1974 Lotus Other

Coupe

Manual

Clear

Gasoline

Very original, unrestored, low mileage, 5-speed Europa for auction. Just brought out of an extended stay under a car cover in original owner's garage about one year ago. It is rare to find an unmodified example like this. I have done significant mechanical work to bring it back to being a reliable fun to drive car. It starts, runs and handles great, as it should. The engine has gobs of torque and it takes practice to not squeal the tires all the time. I have driven the car in stop and go traffic on 110 degree Texas days and there was no sign of overheating so the cooling system is working well. The one piece fiberglass body shows no signs of ever being in an accident and a very low amount of spider cracking in the gell coat. The paint is in remarkable condition for it's age. Not perfect by any means but nice enough it would be a shame to repaint it. The interior is also in fantastic condition. No damage or wear to the vinyl anywhere. Only the cracked finish on the wood dash would give away that this is a 36 year old car. Everything works, even the power windows and seat belt retractors. Still has the original stainless wiper blades too. Glass, chrome and stainless trim is all perfect except for the 'LOTUS' letters on the tail which show some oxidation. I have not found any rust anywhere on the car other that surface rust on the top of the twin steel gas tanks. In general the car is completely stock except for mechanical parts replacement. That being said, here's what has been done. Any removed parts of any significance come with the car as does original tool kit, jack, car cover, owner's and shop manual. ) replace all fuel lines and filter and rebuild the fuel pump and twin stromberg carburetors Carbs were balanced and engine was tuned. ) remove brake boosters and install new smaller bore master cylinder to compensate. also replaced rear brake cylinders. ) refresh engine, mostly to resolve leaks: work consisted of removing eng/transaxle from car, disassembling, replace all seals, gaskets and water pump. Cylinder head was professionally redone with new exhaust valves, all springs and a modern 3-angle grind. Transaxle had all seals replaced. Clutch was fine and was refitted. ) all cooling system hoses and thermostat replaced. ) new tires and battery ) replaced original exhaust with an expensive all stainless unit. Not sure why, I just hated to put the old cast iron manifold back on and the tubular headers look so much better. The only actual mechanical issue the car has is that the transaxle is still leaking even after replacing all the seals. Worst is the rear case to main case joint. I believe the fix would be to remove this cover and reseal the joint. It mostly leaks while sitting in the garage so I keep a pan under this spot and top up the level occasionally. No significant leaks from the engine. Other than this the only thing this car needs to be a 10 is a refinished dashboard and some fresh paint. There shouldn't be too much body work involved in the repaint other than spider repair and block sanding. On Apr-24-10 at 12:09:55 PDT, seller added the following information:I also have the car for sale locally and reserve the right to end the auction at any time.On Apr-25-10 at 09:22:49 PDT, seller added the following information:Just so that transaxle leak I mentioned isn't left open ended. I drove the car yesterday and then placed a clean piece of cardboard underneath. 24hrs later there was one drop of gear oil on it.On Apr-30-10 at 07:40:50 PDT, seller added the following information:Wanted to add that I have put 2000 miles on the car since doing all work mentioned above, so it has not just been sitting. It has been completly reliable on these drives.On Apr-30-10 at 15:43:15 PDT, seller added the following information:Forgot to mention in the cylinder head work that valve guides and cam bearings were replaced in addition to the parts previously mentioned.