Down the Road Questions...

[katanaman]

  Okay, I admit it. It's too hot right now, so I'll pose a new question.  Say I want to restore this car, and really put some money into making it authentic (hard to do with that Mazda engine)...  Now, mine apparently has a pewter-looking shift pattern logo that apparently at one time was a cap on the scrungy shift knob.  And I see a black and white logo on the clasps to the seat belt.  Just what colors were involved in the Lotus logos -- I expected yellow and green, but get the impression that the yellow and green logo on the front bonnet might be a replacement, and that my car might have had just black and white ones all over.  What do you know about these logos?  Also, why does my car's 0847R VIN appear to be very abbreviated compared to other S-2s of this era.  I looked at an accounting of VINs and felt that this number closely equated to those 1969 cars (it's called a 1971 on the title), and the nomenclature in the manuals mentions a number range in the 700103000__ and up.  Is this whole car phony?

[Bainford]

I'm not sure when it happened, and I'm far from a Lotus historian, but it seems that sometime during the Europa production run the Lotus badges changed from black/silver to yellow/green. Sometimes when parts or accessories are sold with a Lotus badge on them you have a choice of colour combination (presumably to coincide with the year of your car). Having said that, my mostly original 74 Europa has a yellow/green nose badge, but the steering wheel badge is black/silver... yeah, I guess I'm confused, too. Hopefully someone with actual knowledge will chime in here.

It also seems that the actual year of manufacture of many of these cars does not match the year they are titles as. My car was built in the first half of 73, but was titled in 74 and is therefore called a 74. I've heard stories of S2 Europas titled well after the release of the Twin Cams, even though the S2s were built earlier, and therefore officially became, say, a 72, though they may have been built in 71 or 70. If your car was built in 69, it wouldn't surprise me that it was first titled in 71, and is therefore referred to as a 71 from there on out.

What I really wanted to comment on was the suggestion regarding a proper restoration (and by restoration I mean returning the car to original specification and condition) on your car. If you have a strong desire to restore a Europa, start with a complete car. Restorable Europas are very reasonably priced and decent ones are out there. The time and money spent scrounging bits will quickly add up. Your car is a very interesting project, and I realise your frustration with your Europa is building up, but from what I've read about your car I would think that it is not a good candidate for a proper restoration. However, your Europa is a very cool project that unfortunately got bodged somewhere during the process. I believe the job of getting your car on the road will be made much easier if you are not limited to confines of specification set forth by Lotus at the time your car was built. Things like switches, wiring, gauges, plumbing, etc, if it seems dodgey or suspect, should just be ripped out and replaced with locally procured auto parts store replacements, or whatever it takes to keep your project moving forward. You have a cool project there, and I'm anxious for you to get it moving under its own power. What you really need right now is a success or two in your efforts to make this happen, so as to renew your vigor and inspiration. I'm wishing you the very best of luck in doing so.  Cheers

[cal44]

First, sign off with at least a first name.  No more dessert until I get a first name.

Your car was invoiced 3/17/71, model S2 65, Paint L05

0847R is your Vin.  Where you see longer numbers, this applies to parts ordering, model number ect.

Do yourself a favor...........trailer it home. 

Best Regards,
Mike

[Bainford]

Do yourself a favor...........trailer it home. 

This is probably the best advice yet. Once the car is sitting comfortably in your own yard you will have a much better prospective on the project as a whole.

[EuropaTC]

Now, mine apparently has a pewter-looking shift pattern logo that apparently at one time was a cap on the scrungy shift knob.  And I see a black and white logo on the clasps to the seat belt.

If you're talking about a small (1/2" ?) diameter logo on the top of the wooden gear knob then that sounds original. My TC was the same and I'm 100% sure it was what the car came with.  My Europa wears the Lotus logo on the gearshift now, but that's because I put it there and I think they came with the shift pattern emblem as standard (UK at least, might be different on the run-out models). My seat belts don't have any badges or logos.

Just what colors were involved in the Lotus logos -- I expected yellow and green, but get the impression that the yellow and green logo on the front bonnet might be a replacement, and that my car might have had just black and white ones all over.  What do you know about these logos?

Welcome to a can of worms......   Everyone you talk to will have a different version of badge history and personally I think that's because Lotus just used whatever came to hand at the time. My take is from the UK Club Lotus magazines which were mostly written by Graham Arnold who was the sales manager with Lotus in the period and had loads of anecdotes about what actually went on at the time.

He wrote that the black badge episode came about because he (GA) wanted something different on an Elan he was having for a company car. The suppliers offered a cheaper badge with black/chrome instead of the yellow/green/chrome so he bought some for use on his personal cars.  Chapman saw the badge, found out it was cheaper and so the rest went on to production cars. 

Jim Clark died in '68, reportedly just after the first black badge and so when the next car went for magazine road testing with a black badge on it, they said it was in memory of Jim Clark.  That got printed and for a short while all Elans came out with black badges. The cynic in me says they used black badges until Graham Arnold's stock was used up !  I think (note think) the black badges were on S4 Elans & +2's in the late 68/69 era, I don't recall seeing a Europa with one although they were in the right time period.

Is this whole car phony?

  No, it's just been subjected to an enthusiastic DPO who obviously had more enthusiasm than skill. One thing you learn about these cars is never to be surprised at what you find. They're all around 40yrs old, many owners and every one has "improved" the car along the way !  Some upgrades are good, some not so good....

Brian