Thanks for all the compliments!
So far I am just shy of 3 years on the build, but I bought the first shell in 2012. I bought a second car for some of the parts that I was missing and a 99 Miata that was stripped except for the suspension and steering column. It took me until 2015 for my parts stash to reach critical mass so that I could get going.
My interest in the Europa started back when I was in high school. My best friend had one of the first 240Zs to come into the US and while everyone else was cruising around in muscle cars we were rocking the Z! One afternoon we came up behind the first Europa that I had ever seen. Black with fender flares and wide tires. We chased him down the Main Street of our town well above the speed limit, suddenly he took almost a 90 degree left turn, we could only wave at him, there was no way the Z was making it! I’ve wanted a Europa since that moment!!
Because of the Grassroots Magazine Challenge, I got into putting big motors in little cars. I’ve done an RX7 with a Chevy 350, a 5.0 Miata, an LT1 Porsche 944, 2 - LS1 Miatas and a LS1 Spitfire. The Europa seemed like a natural progression! I also liked the fact that while you can find hundreds of V8 Miatas, there are only a handful of V8 Europas and very little information can be found on those! I also like that the GKN car used the Rover V8, which was an aluminum GM designed engine, so technically the LS engines share som DNA with that one! (May be a stretch but go with me !
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