'73 Europa T/C Special. How much should I sell it for?

[GarthM]

I have a Lotus Europa 1973 twin-cam JPS I need to sell for my dad. The car looks in poor condition, but has never been in an accident as far as I can tell. The intake manifold has been professionaly modified to take two new side draft Webbers that are included. The engine was 95% rebuilt then left out of car along with the 5-speed trans. What is a realistic price?
I have just added pics to help get a better idea. You can email me garthmesser@gmail.com or call 310-831-6112 in CA if you have any sugestions.

[ritcci]

you should post some pics

[kestrel74]

Hmm I've seen "basket cases" go for 2000-3000 on Ebay.... it's not easy to find someone who's willing to take on a project.. good luck. I have a 74 for sale also, but with MEGA work done to it......I'm just trying to recoup the money I spent on parts ( 18,000 )

[elise/europa]

Try to go of the the Europa forum, I don't remember the name. Something like Yahoo, forum, europa.

[flyguyskt]

i sold a fully rebuilt everything europa for 10500 2 years ago. the paint/body alone was worth that.

where are u at?

[MA_Europa]

I have a '74 Europa Special. I keep an eye on prices. I would say $2000-$3000 sounds about right, although a 95% rebuilt engine may bump that up. Transmissions are Renault units and pretty common. The number one expense, after the engine, would be body work, believe it or not. Because of the thin fiberglass, it needs to be completely repaired and prepped before painting and unless you can do a lot of it yourself, it's big bucks (as flyguyskt) states above.

Suspension parts tend to be from more common cars, generally Triumphs (Spitfire and GT6). Trim pieces can be expensive, as they are generally not shared with other cars.

The Europa Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lotuseuropa/) is a great resource for information and advice.

You might also want to check some of the parts providers - particulary R. Dent in PA and Dave Bean in CA.

Also, people are parting these cars out a lot so there are always parts on eBay. I'd like to see less of that happening (more cars preserved), but it does make it easier to rebuild the one you have.

Greg

[kestrel74]

WOW...just saw this one on ebay.....5400 Original miles !!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus...spagenameZWDVW

[TorsinADoc]

Originally Posted by kestrel74

WOW...just saw this one on ebay.....5400 Original miles !!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus...spagenameZWDVW

now that is a CLEAN car!

[tvacc]

Originally Posted by MA_Europa

I keep an eye on prices. I would say $2000-$3000 sounds about right, although a 95% rebuilt engine may bump that up.

Not too close an eye. I will give you 3K for yours all day long. Car is worth min of 4K if it is in terrible shape to as much as 12k-15K if it is in decent good running shape. Europa prices are on their way up. Any running Eruopa bought for less than 10K today is a bargain.

[flyguyskt]

you can buy them all day long not only running but restored for 10 grand!

[tvacc]

Originally Posted by flyguyskt

you can buy them all day long not only running but restored for 10 grand!

In my opinion, there has been a 2K shift in the market in the past 6 months. I would say that to buy a 10K car in good restored shape is not the norm anymore. .........12K...yes

I might be wrong...have been before...but this is what I have seen.

[UKphil]

Originally Posted by kestrel74

WOW...just saw this one on ebay.....5400 Original miles !!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lotus...spagenameZWDVW

That is stunning!

Does anyone have an idea how much it may end up going for?
I know it's an impossible question but I'm genuinely interested.

[tvacc]

[quote=UKphil;840438]
Does anyone have an idea how much it may end up going for?
QUOTE]

I will make a prediction of 18.4K

[UKphil]

Is that all??

EDIT - sorry for the hijack...

[tvacc]

Originally Posted by UKphil

Is that all??

EDIT - sorry for the hijack...

I too apoligize for the hijack. But it does relate to the prices of Europas and possibly the original poster's value of the car.

EBay is most always the bottom of the range. That being said, I think the car is worth close to 20K.

[tmr]

Wow! This car is identical to the very first Lotus I ever drove. Same color, same oatmeal interior, same year. One of my friends in high school was the only child of a small town doctor. His dad bought him a new MGB at 15, a TR6 at 16, and the new Europa T/C Special at 17 in back in 1975. It was the Elise of its day and I wanted one very badly. My friend wasn't too picky about his cars and let me drive it 50 miles (at speed) home from a trip to Atlanta. It was a paradigm shift to say the least and I swore I would own a Lotus some day, even though I watched his disintegrate under the care of its teenage owner.

I later learned of the Europa's many sins, so I bought an Elan instead as a restoration project years later. It was a better car in many respects, but it had a few quirks of its own (what Lotus doesn't?).

I've now come full circle, as the Elise is that mid-engined Lotus that I wanted all those years ago, but with less pain. Now, if I could only find that modern 2002tii I wanted back in the day...

[Brian 111]

[quote=tmr;841061 Now, if I could only find that modern 2002tii I wanted back in the day...[/QUOTE]

It shouldn't be too hard when you're ready. There was one on Hemmings a few months ago for $55k.

[tandemracer]

Originally Posted by GarthM

I have a Lotus Europa 1973 twin-cam JPS I need to sell for my dad. The car looks in poor condition, but has never been in an accident as far as I can tell. The intake manifold has been professionaly modified to take two new side draft Webbers that are included. The engine was 95% rebuilt then left out of car along with the 5-speed trans. What is a realistic price?
I have just added pics to help get a better idea. You can email me garthmesser@gmail.com or call 310-831-6112 in CA if you have any sugestions.

Looks like this was found in a barn in Portugal.

[flyguyskt]

after looking at those pics i'd say 2 grand maybe 3 with the motor! i paid 1k for mine and it was a complete car.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by flyguyskt

after looking at those pics i'd say 2 grand maybe 3 with the motor! i paid 1k for mine and it was a complete car.

Yep. As long as all the parts are there. The converted head is a mixed blessing. It lets you use the Webbers instead of the Strombergs, but a real Webber head would be better. The cost of an engine rebuild isn't really that much - if you do it yourself.

The most expensive part of the car is going to be the interior - finding missing/unusable interior parts will be very difficult.

The body is simple - if you do it yourself, and with a Europa there is no reason not to. The fiberglass work is a pain but not difficult.

This is a project car. If you buy it to pay someone to restore it, it is not worth it at all. If you buy it for a project to do yours self over the next couple of years, it looks to be a good one - if it's all there. But still, someone would have to set a budget for restoring the car. A realistic budget without the emotion involved.

It's been a few years, but I made an offer on such a car once. I added up how much an engine rebuild would cost, a suspension rebuild, body work supplies, a good paint shot to actually spray the final paint, a generous amount for instruments, interior parts, tires, wheel refinishing, etc. When it was done, I offered the guy $1,500 for the car. He though it should be worth $10,000 because it was a Lotus. The reality was that he had no clue how much it would cost to restore. I did - I had just completed the restoration of my Elan.