Hello, my name is Klaus and I'm located near Cologne in Germany. I'm into Lotus since the early 90ties.
I started with a Europa S1A which I bought thinking it was an S2 as it had the later doors. I restored it including fitting a new chassis. Restoring and driving the S1 was really a special experience. Back then without internet etc. there was little to no knowledge about this car around. Although I tried really hard I never managed to let it run fully straight on high speeds, brake sufficiently without locking the fronts too early or stay cool in traffic.
But I'm still addicted to its radical concept and its elegant and clean lines. And I like the fact that its styling is not to everybody's taste.
Later I had to sell the car because we were moving house. After some Lotus-less years I re-joined the Lotus crowd starting with a Rover powered Elise S2 111S. Being not a big fan of open top motoring a Lotus Exige S1 project joined the Elise. This is quite a different car with its 180 bhp tuned VHPD Rover engine in a 780kg car. You won't stay unnoticed when driving the car with the 'mini Group C racer' look and the lumpy exhaust note caused by the wild cams. The road holding is even by Lotus standards exceptional.
But I still kept looking for an Europa S1 all the time and nearly bought a nice yellow S1 in France two years ago. But another buyer was quicker than me.
Now two month ago I stumbled across an unrestored true S1 offered for sale in UK which has been imported from the US. After a minor transport damage the original buyer rescinded from the order. So a deal was arranged with the very friendly seller and I brought the car to Germany on a trailer.
I'm very happy with the condition of the car as it is fully original with matching chassis (460230), body (0230) and engine numbers. All the hard to find S1 parts are still present except for the hood fasteners. And most importantly: no one ever tried to restore/improve the car. The chassis looks like it might stay in the car. The engine is running. It has been repainted once from the original Cirrus White to some sort of red (Carnival Red?). The condition of the car looks better in the pictures than it is. But it's the ideal starting point for some careful restoration work while trying to preserve as much as possible of the original substance.
So I'm finally back in Europa S1 ownership
Regards, Klaus
My old S1A during restoration
and as seen out of the back of a friend's S2 heading to Spa back in the nineties.
My Exige S1
An finally the Europa S1
