Raised nose on Series 2

[ACW270]

Dear All,
I read in Matthew Vale's excellent book 'Lotus Europa Colin Chapman's mid-engine masterpiece', table P69, that in order to produce the Type 54 Federal and Type 65:

Front damper and spring assembly - raised front end to give the car a 'legal' headlamp height -  From Chassis 2584
Front wishbones - raised front end to give the car a 'legal' headlamp height  - From Chassis 2584
New bodyshell (front) to give a legal 24-inch headlamp height  - From 70001.030001

Two questions come to mind:
What was the total increase in height?
If I am looking at a RHD-from-birth Type 54, will it have the original lower nose or did UK cars get some of the 'improvements'?

[jbcollier]

AFAIK all RHD 54s have "low" headlight height and no shenanigans were employed.  Some federal 65s were converted to RHD to get rid of surplus.  These had the 65/TC redesigned front end with higher headlights.

[BobW]

In LHD, 54/2885 has the 'low' headlamps. From the registry, 2584 would have been on the production line in 1969, maybe in November. After that number, the registry suggests that US customers got the 65 while ROW continued to get the 54. About when was the last Type 54 built?

[BobW]

As usual, I've posted without enough thought    In this case, I went to my bookshelf. Classic and Sportscar's "Lotus File" says that the 1565 engine and increased ride height started in the USA from chassis 54/1066. These cars apparently did not have the revised body shell of the Type 65 but did have the front suspension changes. The book confirms that the Type 65 came in during November 1969, and that the Type 54 was phased out in September 1971.

[jbcollier]

No 54 had the front shape of the 65/TC.  Headlight height was raised by inverted lower a-arms, longer springs or funky headlight pods.

[ACW270]

Thank you for the info.  I thought it must be a relatively minor change, as it often looks like the perceived difference is the camera angle rather than the car.  I did find a helpful graphic, attached.

[jbcollier]

Those are UK figures.  The 65s, federal 54s and federal TC/S were higher off the ground at the front.

[califkid_66]

The raise front on federal was to pass dot i heard many stories even lotus making light pods to solve the problem of heights for the headlights heard of them never saw them anywhere until a couples of weeks ago  they do exist !!

[jbcollier]

Yup, the Feds made them recall the "federal" 54s to fit the pods.  Maybe they were fitted but almost none stayed fitted.

[ACW270]

Amazing!  I have never seen the light pods mentioned in any publication before.  Please remind me NOT to fit them to any car I may own in the future. 

[BDA]

I think those light pods are collectors items now.

[lotusfanatic]

Hello Califkid,

Thanks for the photograph, it's difficult to picture all of the later Europas as 'bug-eyed' cars!

Mark

The raise front on federal was to pass dot i heard many stories even lotus making light pods to solve the problem of heights for the headlights heard of them never saw them anywhere until a couples of weeks ago  they do exist !!