New Member 54/2384

[Murramor]

Hi All

My name is Ron Murrell and I live in Sydney, Australia.  My car is an S2 which I bought second hand in 1971, and I've owned and driven it on 3 continents for the last 42 years.  It is in generally good condition with a few small bubbles in the paint which I know about but the general observer doesn't seem to notice.  It still has the original chassis and engine block but I have fitted a crossflow head and a 5 speed gearbox from a R16 TX and Quaife diff.  A couple of days ago, I finally got the gear linkage, which had to be modified at the rear to fit the 385 gearbox, sorted out.  It now shifts beautifully - no play and not too much effort. 

A few pictures below.

regards
Ron
54/2384

[EuropaTC]

Hi Ron,

Firstly, hello and welcome to the forum. I think you must be the first member from Australia, or at least yours is the first post I've seen from that part of the world.

42 yrs is some record and your car looks great, there's some neat engineering going on underneath that fibreglass bodywork which does you credit. I'm always fascinated when I hear people say "I fitted xxx gearbox and then worked out a new linkage" because to me that's very impressive. I'm an ex-engineer myself but things like that are usually well beyond my imagination so it's all the more interesting to meet folks who can do these things.

Catch ya later

Brian (Lincolnshire, UK)

[Murramor]

Thanks for the comments.  It is still my baby after all these years and I get so much fun out of trying to get all the small things right and then taking it for a long drive.  Much more satisfying than the Porsches that I used to have as they were so difficult to tinker with. Next thing is to get the windscreen fit right!

We regularly get 5 or 6 Europa together for a run in Sydney and, there is a Twin cam in the same street 75 metres away from here.  We are slowly tracking them down!  This morning I saw a green Europa done up as a 62 but by the time I was able to go around the block to get his details, he was gone.

When I bought the car in England and drove it there for 15 months, it was registered as NTM499H .  When I took it back to South Africa they took my logbook so the records of my ownership only go back to 1973.  Do you happen to know whether the DVLA has records that go back that far?  It is a small thing but it would be nice to have the complete record for my kids when they inherit it - hopefully in another quarter century!

regards
Ron
54/2384

[EuropaTC]

Hi Ron,

I'm amazed there are that many Europas moving about over there ! I very rarely see one other than at classic car shows although I know a few guys still use them daily.

DVLA - well it can be a mixed bag. I contacted them a couple of years ago because they have a service where for £5 they will send you any details they have on your car. I haven't done it for the Europa because I bought it off the original owner back in the 80s, but I did for my Elan, which was 9yrs old and had 3 or 4 previous owners before I got it.

I ended up with lots of stuff, the original registration details, ownerships, transfers, etc, and on balance it was worth my fiver. I also got details about a Hillman Avenger as well, so maybe they aren't so clued up or pay enough attention to detail as they should !

This is a starter for you  https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla

There's also Andy Graham, the Lotus Archivist. He doesn't post on this forum but is quite active on Lotuselan.net. He's very helpful on Elans and confirmed some details regarding engine numbers, original spec, etc. Again the problem is with non-computerised records, some things just aren't there any more so it's another lottery. 

Lotus are now doing an official "certificate of provenance" thing  (http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/ownership/certificate-provenance) but in my case I just contacted him directly on his email via the web forum and he emailed me the details for nothing, I think he's a genuine enthusiast for the older cars and likes to know how they're doing.  (agraham@lotuscars.co.uk)

Brian

[cal44]

Dang Ron.................sweet ride.  Love your attention to detail.

mike

[Bainford]

Welcome to the forum, Ron. Your Europa is gorgeous and the the details are very tidy indeed. I'm very impressed with your record of ownership and that you've been driving the old girl all these years. Kudos to you. Cheers mate, and thanks for posting.

[3929R]

Sweet ride!