Of course the ideal situation is to look at the car in person and bring an expert along. That is if you are lucky enough to live in an area where Europas actually show up for sale. I live in South Florida and have been following Europa sales a couple times a week for the last five years. During those five years, a total of 3 have showed up for sale in Florida: a S1a which sold locally for $27,500 and went to the UK; a Frankenstein S2 which barely looked like a Europa in Tampa on eBay; and very clean 1974 Black TCS which sold for for $26,500 in Jacksonville. During the 12 months I was looking for a Europa for purchase, the only Florida car available was the '74 Black TCS and by the time I called about it, it was sold. My only choice was to look nationally.
My budget did not include flying in with an expert to a couple of different cities in the U.S. But as a college professor, I know how to research and to ascertain due diligence. There were about 15 Europas available nationally at the time. I narrowed my search to three. I requested Vin numbers and copies of the Titles of those cars and course lots of photos and videos. From the vehicle titles, I was able to obtain the names of the most recent previous owners and via the internet I was able to contact them by telephone. I figured they had no reason not to be honest because their cars were already sold. I ran searches on all three Vin numbers and found previous times the cars were for sale and a fair amount of useful information. One of the cars, the previous owner had an actual website dedicated to its restoration, pages of information. Two of the cars were also documented on lotus-europa.com giving me even more information.
When I finally decided on the one I wanted, I wrote Andy Graham at Lotus Archives and asked him to email the information so I could get it ASAP to verify what I might actually purchasing. When he emailed me back he told me that my TCS was one of nine painted in L14 Colorado Orange. I was happy with my choice. I had researched the dealer, researched the car, spoken to the previous owner, and researched the seller who sold it to the previous owner. The car had spent all of its driven life in California with a stop in Texas on its way to the Classic Car dealership in Ohio who specialized in Exotics and had only positive reviews. Yes there are shady people who sell crappy cars on eBay and Craigslist but that doesn't mean that there are not legitimate dealers or sellers on sites like on BAT where experts do chime in. As a matter of fact, I have seen members of this forum chime in on discussions during the bidding of Europas on BAT. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe due diligence paid off. Just my opinion, that is what makes this forum great.
