Chassis stamp?

[gturner008]

I'm told the car has a Lotus chassis. It's in mint condition. Does anyone know where Lotus stamped the number on?

I'm not sure if the chassis is original, as left the factory, original, but reconditioned, or a Lotus replacement.

I noticed under the black paint there is bright blue metallic paint. Odd. Wonder if chassis was taken off, then repainted? Any clues or ideas?

[pto]

hi

[gturner008]

Thanks, but am I able to see this with body on the car? Use of a mirror? Cheers

[jbcollier]

Yes you can see it.  Very early Europas have their serial number on a plate riveted to the chassis.

[gturner008]

Excellent. Can I see this plate from above, through the engine bay, or below under the car? Many thanks. It'll solve the mystery of the chassis.

[gturner008]

Tbh, I'm still struggling to determine the history of the chassis. Still need help in showing me where to look for the factory stamp on the chassis.

[jbcollier]

"I'm told the car has a Lotus chassis"

If this means the chassis was replaced, AFAIK, replacement chassis are not stamped.

[EuropaTC]

"I'm told the car has a Lotus chassis"

If this means the chassis was replaced, AFAIK, replacement chassis are not stamped.

I think you could be right on that one. From the records of the original owner, my car had it's chassis replaced at 29k in 1978 with a Lotus replacement. I've never found a number stamped on it, not even when I had the body off in the 90s.

Brian

[gturner008]

Thanks Brian. My best guess is that the chassis has been replaced with a Lotus chassis. Where would the factory stamp be and is it visible without the body off?

Does anyone know the correct location of the chassis stamp as it left the factory?

Failing that, I must assume a replacement was fitted. If so, any ideas why my chassis has royal blue metallic paint underneath the black paint? My guess is that the person who fitted the replacement chassis applied blue hammerite as a rust precaution. That would be logical.

G

[EuropaTC]

Hi,

If the correct place is as shown in the photos above, then I had quite a lot of corrosion around those areas so in theory it could have simply corroded away. I doubt it though, with thin metal I'd have expected to see the imprint underneath or the remains of a partial stamp on top, but nothing that I can recall now.

I very much doubt Lotus painted their chassis with blue paint, your theory of a chassis change and extra paint by the owner which he then covered over with black sounds the most reasonable explanation.

If the car was used in the UK on our winter roads then it's not unreasonable to have a replacement chassis regardless of the mileage.  When I looked at mine in the early 90s the amount of corrosion was pretty bad, and that was on a replacement chassis which had probably only done 25-30k between 1978 and then.  Maybe your car was similar and the previous owner decided he didn't want to do the job twice !

Brian

[pto]

if you look you can see the number  stamp in

[gturner008]

Do you think I can get access to see this location with the body on?

[jbcollier]

Yes.