Lotus 62 ISH

[61Elite]

I have recently finished work on a car I call a Lotus  62 ISH.  I have been working on it for about 2 1/2 years.  Started out with a 1984 Esprit Turbo.  Frame was shortened 2 inches and narrowed 5 inches.  I picked up a derelict Europa body that a friend had hanging in his garage, and  it all took off from there.  After about 90 yards of glass mat and 50 gallons of resin;  a little thought and a lot  of sanding,  here is what I came up with.  The original 62 (2 were built) was raced in 1968, and was the test vehicle for the 900 series engines, used in the Jensen Healey and the Esprit.  One car is in California and the other in Japan.  Fortunately,  Alex Bollinger was gracious enough to send photos of his car, and with those in hand plus internet photos, I was able to work out the general shape of the car.  Of course compromises had to be made, since the original  62 was on a space frame  and my car was on the Esprit frame.  Also the 62 shared very few parts with the Europa.  The plan right now is to make it to the LOG this year.  Actually, my car has very little Europa content.  Basically, some of the fiberglass and doors.  The rest is Esprit, but it is almost all Lotus.  It really drives well, with the 2.2 liter engine and 5 speed gearbox.  I just thought the group might like to see it.

[SwiftDB4]

Wow, what an accomplishment! Nice job merging an Espirit and a Europa, but definitely a 62 look.

[BDA]

Wow is right!! That's exquisite! I'd certainly like to see more pictures of it!

I'm curious why you didn't convert one of Richard's 62 bodies. Did you think it was going to be too expensive to ship it across the pond or just as much work or was it because you don't have enough to do or you like a challenge? Did you do all the fabrication work on it?

Also, did you use the All Bright molding for your windshield trim?

You will definitely cause a stir at the LOG! Your car is amazing and you should be really proud of it!

[JR73]

Wow again!!
You've done a fantastic job of capturing the original 62 body shape there, that's the best 62 replica I've ever seen.
Also love that you've used the Esprit running gear, inspired and what a great link to the original 2!
I agree with BDA, more pics would be great.

[dakazman]

Triple WOW, the mods you accomplished are beyond belief. Well done.
Going back to the pictures again to just take them in.
Dakazman

[GavinT]

Just fabulous. (there's a word that doesn't get used enough these days)

Is that a fuel filler in the bonnet?

[lotusfanatic]

Superb!
what a creation, blending parts from two different Lotus models!

[surfguitar58]

Fantastic! There are some awesome builds going on in this forum, and yours is a benchmark for us all. Would love to hear more details on the build process if you’re willing to write them up. Great job!

[61Elite]

Thanks to all for the kind comments.  It is a really enjoyable project, but a little frustrating at times. In answer to a few questions: 1) the Banks 62 doesn’t really “look” like a 62  to me, and to use it as a basis for my car would have entailed cutting most of it away.  Also,  the shell I found was priced right, as in free. 2)The windshield trim was purchased from R D Enterprises.  He supplied most of the Europa odds and ends I needed. It’s a lot of fiddly  work to install, but my wife and I managed to get it done, 3) I fabricated a new fuel tank and located it in the front boot area.  The filler cap is from my parts bin (Elan) and had it rechromed.
I don’t have a lot of pictures.  I got so wrapped up in the build, I neglected to take as many as I should have.  Besides, my shop is not that photogenic.  However, here are a few as the project got underway. No pictures of the frame mods. I cut off the front Tee section and shortened the width by 5 inches.  I just cut the 5 inches out of the center and welded it back together.  The frame was shortened 2 inches by trimming the front of the forward box section. Then welded it all back together.  Basically the same way it was originally built.  This left the engine mounts and shift linkage as stock Esprit.  At the rear, I relocated the rear diagonal brace inward on each side and relocated the upper control arm mount inward 2 ½ inches on each side. That is really the only frame mods that were done.
The Europa body had been seriously cut up by the PO (he was going to make a roadster). The top had been cut off and the tail had been chopped off.  The rear firewall was completely gone. Not for the faint of heart. The up side was, that I could drop the shell on the frame wherever I wanted and make it fit the frame, and install bobbins just about anywhere to get a good fit frame to body.  I really don’t fit in a stock Europa.  I am just too tall.  My new cars’ wheelbase is about 4 inches longer than a Europa. This would give me a little more room for my legs and size 13 shoes.  It’s still tight.
To form the new body, I went to the woodshop and made mirror image templates of the shape I wanted.  I had superimposed life-size images on the wall of an S2 Europa and an original 62 to see the differences and make the needed changes. These templates were screwed and glued to the existing Europa body.  I then glued thin strips of ¼” plywood to the frame/body to give a rough form of the “new” bodywork.  Next step was to sculpt the form of the 62 over this structure.  I used drywall compound.  1) it’s cheap 2)it can be sanded easily, 3) very thin layers can be added or removed.4) downside is that it takes forever to dry.  I had used expanding foam on previous projects, but it is more difficult to modify if you make a mistake. The last picture is the "drywall" car. That’s enough for now.

