Restoring my 1972 Europe Special

[TrevCooke]

As the Walrus said the time has come......
I own a 1972 Lotus Europa Special. I parked it in my garage in 1982 and left it for fast motorcycles.
Due to the passage of time and several rather severe accidents I have been advised by a doctor not to ride a bike again, so my attention is returning to the Europa.
I know I can get most of the body/chassis parts from Banks Engineering with no problems. The engine/gearbox situation seems rather different. Can anyone advise me where I can get Twin Cam engine parts? The gearbox has been rebuilt before I parked the car but they are known to be fragile. Can anyone advise me as to a replacement?

Thanks in Advance

Trevor Cooke

[Mustard]

www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk is probably your best bet for parts and advice

[LotusNova]

Are you dead set on restoring it as original? If not you could look at these folks:
www.spydercars.co.uk

Whichever path you take, good luck with your project.

[72twink]

Hi Trevor,

The 365 gearbox in your car is probably the strongest of the original gearboxes and if you keep your engine standard will be well up to the job - even in standard form a Big Valve Europa will be quick. The ultimate value of the car as a whole will be greater if it's all original too - but this might not be a factor. If this was my choice (and as you know I've already been there) I'd be restoring what is there and then thinking about modifying or re-engineering once I'd tried the car out to see if anything does fail for your chosen use. I'd probably use the same suplliers too (I still am) Fibreglass services for an ungalvanised original spec chassis (ie straight), Richard Winter for most of the rest, the odd item from Paul Matty and QED for engine parts.

Tony