Author Topic: Good buy?  (Read 284 times)

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Offline marklocklear

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Good buy?
« on: Tuesday,September 27, 2022, 04:17:39 PM »
Hey folks! New member here. Saw the episode of Wheeler Dealers recently and their restoration of a Europa and it peched my interest. I found this one locally on FB Marketplace:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/628142635500264

Just wondering about you alls thoughts on the price. The bits and pieces look to be some nice upgrades, but I don't know these cars and not quite sure what to look for.

I'm also concerned about jumping into a garage full of dissembled parts and trying to put the puzzle back together when I've never worked on one of these before. I'm mostly a motorcycle guy and have build choppers. Car-wise I have wrenched on VW bugs, but never anything frame off.

So two questions; #1-am I getting in over my head and #2-whats this project worth?

Thanks in advance!

Offline BDA

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday,September 27, 2022, 04:30:46 PM »
 :Welcome: marklocklear!!

I am not by any stretch an appraiser but it appears this looks like the start of a nice restoration and includes some very nice parts. It seems to have most of the parts needed but it's hard to tell. I don't think the price is out of line.

Friendly suggestion: Sometimes it's useful to people replying to know where you are. The US is not the most vague location we've seen but it might be helpful to include the area of the US or at least the state.

Offline tedtaylor

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday,September 27, 2022, 05:08:25 PM »
a bargain!!!   if you don't buy it, someone alerted here will.
TED
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owned nearly 50 Lotus cars over the years!
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Online cazman

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday,September 27, 2022, 07:02:40 PM »
This is s good deal, if you have the chops to put it together.
1973 Europa TCS

Offline Richard48Y

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday,September 27, 2022, 08:01:57 PM »
Looks like a very good buy.
A lot of the hard work has already been done.
Unless you insist on a show car do not worry about minor fiberglass flaws.
TC is the most popular model and has the best aftermarket parts support.
Being mid-engine may seem exotic and difficult, but in reality a Europa is a very basic car to work on.
If you can swing the expense of the extra engine I would go for it too.
If not the TC engine has it's quirks but they are well covered on this site.

Offline marklocklear

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday,September 28, 2022, 12:26:45 PM »
Thanks all! I may go out and take a look; and my feelings won't be hurt if someone snaps it up first. I'm always happy to help a project find a good home, but I will certainly let you all know if I take the plunge.

This one is only a couple of hours away: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/743777260009513. Its complete. How would it compare to the other?

Offline BDA

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday,September 28, 2022, 01:07:06 PM »
I couldn't look at both of them side by side because I don't have a FB account. The S2 should be a lot less work.

The seller says the Renault engine is the more desirable engine. That is a matter of opinion (I disagree) as is which body style you might prefer. If you are tall you'd probably be more comfortable in the TC as the interior of the TC is larger than the S2. It looks like a pretty good car and if the seller is telling the truth about the engine and the tranny being gone through, you'd be on the road a lot sooner with the S2.

Once you do get going on the TC, you'd have better performance (the TC should have about 20 more HP than the Renault). According to Wikipedia, the 0 - 60 times are 9.3 vs 6.6 secs.

There are people who prefer both models. I think the major considerations would be how soon do you want to drive it and conversely, how much work do you want to do on it and how much satisfaction would you get from doing that work (I'm going a bit by memory because I couldn't review the TC).

As you saw, the consensus was that I substantially underestimated the value of the TC. From that I would guess that this is an equally good deal to the TC. But then, you know my track record!  :)

Offline marklocklear

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday,September 28, 2022, 02:29:09 PM »
OK, which one of you snapped up the TC???  :beerchug:

Offline Richard48Y

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Re: Good buy?
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday,September 28, 2022, 03:54:49 PM »
I personally prefer the S2 body and lighter weight Renault engine.
The TC makes more power but also appears to have a significantly shorter service interval.
As you may have noticed Europa's that are not derelict sell pretty quickly these days.
There is an S1 available in CA, lots of missing pieces and still $6K.