My Lotus addiction began with an Eclat with the 907, kinda horded 907 parts, unfortunately it was stolen. Recovered, however the federal bumper and front turn lights are missing. I have been in touch with Lotus bits. I want a UK style front bumper and front turn lights.
I found triplets- 1970 Lotus Europa's- all S2's. I bought them. One is home. Two are in the process or coming home. Two are complete, one Runs on an 807 Renault engine(had a Warnke or Warne intake in the boot, believe it is missing parts). One is all there but is an erecta-set. Late in the going, an additional body was found on a tube chassis. I am looking at possibly buying the body and tube chassis because- it is a complete body in good shape for $700 and the tube chassis was an aborted attempt to use a Chrysler 2.2 Turbo from an Early Shelby Charger.
I have several Mopar muscle cars. Always loved Lotus's. I had an Esprit when I was 22, it was an S1. It had been an Iranian man's, he left it at Hartsfield International in Atlanta, never came back to get it. It was auctioned and an aircraft mechanic bought it, then unloaded it when Ebay was still unfolding and new. I paid $4400 for the car and got a tag receipt and a bill of sale. Back then that's all you needed to get a title on a pre-86 GA car in NC.
I replaced all belts, I ordered a 907 manual and it came from Paul Spruell of Alfa-Romeo/Fiat/Ferrari in Atlanta. He had gotten some of the manuals and parts when the folks at Bentley had decided to leave the US market.
The biggest pain in the ass was the the Citroen C35 transaxle assembly. That was... Painful. Very painful.
I got into all the grad schools I applied for and I sold the S1 Esprit for $11,000 and it still needed paint and interior trim. There were electrical gremlins. I didn't take out any student loans. I worked on motorcycles and cars thru grad school, and I now regret not taking out $400k in student loans, living it up, and getting student loan forgiveness- silly me and financial responsibility.
The S1/S2 of the Esprit's are now way out of my range.
I found a collector(hoarder ?) who had three complete Europa S2's. And he had intentions of building a TC(Ford type not 907) Europa, he had tried to put a Chrysler 2.2 turbo engine and trans into a Europa, he also sectioned a Europa body and apparently thought he was going to put a 907 in it with the Citroen transaxle. I regret not buying the Citroen C35 transaxle when I was buying his store of Europa parts.
The red car had been raced in the SCCA in Ohio and the NE. In fact of the 3 Europa's the best is in Framingham MA and it runs although poorly. The one he has in Florida has mechanical spares but they are pretty dodgy in terms of the fact he broke the car completely apart and I will be either borrowing a friend's rollback or his box truck and getting the FL car that way.
I've read the thread on here about the crossflow heads and I've seen the Tech Bulletin on the Lotus forum. I cannot justify what I saw the last Gordini engine go for on Ebay, so I hope I am able to find an Aussie and get a crossflow head.
If you want my personal info to verify I am not a Nigerian prince, PM me, I am an open book.
Thanks and all the best.
VME-II
