'74 TCS on BaT

[BDA]

A pretty nice 5-speed TCS with rear discs is for sale on Bring a Trailer: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-lotus-europa-twin-cam-8/

It needs some attention and, in my opinion, the dash is horrible (though if the owner made it, he certainly did a better job than I could do!). It's a nice driver. It's already up to $13,500 and there are still seven days for the auction to run.

Good luck to the seller!

[GavinT]

Tacho stuck on 3,500 RPM?

It's impressively quiet in the video's though.

[Chuck Nukem]

This one comment caught my eye


Britcarguy  310
The Europa suspension, wheel, and tire size combination were designed to meet a certain level of stress. Adding wider wheels and tires upsets the balance and could cause suspension component failure especially the rear uprights. Get new tires for the stock rims and drive to the max. Having said that my 74 on stock rims had a rear upright fracture at about 70 mph luckily on an empty road. Car did a 540 degree spin and tore up rear bodywork on one side. Should I have inspected the suspension better? Yes.


That must have been a wild ride....

[BDA]

The seller posted that he was unable to get the idle down but a friend adjusted the temperature compensators and was then able to get the idle down. I don’t know enough about Strombergs to know what a temperature compensator is (maybe some sort of choke?) but that apparently fixed it. I think it would drive me crazy to drive a car that idled at 3500 rpm!

[BDA]

This one comment caught my eye


Britcarguy  310
The Europa suspension, wheel, and tire size combination were designed to meet a certain level of stress. Adding wider wheels and tires upsets the balance and could cause suspension component failure especially the rear uprights. Get new tires for the stock rims and drive to the max. Having said that my 74 on stock rims had a rear upright fracture at about 70 mph luckily on an empty road. Car did a 540 degree spin and tore up rear bodywork on one side. Should I have inspected the suspension better? Yes.


That must have been a wild ride....

There are lots (can you say that about Europe’s?) of Europe’s with wider than stock wheels and have no problems!

[Chuck Nukem]

This one comment caught my eye


Britcarguy  310
The Europa suspension, wheel, and tire size combination were designed to meet a certain level of stress. Adding wider wheels and tires upsets the balance and could cause suspension component failure especially the rear uprights. Get new tires for the stock rims and drive to the max. Having said that my 74 on stock rims had a rear upright fracture at about 70 mph luckily on an empty road. Car did a 540 degree spin and tore up rear bodywork on one side. Should I have inspected the suspension better? Yes.


That must have been a wild ride....

There are lots (can you say that about Europe’s?) of Europe’s with wider than stock wheels and have no problems!

Agreed!

[Clifton]

This one comment caught my eye


Britcarguy  310
The Europa suspension, wheel, and tire size combination were designed to meet a certain level of stress. Adding wider wheels and tires upsets the balance and could cause suspension component failure especially the rear uprights. Get new tires for the stock rims and drive to the max. Having said that my 74 on stock rims had a rear upright fracture at about 70 mph luckily on an empty road. Car did a 540 degree spin and tore up rear bodywork on one side. Should I have inspected the suspension better? Yes.


That must have been a wild ride....

There are lots (can you say that about Europe’s?) of Europe’s with wider than stock wheels and have no problems!

I read that and thought the same, I'm one of them running much wider.

[BDA]

It went for $15,000! How utterly depressing!

[Sparkrite]

What's depressing about that. Most cars end up costing you more than resale price that's just how it is.

[BDA]

I thought it was a pretty nice car - and a five speed at that - that was worth much more than that. As an owner, I’m interested in the value of these cars to increase and a low price at an auction could put some pressure on the price in the future.

[Sparkrite]

I'm looking to buy one so I prefer the values low. However I own other classics of which two have dramatically increased in value. Personally  I would much rather this was not the case. I can only see a benefit if you were to trade down or sell and not buy another classic.

[surfguitar58]

It went for $15,000! How utterly depressing!

Somebody got a terrific deal.
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