Europa or VW kit car?

[Dave240]

Hi guys, I'm a regular on the Lotus Elan forums, but decided to make an account for this possible Europa related question.

Someone tipped me off that there was a Lotus Europa for sale, sitting oddly on top of an old shipping container in a town close to where I live. The guy who told me about it didn't know anything about the car other than that he spotted it when he was in the industrial area. I used my detective skills and based on Google Street View, tracked the owner of the car down. He doesn't actually know much about the car, other than it doesn't run. He said he didn't know what a Lotus Europa was, but the car he had was in fact a Volkswagen Manta kit car. I looked up the Manta and it looks nothing like this car.

Here are some screen grabs from Google Street View, sorry for the poor quality.





He said the body is totally fiberglass and the underside of the car has also been entirely glassed in. He also said a previous owner had tried, unsuccessfully, to make the doors open gullwing style. To me, that front looks very Europa-like. The rear wheel arches definitely don't look like a regular Europa though.

Did someone make a Europa knock off based on a VW platform? Any other theories?

[EuropaTC]

My guess would be a kit car, although I don't recall any UK kits where the floorpan was completely covered by fibreglass, I thought they just dropped a fibreglass bodyshell onto the VW floorpan.   

The windscreen seems too upright and the door windows too chunky for a mold taken off a Europa body, but of course in the kit car world anything goes and someone could easily have taken a front end design and mated it to something else entirely ?

Your post brings back a few memories;  VW kits were very popular over here and I can remember drooling over a VW Nova that a mate had back in the early 70s, thinking it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and really wanting one.  It was probably just as well I couldn't afford it then....

Brian

[LotusJoe]

The wheels are definitely VW. Looks like it has a large rear window like a coupe or something. It kind of looks like a Brazilian Puma??

[cal44]

Welcome Dave,

If you can get it below dirt cheap I reckon there isn't much to lose.  You never know, there could be something you can't see and you could make a few bucks. 
Get on it........an extension ladder. 
Report back, I love a story since my life is nothing but reruns and warmed over pasta.

mike

[Dave240]

Looks like it is a VW afterall. I don't think I have any interest in taking on such a project. I've seen a lot of other VW kit cars and... well... they aren't for me. Up close they always look pretty nasty! Thanks for your help though. I still would like to add a Europa to my Lotus collection one day though!

[digby]

Sorry I have no idea what the car is.  However, the VW Nova was also the car of my dreams when I was much younger. That fiberglass thing really gets under your skin 

[EuropaTC]

 

That's the one !!!   

The one I lusted after was a different colour but the same massive slot mag wheels (wolfrace ??) and no doubt very little real-world practicality. It didn't even bother me when John (the owner) told me that everywhere got soaked if you had to get in or out when it was raining. That's youth for you...

Brian

[LotusJoe]

Dave420,
I'm now obsessed with finding out more about this car. I have scoured the internet looking at VW kit car pictures but have not found any that look like the one you found. Any way you get more pictures or information from the owner? 

[Bainford]

I have scoured the internet looking at VW kit car pictures but have not found any that look like the one you found. 

Yeah, I've spent a fair bit of time doing the same this morning. I'm wondering if it's a one-off.

Oh, and welcome to the forum, Dave. It's good to have you aboard.

[digby]

Hi Guys,
Just love a challenge so I have also spent far too much time on the WEB. Found this which I think is the car its called an Avenger GT, but looking at other photos of the Avenger I'm not so sure. On the bright side the owner also has a Europa S2.

http://www.ratropa.com/vintage.html

Richard

[cal44]

The single head light has me confused.  But I think Fiberfab is a good choice.  Remember Kellison made kit cars as well.

mike

[LotusJoe]

I think it may be a Fiberfab Aztec

[Dave240]

Hmm that green Aztek looks very close. I'll try to get some better photos of it. A member of the Lotus Elan forum I'm on actually drove by it today totally inadvertently, so maybe I'll ask him to get some pics to solve the mystery! Good sleuth work so far!

[whcgt]

Hi, what you have there is a very rare & desirable race car, known as a Sportee Monno GT. Silver Star Industries, Lethbridge Alberta, Canada. Powered by a VW engine, very,very, few made, highly sought after in the vintage scca racing community. Ted Mrochen from Montana, owned & raced a Sportee Monno GT back in the 1960's & won a scca road racing championship, with the car.

[whcgt]

I want the car. This truly is an OMG moment, finally a Sportee Monno GT has been located, after all these years of searching.