available compact drivetrain. This came in the form of Renault's first front wheel drive car, the 16. Unlike modern FWD cars, the 16 had a longitudinally-mounted (front to back) engine. Chapman modified the transmission so the engine could sit behind it, and mounted it in the back of the car.

The car could reach 0.9g on a skid pad on road tires: a difficult feat today, let alone in the late 60's. Aside from the trunk, hood, and doors, the fiberglass body was a single piece bonded directly to the steel frame for additional stiffness, but this made body repair very difficult. Only 644 of these were built. Oddly, Chapman chose not to sell the car in Britain, concentrating instead on the European market.

The Europa was redesigned in 1968. The body was no longer bonded to the chassis, and it now had adjustable seats and windows. This version was offered in Britain, and a few were modified for sale in America, with a slightly larger engine to maintain the same power as the European models while meeting emissions regulations, as well as "bugeye"-mounted headlights to meet D.O.T. height requirements.

While production of the road-going version was being sorted, Lotus built a race version called the Type 47. This car had a twin-cam engine co-developed by Lotus, Ford, and Cosworth. In 1972, a mild version of the motor was placed in the production model. This was soon replaced by the Europa Special: new carburetors added 11 horsepower, and an optional 5-speed transmission was introduced. Production of the Europa ended in 1975, when it was replaced by the newly-redesigned Esprit.

Lotus reintroduced the nameplate with the Europa S in 2006 as a GT car. Unlike the Elise and Exige, it included such luxuries as air conditioning and low door sills. Response by the motoring press was mixed, declaring that it neither performed well enough to be a true sports car, nor comfortable enough to be a true GT. Still, it offered a very good package for its low price. This car has not been sold in North America, although Dodge's Circuit EV concept is Europa-based. Ironically, if put into production, it would be competing directly with the Elise-based Tesla Roadster.