Looking for our old JPS.

[bikenut]

Thanks again Brian,good idea.I will keep it in mind.I know what you mean,"lost and found" type articles.Thanks again. Regards Phil.

[Bread Van 74092397P]

Hi Phil,

You were searching for Europa MMO 597L  a while ago, did you ever find it?
This car was exhibited at Donnington Lotus show, a few years back.
It was in pristine condition, which surprised me, as I remember what happened to it in the film.

The Europa, driven by stunt driver Marc Boyle, nose dived into the ground, after jumping the wall, destroying it's front end. The film would be shot out of sequence, so it appears to drive away, the Transit van went back for a second take!

When I saw the car at Donnington, it was on the 'Banks Europa' stand, so I presumed they had restored it. If you speak to Richard Winter at Banks, he may be able to put you in touch with the owner.

Regards,
Dave

[lotusfanatic]

Hi Phil,

You were searching for Europa MMO 597L  a while ago, did you ever find it?
This car was exhibited at Donnington Lotus show, a few years back.
It was in pristine condition, which surprised me, as I remember what happened to it in the film.

The Europa, driven by stunt driver Marc Boyle, nose dived into the ground, after jumping the wall, destroying it's front end. The film would be shot out of sequence, so it appears to drive away, the Transit van went back for a second take!

When I saw the car at Donnington, it was on the 'Banks Europa' stand, so I presumed they had restored it. If you speak to Richard Winter at Banks, he may be able to put you in touch with the owner.

Regards,
Dave

Hello Dave!

 

I really do hope that this car can be found for Phil...

Mark

[bikenut]

Hello Dave
              Well I had forgotten all about the old Europa search, I bought a plastic model kit and consoled myself with that instead. You are the only person that seems to have ever seen this car. Do you know what year you saw it at Donnington?  A few years ago I had spent months on the internet on USA and Japan sites and some claim to have either seen or own the car but when I dug deeper they were just other black Europa's. I also searched a huge worldwide database of chassis numbers with owners locations but found nothing. I don't know the chassis number so its very hard to get any info, but looking at other genuine JPS cars I guess the chassis number is around 74/1850P to 74/1890P. Our car had the dash badge and I'm sure it was numbered 061,063 0r 065 and was registered 5/1/1973. There were photos on here in 2016 of the car in the UK so its strange that I cant find it. You have re ignited the flame Dave, I will contact Richard at Banks Europa and see if he knows its whereabouts. I don't want to buy it ((but if it was for sale one day maybe i would), I just want to know if its survived and how its keeping and tell the owner a few stories about its early pre film-star days and maybe send them a few pics. Thanks again Dave for your help, much appreciated, I will get onto it and post the outcome on here.      Regards Phil.

[BDA]

  Bread Van!!

And bike nut, I hope you find your JPS! Richard does sound like a good person to ask. Good luck!

[dakazman]

   I found this one.

  Just kidding!
Dakazman

[bikenut]

 I have sent a email to richard@banks-europa.co.uk giving him a few details and my reason for wanting to locate the car. I sent it on 27th November and have had no response so will just wait until New year for a reply. If not then the search continues. A few years back I noticed a user name on the Elan forum of "MMO597L" which is the Registration number of our old car, so I registered and joined the forum. He last posted in 2015 and there is no way to contact him on there so that's a dead end. I have found out recently that i can ask DVLA for detailed information on the car but I have to have " reasonable cause" for requesting it, so that is my next move after Christmas. In the meantime thanks for all your help and Happy Christmas all of you.
                                                                         Regards
                                                                         Phil.

[BDA]

Richard does not really do email. You should call him. Hopefully he can help you.

Merry Christmas to you too! I hope you find your car. That would make a great Christmas present!

[Kendo]

I second calling Richard. I have bought several things from him over the years. And phoning is by far the best approach.

[lotusfanatic]

I hope that the search is successful, the only clues are that Ed 'soulsaver' appeared to also be on the IMCDB site (below) 
 
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_4187-Lotus-Europa-Special-Type-74-1973.html

the search continues......

[Bread Van 74092397P]

Hi Phil,

Regards JPS Europa at Donnington Lotus Show, it was several years ago that I saw it, but it was definitely MMO 597L, the number was etched on my memory from the film. At Donnington show, it was in the area allocated to Banks Europa, along with some of their other modified versions.

If I can find a picture of it at the time, I will let you know. There was an article in Hot Car magazine, relating to the car in 11 Harrowhouse, I will have a look for that also.

My understanding is that there were 200 numbered JPS cars, all built in 1973, but there were plenty of other JPS cars without numbers. Lotus themselves, retained one of the last JPS models at the factory, this was built 1975. This was part of their heritage collection, along with a late Elan Sprint, unfortunately, someone took the decision to auction them off! 

Dave   

[bikenut]

Hi again Dave, yes i used to read Hot Car magazine as a teenager and that was when i saw the article and recognised the car in it. I remember showing the article to my Dad, he almost cried when he saw the car jumping over the wall and smashing to bits, he treated it like a baby and it was his dream car. Since then i assumed the car was destroyed, but i have seen pictures of it on here posted by soulsaver, I found them via the IMBd. I have mesaged soulsaver but no response. I will try calling Richard as you all suggest. Happy Christmas and thanks everyone for helping. It would be amazing to see the car again

[Soulsaver]

Hi The search is over!

MMO 597L didn't appear at Donnington; that's probably memory fog but a near miss: It was at the Lotus festival at Stoneleigh, 1992 (IIRC) and won concourse.

But it was indeed on the Banks stand. I had a small TV/video playing the Harrow House car chase.

I have a copy of the green reg book, and it's 2nd owner was Harrow House Productions. Where & when did your dad p/ex the car?

(PS Does the PM email the recipient? I didn't get notification, and I can't seem to find my email addy linked at all?) Edit:Sorted, old dead email updated.

[4129R]

Lotus themselves, retained one of the last JPS models at the factory, this was built 1975. This was part of their heritage collection, along with a late Elan Sprint, unfortunately, someone took the decision to auction them off! 

When Lotus went bust, the receiver sold them.

That was JEX 590N.

I used to own JEX 591N.

Both were 1975 cars with US Federal bodyshells which Lotus had left over after the April 1974 deadline for exports to the USA. Presumably Lotus had a lot of bits left over and decided to build them up and sell them off before changing over to Esprit production.

[bikenut]

Hi Soulsaver, To respect your privacy I have sent you a private message as there are too many questions to ask here.