[BDA]

 Very interesting! You did an amazing job! Thanks for the details of how you built it. If I understand you, you made molds from the drywall car, made new body parts and grafted them to the remains of the Europa shell. Just a brilliant job!

[Bainford]

 Outstanding craftsmanship!! A simply fantastic Type 62 replica.

[61Elite]

After the car was shaped to its’ final form, and completely dry, it was sealed with cheap paint,  waxed thoroughly, and a couple layers of fiberglass laid over to form a mold.  Originally I planned to make a multiple piece mold for the front, but finally went with a one piece mold.  That meant I would have to make several cuts in the mold to get the finished part back out of the mold.  Getting the headlight buckets out was the most difficult part.  The rear mold consisted of the flared rear wings, which would be bonded to the original Europa glass.
After the molds were cured and removed from the car,  they were cleaned up and the “new” body was laid up in the molds.  As I said, the front mold had to be cut up a bit to get the finished piece out, but  then I only needed to make one part. Next step was remove all the drywall compound and framing, before fitting the new parts to the car. What followed was a lot of fitting trimming, and smoothing out the new body.  I re-contoured the lower rocker panels to eliminate the flange at the bottom, and bonded the engine cover to the rear deck to make it a one piece part. I put three coats of Featherfill on the body to level it. I used alternating colors so I could see the high and low spots. At this point,  the body was fully functional, with hinge locations, and panel gaps where I wanted them.
When I was satisfied with it, I took the body off the frame and to my paint guy.  He did some final prep work and paint.  Then the body was stored in my trailer until I was ready for it. 
Then it was time to clean up the frame.  Frame was sandblasted  and painted body color. It was really nasty .  When I bought the car, it had been sitting for twenty years.  The box sections were full of acorns and mouse nests.  Fortunately when I shortened the frame, it exposed the open ends and I was able to really clean the inside of the box sections. 
Engine was rebuilt with 10.5:1 Carrillo pistons.  Other than that, it was pretty much stock.  Transmission needed new output seals and input shaft.  The center section of the body was dropped on and bolted to the frame.  I made a new wiring harness, and Esprit gauges were rebuilt by Nisongers. The rest of the assembly was pretty much straightforward, and the front and rear clamshells were the last to be installed.
As of now, I have about 200 miles on the car. I am still sorting out spring rates and shock settings, but am very happy with the cars’ performance.

[BDA]

Very interesting and clever! Did you use Esprit suspension bits such as the rear uprights, shocks, etc. or did you get them elsewhere? I assume the front is stock Esprit. Did you keep the Esprit geometry or did you try to replicate the 62 geometry?

[Certified Lotus]

Amazing work. Very nice!

[JR73]

Really like how you have retained the majority of the stock Esprit components - moving the mounting points in to alter the track to suit your shell is inspired, fairly simple but effective way of retaining the original suspension geometry. I assume it handles just like an Esprit?!
I see you have the Citroen Gearbox and inboard rear discs - i bet the clam makes getting to everything even easier again?!

Totally agree that the Banks 62 doesn't look like the original, yours on the other hand really does.