This is my yellow Europa S2 that was owned by Lotus for nearly two years and was used to develop the shape of the Twin Cam model. I have owned this car since 1980 and have only recently found out who cut off those rear fins!

Nick.

 

Note: If you've come here expecting to see full details of a red 1970 Europa S2 being advertised for £5,995 then this is not that car and it has nothing to do with me. It's refering to the car of the previous owner of this domain name, probably from 2008.

 

A brief history of Lotus Europa S2, XNG176H

This car was owned by Lotus for nearly two years and was used to develop the shape of the Twin Cam model. Its chassis/body number is 7002040032R indicating the build was started in February 1970, production batch number 04, unit number 0032 and the R that it was a Federal Europa Type 65 destined for the US market. Records show that the car build was completed on the 12th March 1970. As far as I can tell it never left the UK and was registered locally as XNG176H on the 15th May 1970. For that period the NG in the number plate denotes it was registered in the Norwich area, and the H is for 1970. The original log book shows that it was first registered to Lotus Cars Ltd and was signed for by F.W. Miles. I have seen this name on other log books for Lotus owned cars. Interestingly or strangely the original log book has this as 54/0032R, i.e. a Type 54. Either this was a mistake as the person registering the car wasn't used to this or deliberate as they knew it was going to be changed later. When this project was finished the car was converted to the UK RHD S2 specification complete with the fins reattached and sold to a Lotus dealer for resale on the 14th January 1972. The car had 5 private owners up until I bought it in September 1980. The first indication of mileage is on a MOT certificate in August 1976 stating 42,770 miles, with the total mileage being 52,000 miles by 1980.

 

A close cousin, Lotus Seven, XNG177H

I was checking the DVLA website for cars and this green Lotus Seven was registered right after the Europa. I wonder if it also was owned by Lotus? There's a good chance that it's still around as it has been SORNed and the last change of V5C (logbook) was 19th April 2012.

 

A closer look at the front view photograph

 

General thoughts

The car looks in good condition but has been used, the black strip of the lower sill shows this. The car is about 11 months old at this stage, 7 months since it was registered for the road, although it could have been used on the test track before then. Note the two air direction strings after the front wheel arch showing they are protected by the wind. The air direction strings on the body are black and on the windscreen they are white. The tyres have that dirty grey look on the sides and in the treads you get when there is salt on the road in a UK winter.

 

Fins removed

At the rear the fins (or buttresses) have been removed and are level with the engine cover. More on this and its effects in the rear view photographs.

 

LHD drive and two windscreen wipers / Direct glazed windscreen / Side reflector

This is a Federal Europa Type 65 and had not been converted yet to the UK specification. It seemed strange at first that the car used to develop something in the UK would be left hand drive but I suspect there were a few of these stacked up unsold.

 

Left hand side door mirror / Right hand side wing mirror

This seemed a strange combination to me at first but I would think it was to help driving a LHD car in the UK.

 

UK road tax disc

It was a legal requirement (up until October 2014) to display the road tax disc in the windscreen to show that the car was taxed. This tax disc expires at the end of April 1971 so the photograph was taken within the car's first year, probably January or February 1971. More information on the date later.

 

 

Recesses for lights?

When you look at these they do look like recesses for fog or driving lights similar to those fitted to the Lotus +2S of the time but there are no lights installed. I suppose the lights could have been removed for the wind tunnel test or not even fitted yet. For a while I thought they could have been air intake ducts because of the dark shape behind the letter H in the number plate looks like a continuation of the duct into the nose area. The issue with this is that the recess on the left just doesn't look like there is a through hole.

 

 

Front right wheel close up

I'm guessing that the writing on the wheel close to the tyre valve is something to do with the air pressure but I can't decipher it. It looks like the hub cap is covering some of the writing as well.

 

 

Rod in windscreen?

The sun visor to the left of the tax disc is down and appears to be holding up a rod that runs from the top of the dash. I wonder what this was for?