Colbert, Raymond J. wrote:
> The Europa was the first Lotus not to be considered a kit.
Wrong. Most Elans were sold complete, as were Elites. The "kit"
arrangement was a tactic peculiar to postwar England. A number of
car manufacturers sold their cars in "kit" form (in England only)
so their customers could avoid paying the exorbitant taxes
assessed on complete cars sold at retail. Lotus was no exception
to this, and it was a matter of company survival in very
difficult times.
> But how many were
> built in a 12 month (1 year ) period.
For the years 1969-1973, annual production of Europas ranged from
1315 to 1776 units. Just under 10,000 Europas of all types were
manufactured during the car's production life. Compare that to
the total production figures for Porsche 914-6s or Carrera RS
Americas or any number of special models of "mass production"
type sports cars.
> I would bet that you could have bought
> te car any way you wanted as a factory piece.
And you would be wrong. From 1968 on, any car sold in the US had
to comply with Federal emission and safety standards. Lotus may
have made some cars to customer order, but the variations you
could get on the standard configuration would have been very
limited. There is no evidence of a single "factory custom" Europa
existing in this country.
My suggestion: confine your statements to subjects with which you
have some familiarity. The correct information is readily
available to anyone who is interested in finding it, as opposed
to simply wanting to make unfounded accusations.
Read the rules. The wording has been the same at least since
1987: "Cars NOT SPECIFICALLY LISTED (emphasis mine) .... must
have been produced in quantities of more than ...." Cars that ARE
listed in Appendix A have, _by_definition_, met the required
criteria for Stock. SCCA is not "breaking its own rules," as
alleged by one poster in this thread. You do have to actually
read the rules to recognize that.
Jay
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