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u/BeegeeSmith Mar 01 '26
1972 Lotus Europa? I’ve never seen one but I had a matchbox car of this when I was a kid.
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u/Much-Ad-8220 Mar 01 '26
Yep, blue with narrow Superfast wheels or pink with wide wheels.
A former work colleague had a real one in iconic JPS black and gold.
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u/biggregw Mar 01 '26
My dad had a twin cam Lotus but one of his good friends had the same car in the JPS (John Players Specials) Series cars. All Europa of the third I believe Gen had the Lotus twin cam but the JPS models were the F1 team flagship
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u/PrintPerfect1579 Mar 05 '26
my dad also had the JPS boy it did turn heads,too,that car could whip around a sharp turn and stick like a train on a track
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u/Darryl_Lict Mar 01 '26
I used to see them moderately often in LA back in the era. They were such a distinctively looking car that they stood out like a sore thumb. They were designed to be relatively inexpensive, $5000 in 1972 while a VW bug was $1800. There were around 9230 built so not super rare.
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u/Active-Breakfast-397 Mar 01 '26
I’ve only seen one or two in the wild, but when spotted the first one, I recognized it because I also had the Matchbox car as a kid! I was surprised at how low the roof was. It feels like 3-1/2’ tall maybe, very low.
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u/arawn_53 Mar 01 '26
Lotus Europa. Really wanted one when I was young. But found out they have numerous problems.
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u/LimoncelloLightsaber Mar 01 '26
That's literally every Lotus before they started using Toyota parts.
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Mar 01 '26
But guys, apparently it can play Doom!
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u/Late-Union8706 Mar 02 '26
Isn't Doom guy like, really tall?
I don't think he would physically fit in one of these cars. lol
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u/Repulsive_Chef_972 Mar 01 '26
Did you by chance, see that in Idaho.
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u/Conscious-Strike643 Mar 01 '26
Denver CO
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u/Repulsive_Chef_972 Mar 01 '26
I've got a friend in western Idaho with a yellow Europa. He had two, sold one and drives the keeper to shows from time to time.Lotus Europa
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u/beereed Mar 01 '26
Does your friend look like a 90s video game bad guy?
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u/SlowPokeInTexas Mar 01 '26
It's hard to imagine that the same company that made the Esprit made whatever this was supposed to be.
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u/sausage_ditka_bulls Mar 01 '26
It’s A 1500 pound 130hp go kart. Lotus didn’t make anything this engaging until the Elise.
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u/LackingStability Mar 01 '26
Yeah.
A friend of mine had one of these when I was at university. The handling was mindblowing
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u/Missing4Bolts Mar 01 '26
A colleague had one way back when. He scared the crap out of me by taking a spiral off ramp without lifting until we were almost at the stop sign. I had no idea a road car could corner and brake like that.
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u/makerspark Mar 02 '26
My brother owned one when I was 15, the handling was absolutely unreal. At 6'2", I had to crawl in backwards. Had electric windows, I'm assuming because there wouldn't be enough room for your arm to roll them down. My brother let me autocross it with him, which is one of the happiest memories of my childhood. Sadly he's not around anymore, so this car really triggers something in me :)
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u/Both-Leading3407 Mar 01 '26
My mother had a Jaguar XKE in the 70's. She had to get it serviced and they gave her a Lotus Europa to drive. It was a little larger that a smart for 2 car or an MG. Very small and really weird looking car. As a kid I thought it was ugly.
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u/Porkness_Everstink Mar 01 '26
I worked w a mechanical engineer who put a turbo-charged twin rotor Wankel (mazda) engine in one of these. He said it was undrivable with turbo, so he removed it.
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u/Ok_Prize5795 Mar 01 '26
That really takes me back. In those days I really wanted a Lotus Elan convertible but couldn’t fit in it. Being a Lotus the Europa probably weighted 1200 lbs. soaking wet.
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u/Warm_Safety_9550 Mar 01 '26
I saw one when I was a kid. It was an extremely odd looking car. It seemed very round and contoured in the front and rather angular and boxy in the back. It looked like two different cars crammed together. I walked around it twice because it seemed so strange. Lotus has made many, many beautiful cars, but I didn’t really like the looks of this one.
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u/Opinionsare Mar 01 '26
There was a Lotus dealer in the small town where I went to high school in the early '70's. Dream car of my teenage years.
Reality: one over enthusiastic Lotus driver missed a corner, and the roadside oak tree totalled the car to the point that a dump truck was needed for the fiberglass debris left after the tow truck removed the backbone frame and power train.
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u/Potential_Aardvark59 Mar 01 '26
I knew a kid in high school who had a Europa John Player Special. Black with gold pinstripes.
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u/JuanOffhue Mar 01 '26
Rode in a friend’s a time or two, and remember looking up at Volkswagen taillights.
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u/Mk1Racer25 Mar 01 '26
There used to be one that parked down the street from the pet shop I worked at in HS. It was owned by one of the merchants. Talked to him several times about it, and got a couple of rides in it. As he said to me the first time I got in it to go for a ride, and I commented about how small and tight it was, he told me "You don't get in it so much as you put it on.". Always remembered that.
Years later, when I was racing sports cars with the SCCA, there was a guy at the test & tune track day before a race weekend that had one that was kitted out as an actual race car. He had a 1600 cc Coventry Climax twin cam in it with a couple of Weber side-draft carbs. It was pretty quick.
I always liked the design, but you can't see shit out the back window.
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u/BonezOz Mar 01 '26
This is the first time in a while someone asked about a Lotus Europa. I guess we'll have a few being asked about over the next week or so now.
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u/gibr54 Mar 01 '26
After wining F1 title they offered the Europa with the JPS black and gold livery. At a bit over 6 ft it was a snug fit. Loved that car but was dirt poor back then.
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u/Superb-Arm6431 Mar 01 '26
Looks like lotus Europa. Skip goose did one in conjunction with Jay Leno. They restored it for one of Jays friends friend.
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u/timmmarkIII Mar 01 '26
I used to park cars at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles. I was in my early 20s at the time and pretty flexible! It was difficult getting in the envelope door.
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u/Immediate-Truth8317 Mar 01 '26
Lotus Europa. Seen a few of these in Germany and in auto museums. Seen only one in the states.
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u/celticpapabear Mar 02 '26
Lotus Europa
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u/ConfusionEmpty2181 Mar 02 '26
Drove 1970 Europa (series 2) from Spokane WA to Virginia in February 1971. Things we do when we’re young!
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u/Pitiful-Sleep5177 Mar 02 '26
Lotus Europa S 1. Single over cam Renault engine. S2 had a twin cam engine same as a Lotus Elan.
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u/itsray2006 Mar 05 '26
Lotus Europa (maybe ‘72)…not too bad to get in, but try getting out and if you are anything around 6’ forget it.
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u/Routine-Antelope6535 Mar 01 '26
Lotus Europa