S2 Type 65

[Europaforever]

Hi,

I have just purchased a Europa restoration project.

The car has been off the road 35 years and should be a fun project.

Its a type 54 that was destined for the states as a 65, pics to follow.

[jbcollier]

65s have twin wipers and side markers.  54s have a single wiper and no side markers.

[Europaforever]

Mine has a single wiper with side markers!

Thinking about it I used to own a PR chassis car 10 years ago and that had a single wiper with reflectors too...

[jbcollier]

Not sure of the start date but federal cars required two wipers at an early stage in S2 production.

[GavinT]

I don't know if this helps but it would appear that from January 1970 there's only an allowance for a single letter suffix?

[jbcollier]

Type 65 was introduced at chassis number 1066.

[EuropaTC]

I think John has it sorted with the "2 wiper or one" comment, that's my understanding as well. Robinshaw's book mentions a change in wipers at #1457 for Federal spec cars so that would be well before 1970.

If you dropped a line to Andy Graham, the Lotus Archivist, he would probably give the definitive answer. He's rebuilding the old Lotus records and would probably appreciate a photo of the original VIN plate to confirm his thoughts.  Andy's a helpful guy, well worth knowing.

agraham@lotuscars.com

Brian

[Europaforever]

OK, thanks for the replies.

PR suffix cars have 3 digits for the chassis number, as can be seen on the registry section on 'lotus europa central' - titled

UK S2(suffix PR) - cars converted from Federal specifications to RHD.

[Bodzer]

Hi,

My car sounds like it’s only a few units from yours. It’s also a late 1970 build, and it’s a PR suffixed model.  274PR.  After contacting Andy Graham at Lotus and a bit of research here I found out that there was a batch of Federal (Type 65) Europas that were re-worked at the factory to become Uk spec cars.  Apparently there was a change in the federal requirements meaning they were un-sellable if they were exported.  Hence the PR suffix.  So they have Federal markers but one wiper etc. I think John recently had a copy of a Club Lotus newsletter on his smugmug page detailing the history.

Interestingly, my V5 only had 274PR as it’s VIN.  This proved alittle difficult when I imported to Ireland to say the least as the car didn’t have its original VIN plate with it.  Thankfully the original window plate, which was still in place, read 274PR. A very kind contact on the lotus Elan net I contacted me and told me that the previous owner was trying to get a hold of me. He had found the original VIN plate and wanted to forward it onto me.

I hope it helps. Feel free to PM me.

Regards.

[Europaforever]

Hi,

Thanks for that - yes, your car is only a few from mine (ref the chassis number).

Your info is as I had read too- in fact there's a little about it on wiki!

The cars were built to be used in the States, but Lotus re-worked them for the UK,
wipers etc. When sold and registered with the DVLA they then considered them to be a type 54.

So to conclude it was built as a 65 but was made a type 54 before sale in the UK.

Isn't Lotus ownership fun! Today I will sit in it...

[Bodzer]

I saw that one on eBay recently. Congratulations on your purchase.  I forgot to mention that it will probably have the slightly larger federal engine in it as well. I think yours is the fourth PR car I’ve seen pop up in the past year.  It’s great to see.

I’ve just finished stripping the interior of the car and found that LHD pedal assembly must have been installed and then (obviously) removed as the floor mounting holes are still there.  I know that the bulkhead holes on Elans, Europas and +2s (standing by to be corrected) are such that they can be easily configured as RHD or LHD. Also, the last part of the VIN and the body colour are marked in black chinagraph/crayon on the central tunnel.

Good luck with removing the doors!