1966-75 Lotus Europa


A mid-engine layout was used for world-class race cars and exotic road cars in the 1960s. That made England’s Lotus—known mostly for its winning race cars—the first automaker to build a mid-engine road car for the masses with its 1966-75 Europa sports car.

The small, light Europa stood about as high as a child. As with all mid-engine cars, the affordable Europa’s engine was tucked between the passenger compartment and rear wheels for the best balance and handling.

Lotus race cars had world-wide fame by the mid-1960s, partly because a mid-engine Lotus ran away with the Indianapolis 500 in 1965 and largely caused Indy 500 race car builders to abandon their traditional front-engine layout in favor of a mid-engine one.

Lotus founder and owner Colin Chapman was an auto design genius who began building small race cars in the early 1950s. He was pretty much the first to apply extremely lightweight aircraft construction to road and race cars.

Chapman’s first serious road car—the small front-engine 1957-63 Elite weighed only 1,455 pounds. His second was the small front-engine Elan, introduced in 1962. The Elan lasted through 1973 and was copied by Mazda when that Japanese automaker designed its wildly popular Miata sports car, which arrived for 1990.

Despite its fame and international race car championships, Lotus used engines from major automakers—mostly Ford—with Lotus-designed power-enhancing cylinder heads because it was a small outfit that couldn’t afford to develop complete motors.

The two-seat Europa looked like a regular sports car from its front to the end of its doors. But it then had high “sail panels” that flanked a flat, detachable engine cover below a slitlike rear window.

Beautiful, it wasn’t. But never mind. Under the cover was a modified 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine from the new French Renault 16 sedan. The alloy engine only produced 78 horsepower, but the fiberglass body Europa merely weighed 1,350 pounds. Performance thus was lively with a Renault four-speed manual transmission.

The lightweight construction also resulted in high fuel economy, and the mid-engine location and excellent suspension resulted in exceptional steering and handling.

The body was bonded (glued) to Lotus’s traditional steel one-piece backbone chassis to hold down performance-robbing weight. And an all-independent coil-spring suspension provided a good ride, besides the car’s superb roadability.

Chapman had been thinking about making an inexpensive mid-engine road car for some time, but couldn’t find an affordable engine-transmission combo for such a car until the Renault 16 arrived.

Sales of the Europa Series 1 model were limited to the Continent, outside England, for a few years because Chapman wanted to establish a presence in the new European Common Market. That’s partly why the auto used Renault components. Chapman diplomatically suggested that the car be named “Europe,” although the name soon was changed to “Europa.”

The first Europas were offered in factory built or kit car form to escape stiff taxes for assembled factory cars in Europe. 

Although largely hand-built, the Europa was like other Lotus road cars in that its assembly quality was average, at best. It had a cramped interior and fixed door windows, instead of roll-down ones to save weight.

The Series 2 Europa, which solved some of the problems, was announced in 1968 and made available for America. The body now was bolted to the chassis to make accident repairs easier, and power windows were added.

There also was more space around the pedals and added luggage room behind the Renault engine, which was slightly increased in size to develop 88 horsepower. The larger engine helped counter new power-robbing U.S. emission standards.

British Europa sales began in mid-1969, when Chapman hired top engineer Mike Kimberley from Jaguar, who was told to develop a less quirky, even more powerful Europa. The result was the late 1971 Europa Series 3 Twin-Cam, with a dual-overhead-camshaft 1.6-liter, 105-horsepower Ford four cylinder modified with Lotus cylinder heads.

The Renault transmission  was retained, but styling and driver vision was improved by cutting down the body sail panels—although the engine remained beneath the flat rear cover. Attractive new cast-alloy wheels also were put on the car. It now could hit 120 mph.—up from 110 mph.

It was easy for American car buffs to fall in love with the Europa. Lotus had a fabulous racing reputation, and the Europa’s fairly low price (initially $4,695) allowed average folks to buy the car, with its competition-inspired mid-engine design and race-car-style handling.

Things improved even more when Lotus introduced the Europa Twin Cam Special in late 1972 with a 126 horsepower “Big Valve” version of the engine. A new Renault five-speed manual transmission was initially optional, but was made standard for 1974. Acceleration was much stronger. Acceleration was quicker, and top speed rose to 125-plus mph.

Most Europas sold in America were the more-desirable Series 3 Twin-Cam and Twin-Cam Special models, discontinued here after 1974 because of stringent federal regulations.

Europa production ended in 1975 after about 9,200 units were built. The car was replaced by the radical, slinky looking mid-engine Lotus Esprit, which made many soon forget the Europa.

But Europas are flat-out bargains—if you can find a good one. A specially painted and trimmed 1973 “John Player Special“ model is especially desirable.

A new generation of Lotus road cars arrived a few years ago, and they’re a blast to drive—just like the Europa.