1970 Lotus Europa and the materials from which it is made will surprise you at the end

This is a Lotus Europa, but unlike what you’ve seen before, it has a new hand-formed aluminum frame in place of the fiberglass original and it’s now powered by a four-cylinder engine. Zetec DOHC 2.0 liter inline.

A series of other changes took place in this version, including the addition of a more raised suspension, improved brakes and adjustable front and rear spoilers. It is currently sold out in Piedmmont, California under the title California.

Quick Facts – A bespoke Lotus Europa

The original Lotus Europa was introduced in 1966, it was hailed as the world’s first mass produced motor sports car. It was designed and built by the same Lotus, their famous Formula 1 racing team, and the car was sold through three main generations between 1966 and 1975. The Europa used the classic Lotus architecture of steel chassis with glass body, independent front and rear suspension, and of course, a very low weight of only 1,350 lɄs or 610 kg. The car was originally powered by a 1.5 liter Renault A1K inline four-cylinder engine, which produced just 82 horsepower, although due to its low weight performance was still very quick. Later versions of the Europa would receive upgraded engines, with the final production model equipped with a 1.6-liter Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine, rated at up to 126 horsepower. The car you see here is a 1970 Lotus Europa, which means it’s the Series 2 version, but it’s been modified quickly. It now features a new custom alloy chassis, upgraded front and rear suspension and brakes, and a 2.0-liter Zetec DOHC inline four-cylinder engine that offers significantly more power than the previous generation. Original Renault engine.

The importance of the Europa lotus

The Lotus Europa was one of the most important British sports cars of its time. It offered the thrill of a hub motor without spending a lot of money, at a time when most cars on the road still had the engine in the front.

"""" — This was the original Canadian advertisement for the Lotus Europa, at the time it didn’t look like anything else on the road and many people initially didn’t know what to do with it. Images provided by Lotus Cars Limited.

Laмborghini Miura was launched the same year as the Europa, these cars were of course aimed at distinctly different levels of car consumers, but they all had one thing in common – an engine layout that was directly inspired by continued from Forмula One and Le Mans cars of that time.

Team Lotus + Formula One

Lotus founder Colin Chapman is famous for his groundbreaking thinking and his maxim of automotive design – “add lightness”.

His F1 cars were famous for being so light they could be extremely fragile, but they were also Formula One World Champions – haʋing won the championship in 1963 and 1965, then again in 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1978.

One thing all those championship winning Lotus F1 cars had in common was that the engines were behind the dryers rather than in front of them.

"""" — Here we see Colin Chapman in the centre, with driʋers Nigel Mansell (right) and Elio de Angelis (left) in front of Teamм Lotus. Image provided by Classic Team Lotus.

All the Lotus road cars in production before the Europa’s launch were front-engined, so if Chapman really wanted to leverage his F1 success into road car sales, he needed to develop develop a sports car with an advanced engine. And this is exactly what he did.

Construction of Europa

The Lotus Europa is equipped with an all-new lightweight, foldable and welded box steel chassis, interestingly a descendant of this chassis design that would later be used on the DeLorean DMC and Lotus Esprit.

Finding a suitable engine for the car was a problem, as there weren’t many suitable engine/transmission combinations for the hub motor arrangement. Lotus often purchased their engines from outside suppliers, along with many other off-the-shelf parts, to save on development and tooling costs.

Chapman and his team eventually decided on the 1.5-liter inline four-cylinder engine used in the Renault 16. The 16 was a front-wheel drive car with a front engine, but with somewhat unusually, the transmission was mounted to the front of the engine.

"""" — This is an ad for one of the later Lotus Europas, as you can see the company made it a point to mention their successes in Formula One explicitly in the ad and it’s a draw attractive to many buyers. Images provided by Lotus Cars Limited.

By reorienting the Renault 16 engine and gearbox, Chapman found a suitable gearbox that he could use, the only problem was that the gearbox now offered four new gears! Once the gearbox had been adapted and a donor engine fitted to the prototype chassis, the idea was born.

Lotus Europa was released in 1966 and the world sat up and took notice. This is an affordable sports car with a lightweight fiberglass composite body, a mid-range engine layout, independent front and rear suspension, a curb weight of just 1,350 liters or 610 kg and style that suits you.

If a World Championship-winning F1 team launched their own road car today with similar specifications and at a similar price, it would cause just as much excitement.

In total Lotus produced almost 10,000 Europa models, making it their best-selling car up to that time and today it is very popular with enthusiasts.

The 1970 Bespoke Lotus Europa is shown here

The car you see here would probably be indistinguishable as a Europa, even to a model expert, as it has been so thoroughly modified that it essentially turns it into a completely new.

The original Europa chassis was retained but the glass bodywork was completely redone, never to be seen again. A new construction was conceived over a period of two years with careful shaping of aluminum alloy panels into the required constructions.

"""" — This highly customized Lotus Europa looks nothing like the original, although Colin Chapman would probably love it given its focus on low weight, improved handling and some extra power.

A new windscreen was also designed and made from plexiglass, and the car is now equipped with a mold so the new owner can fabricate new ones when required.

The original Renault engine is long gone, now replaced by a 2.0-liter Zetec DOHC inline-four that sends power through a Renault-sourced five-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels. The front suspension arms have been replaced with chrome-plated steel tubes, a heavier front sway bar is fitted on revised mounting points and AVO adjustable coilovers are fitted on both sides. four corners.

Wilwood brakes are fitted up front to provide some of the stopping power needed and the car now rides on Panasport-style 13-inch wheels fitted with road-gripping Toyo Proxes RA1 205/60 tyres.

The car is now sold out in Piedmmont, California with a California title called Bring a Trailer. If you want to read more about it or order an id you can visit the list here.