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History of S2 #0716R
Everything I know about the history of my S2
Ready to go for a ride
My Europa was manufactured on December 28th, 1970 at the Lotus factory in Norwitch, England and painted "Bahama Yellow". On February 25th, 1971 it was shipped to Lotus in London, England for export to the US. It was probably imported by Carrera Motors in Lombard, Illinois but they closed in the mid '70s so I can't verify that.
The first owner was a doctor (name unknown) from Chicago IL, who drove the car for 3,742 miles before he wrecked it in 1972. Most of the damage was limited to the left front of the car, with some damage to the remaining front pieces and hood. It was not repaired while the doctor owned it.
The second owner was Fred Simons of Belleville, Il. While he owned it, he repaired the body but did not repaint it. He did not drive it and it sat in his garage in "partial restoration" status until 1984 when he sold it to the third owner. Unfortunately, Mr. Simons is now deceased, but I received a very nice email from his daughter with some good information. Mr. Simons obtained the car from a friend who owned a body shop and intended to repair the car for his daughter to drive. Her brother, who lived in Virginia Beach, Va. at the time, introduced his father to Jerry Blaine.
The third owner was Jerry C. Blaine of Virginia Beach, Va. He completed the bodywork, stripped all old paint, and redid the spider cracks and bubbles with two layers of fiber matt cloth. The car was then painted with GM "Bright White" acrylic enamel. The gas tank was cleaned and necessary mechanical bits accomplished and the car was registered and inspected in Virginia in 1986 (Virginia inspection stickers were still on the windshield when I purchased the car). Apparently Jerry did not drive the car on the street very long or the inspection stickers would have been updated.
Jerry had owned and raced a 1970 group 4 Europa when he lived in Europe so was familiar with the suspension changes necessary to make the car handle well. He made many changes to the suspension (most outlined on my Statistics page), added a Hermes intake and exhaust kit and installed a Weber 45DCOE9 carburetor. After the changes, he successfully Autocrossed the car, refreshing the engine each season with new bearings, rings, seals and gaskets.
In 1987, Jerry wrote several articles about the car for reMARQUE, the official newsletter of Lotus, Ltd. The series was called "Blood, Sweat & Tears" and was in four parts. All articles are reprinted with permission here.
In an email, Jerry answered many of my questions and helped me to fill-in some of the Europas history.
On April 1, 1994, with 4,708 miles on the odometer, Jerry sold the Europa to the fourth owner. Here is the "For Sale" ad from the February 1994 issue of reMARQUE.
The fourth owner was Tom Gaffney of Birmingham, Michigan. He replaced the dash, but did not register the car. He became interested in road racing and, although he drove the Europa in "LOG" events at Lime Rock and Pocono, did not put many miles on it. Tom says "I have had extensive experience in formula cars when I drove the Europa and I was surprised how well the car handled at speed. It was without question the best handling Europa
I ever drove".
I saw a "For Sale" ad for the car in the printed version of Hemmings Motor News and on November 8th, 2003, with 5,095 miles on the odometer, bought the car from Tom. Because he did not register the car, my Maryland title says the car had 4,708 miles on it (the mileage statement completed by Jerry Blaine when he sold the car to Tom) when I registered it on November 12, 2003.
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