To S1B or not to be? The tale of a false sister car.

[Chuck Nukem]

I must admit I am rarely disappointed when purchasing Europas, but I had a unique opportunity that did not quite pan out in the way I had hoped. I saw an interesting S1 engine advertised on Ebay which would perfectly suit my motorless 460468. I was intrigued and so I inquired further about the state of the rest of the car. The current owner and purchased it from an estate and he now had plans to Tesla swap the car. I asked if he would rather trade me for a similar condition S2, but he was not interested. He sent me pictures of the car and its title...then the story got interesting. The title shows the car as 460393....the sister car to my 460392. I asked if he would sell the car to me. He said he might, but wanted time to think on it....the classic slow play. After some back and forth we agreed on a fair price and I committed to purchasing the car. I drove to Chicago and immediately noticed something odd... The rear tail section was of an S1B. I had been convinced by the title and realized the tail cluster had never actually been pictured....It was an honest mistake on his part as he just did not know the difference. The car wears S2 doors strangely enough. It is body number 460643 which would make it the penultimate S1 body. I am aware the body and chassis numbers did not match, nor were the numbered engines installed in any particular order. It does not have its chassis plate, so I need to find the number on the frame to confirm the vin.

On the plus side- The frame is in excellent shape. Somebody loved this car. For it to be in this condition 50+ years later... what an effort. The motor has been substantially reworked. It has a spare set of TC wheels, tons of spare gauges, a supposedly rebuilt engine with a ported head, headers, a warneford side draft intake with DCOE 45. Unfortunately the PO disassembled all of it in pursuit of his electric swap, so I have some sorting to do....

I am thrilled with the car overall and it is a project I am looking forward to...eventually....

At this rate I only need a true S1, a 54, and the coveted 47 to complete a collection worthy of starting a non profit museum of broken Europas

[BDA]

Great story, Chuck! Having a good frame is a BIG plus!

I like your Europa museum idea!

 

[Chuck Nukem]

Thanks! This is the only one of my 3 S1 variant cars with a good frame. A big part of the reason I picked it up is to serve as a template for the other two.

[SilverBeast]

He doesnt want a museum, he wants them ALL 

[Bainford]

Neat story. Sequential numbers is a pretty cool thing, and I imagine a decent original s1 frame is nearly non-existent. Noting the flares, has the car been otherwise extensively modified or raced?

[Chuck Nukem]

Neat story. Sequential numbers is a pretty cool thing, and I imagine a decent original s1 frame is nearly non-existent. Noting the flares, has the car been otherwise extensively modified or raced?

Besides the body modifications, there were a few upgrades to the suspension. The front control arms have been boxed in, and the lower arms have spherical joints instead of bushings. Shocks appear to be standard. The main upgrades seem to be in the engine, though I have no clue what was done. I will order a gasket set and pull the thing apart to check it and be sure there is assembly lube where it is needed as it looks never to have run.

There are some curiosities. I don't see the nuts which were welded to the frame for the accelerator pedal bracket. The woven fiberglass around the forward central tunnel looks to have been done later, as does the fiber glassing of the front section. I don't believe the frame was originally black, but supposed to be primer red? My other two are this color. The job appears to be very neat and I cant imagine it had been done while the frame was in the car? But who knows. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that this frame was ever removed.

The solid frame is absolutely the reason I picked this car up. I would love to get an idea of how many S1 are still on the road.

[BDA]

Interesting collections of modifications! Extensive suspension mods but keeping the stock shocks! Odd that he went to the trouble of drilling a hole in the lower shock and trunnion bolts for cotter pins and then double nutting them rather than trusting nyloc nuts metal lock nuts... Woven fiberglass cloth is interesting too. You don't see that much. It's stronger but I wonder if it's warranted and it can be difficult to work with.

Having an original in-tact S1 frame is the most impressive thing though! There can't be more than a handful if that many!

[jbcollier]

Judging by the photos posted, I would say it is repaired or replacement chassis.  The holes look rough, the T-section is missing seams and it is missing the throttle mech welded nuts.  Given the large amount of rough fibreglass, also covering areas normally bare, I would say it was repaired in situ.

[Chuck Nukem]

John,

Here is the chassis that came with 0392. One major difference on the chassis in my B is the lack of the little ears which the support bars mount to behind the engine mounts. The bars are fixed to one of the engine mount bolts on the B. I don't see a seam on the rear face of the T section in this frame either, but I am not sure if that was started on S2. I will have to check 0468. You can see the "repair" that had been done to the bottom of the T section on 0392 with a thick angle plate. Interestingly 0468 had a very similar fix done to it.

I will need to get this thing on jack stands to get an idea of the floor under the frame. I see no evidence that the firewall or the rear of the floor has been cut.

[jbcollier]

Not bad really.  Here's what mine looked like...



And that was the good side:



Lots of distortion:



Bent pins:



A few expert repairs though...