The Lotus Garage

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This is what I call the mouse car. So called, because it was stored outside the proverbial barn in Kansas, and for many years was home to many generations of rodents. When I got the car there were dead mice in every conceivable nook and cranny. It took a week to clean and wash out the car. All of the air ducting, places under the dash, you name it and there were pieces of mieces. There were also many droppings that accompany mice. I can still smell mouse urine in the car, and if I leave the garage door open long enough, cats start to wander in searching for prey.

This is the Europa I am planning to prepare as an SCCA Solo II ASP car. I have started rebuilding suspension parts from a wrecked car for ease of replacement, and so I won�t have too many cars apart at once. The head work was done by Dave Bean when he was still doing that type of work. The bottom end still needs attention. Preliminary inspection of the chassis looks fair, except that the forked rear section seem to be rolled outward. I don�t know if this is from jacking in the wrong place or a shunt that took place at the left front corner.

There is no real body damage to speak of, but the car has numerous stress cracks in the majority of the front end. It looks like this damage may have been from the result of a real hard, sharp impact to the left front corner.

I wish I could set a completion date for this project, but it looks like it will be in the distant future.