Lotus Europa JPS Special

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Launched in 1966, the Lotus Europa was the first mass production, mid-engine road car and was based on a prototype built to compete for a Ford contract to build a LeMans race car in the early 1960s. 

Exemplifying Colin Chapman's design philosophy of "simplify, then add lightness," it used a minimalist steel backbone chassis while also relying on a low drag fibreglass body for structural strength. Developed in a wind tunnel, this gave the Europa a drag factor of just 0.29 with its long, low roofline and an abrupt rear end inspired by the Ferrari 'Bread Van' racer.

The 4-wheel independent suspension was typical of Chapman's thinking, the rear suspension consisting of two relatively large trailing arms, one lower locating link per side, the axles being used as upper locating links, very similar to Formula racing car designs of that era. The resultant astonishing roadholding prompted road testers to describe the Europa as the nearest thing to a race car for the road.

The first Series 1 cars were fitted with a modified Renault 16 1,470cc 82bhp engine and a 4-speed gearbox. By 1971 this had given way to a 126bhp Lotus/Ford Twin Cam 1,558cc unit that was good for 0–60 in 7.0 seconds with a top speed of 125mph.

In 1972 a ‘big valve’ Special came out with a 5-speed gearbox that could hit 60mph in just 6.6 seconds yet still return 25-30mpg economy, the most desirable of these cars being painted in black and gold John Player Special livery in a nod to the sponsors of the Lotus F1 cars. In all, around 9,300 Europas were built between 1966 and 1975.

Built in December 1972 and sold to first owner Mr S Izzi by The Trophy Garage of Edinburgh in January 1973, this JPS Special had three further owners before being acquired by a Mr Atkinson in 1982 who was to keep it for the next 24 years. During his ownership the car underwent a full chassis up restoration between 1983 and 1988 (receipts on file) before being properly mothballed and put into storage.

The current owner acquired the car in 2006 and used it on classic car runs and shows. Over the winter of 2008/09 the engine was removed and totally re-built including fitting a new water pump, cam chain and clutch (photos on file). The interior was fully retrimmed with Yarwood stone leather to closely match the original oatmeal vinyl at a cost of £1,800.

It was later on SORN for a short spell and the engine head was removed and converted to run on unleaded fuel in April 2013 at a cost of over £600. It is now said to drive superbly and has won several trophies at classic car shows between 2007 and 2009.

In short this is an original numbers matching car still on the original (restored) factory chassis which has been kept to original Lotus specs using all original Lotus parts wherever possible. All numbers have been checked and verified by the Lotus archivist and a certificate of provenance is in the history file. The car has 13 MOTs dating back to 1980 to verify that the indicated mileage of 66,800 is genuine.

AMENDMENT: HPI and Experian record that this car had a colour change from Bronze to Black in April 1979. This is incorrect. The car is a genuine JPS Special that was manufactured in Black and has sufficient documentary evidence to warrant this.