Description
Details:
Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale this rare and unique 1955 Cooper T-39 Bobtail works race car.
This car, chassis CS11/ 12/ 55, is one of the two works race cars which were built for the 1955 season.
The car made its debut at Goodwood on the 11th April 1955 in the Sports Car Race for cars up to 1, 500cc. The car, carrying number 55, was entered by the Cooper Car Company and driven by Ivor Bueb. It finished 3rd behind two Connaught ALSR’s. Bueb continued to race the car with great success in the UK until September 1955. The car finished first in class an impressive 6 times of the 16 races it participated in.
The car then found its way to the US where it was acquired by Harry Banta. He first raced the car at the Govenor’s Trophy race held at the Windsor Field Road Course in Nassau (Bahamas) on 9th December 1955. Banta finished 19th overall and 1st in class. Two days later he participated in the Nassau Trophy Race held at the same venue and finished 27th overall but again 1st in class.
In 1956 Banta continued to successfully campaign the car on the US West Coast. In April 1956 he participated in the SCCA National Sports Car Championship round at Pebble Beach and finished 13th overall and 2nd in class. He also raced at Santa Rosa in May 1956 where he finished 2nd, Buchanan Field in July 1956 (DNF), Sea Fair in August 1956 where he finished 3rd, Arcata in August 1956 where he finished 4th, Sacramento in September 1956 where he finished 2nd and Palm Springs in November 1956 where he finished 3rd.
Banta had the car painted yellow and usually raced under the number seven. There are a number of period photos on file showing the car at the various events in the US.
In 1958 Banta purchased another Cooper Bobtail which used to belong to Lance Reventlow and put his own Bobtail up for sale. The car was advertised in California Sports Cars magazine and subsequently sold to Fred (Jock) Ross. Interestingly, Ross had been a close friend of Ivor Bueb and had raced for and been involved with the Border Reivers Team in the UK before arriving in Los Angeles. He was working as a Lotus mechanic for Jay Chamberlain. Ross ran the car at Pomona, Riverside and Laguna Seca, He changed to colour scheme on the car from yellow to Border Reivers navy blue with white circles.
In 1959 the car passed on to Bill Watkins, who ran the car at the Indy Speedway, Lexington Mid-Ohio, Meadowbank in Chicago, Lawrenceville in Illinois, Willow Springs, Riverside and Pomona in California. Subsequent owners were Chuck Cornett, Gordon Keller of Victory Lane magazine also in California and Dick McGovern.
McGovern sold the car in 1997 to Paul Moxham from Coffs Harbour in NSW who imported it into Australia.
Over the years the car had been fitted with a variety of engines and several other modifications has been made. Moxham decided to restore the car to its former glory. He engaged the services of Harry Galloway, a UK trained race engineer, who restored the chassis and engine bay to its original configuration. A new body was made for the car in alloy.
The current owner acquired the car from Moxham in 2008 and has used it at various historic events over the years.
In 2019 the car suffered an engine failure. At that time the car was running a 1, 460cc four-cylinder Climax FWB engine. That engine was severely damaged and a decision was made to rebuild a correct engine to the original specifications from 1955.
A correct Climax FWA engine block was sourced and was completely rebuilt with a new billet steel crankshaft, new con rods and pistons, new cylinder liners etc. All the work was done by McKernan Restoration in Queensland.
Running a correct FWA Climax engine with a capacity of 1, 098cc, the car presents in a configuration very close to the way it was when it first left the Cooper factory in 1955.
The car is now best described as an older restoration, but it still presents very well. The paint is generally in good condition but this is a car that has been raced regularly and as a result there are some stone chips on various panels.
Getting into the car is somewhat of an exercise but once you are in, the seating position is surprisingly comfortable. As a race car, there is limited instrumentation on the small dashboard. The most important instruments are the tacho and temperature gauge.
The starting procedure is simple, turn the battery isolator off, insert the key, turn the ignition on and then press the start button. The car starts easily and after you’ve feathered the accelerator to warm the engine up, it will settle into a smooth idle. The exhaust note is spectacular and that little four cylinder engine behind you just wants to rev. The engine feels really strong which is not surprising as it is essentially brand new.
Theo Page, a well respected technical artist working for Autosport, Britain’s motor sporting weekly, used the car to create a very detailed cutaway drawing. This was published in the May 6th 1955 edition of Autosport supporting an article about the new Cooper 1100 written by John Bolster.
It is not often a car like this is offered for sale in Australia. This world market car is eligible for a host of prestigious international historic events including Goodwood and the Le Mans Classic.
This iconic sports racer is offered for sale with a voluminous history file and other sundry documentation. There are a number of original race programs, including the Goodwood meeting held on the 11th April 1955, period photos and period car magazines (featuring the car). Also accompanying the car is a CAMS certificate of description, the original 1956 Kellison fibreglass body, the original seat and the original steering wheel.
Highlights:
- First works Cooper T-39 Bobtail built by the factory and raced by Ivor Bueb.
- First Cooper to be powered by a Coventry Climax Engine.
- CAMS certificate of description.
- Recent rebuild of original spec 1, 098cc FWA Climax engine.
Price AUD $324, 950
Background:
To quote Doug Nye from an article written for Goodwood Road Racing dated 30th August 2019 “ . . . The Cooper Car Company grew out of bubbling, infectious enthusiasm displayed by young tousle-haired John Cooper and his equally-keen former schoolfriend Eric Brandon. In the depths of our country’s immediate post-war austerity and gloom, they simply wanted to go motor racing”.
Their ambitions were aided by the fact that bubbly John’s father, Charles Cooper, had served a full apprenticeship in motorsport as mechanic and had also run cars for Brooklands racer ‘Ginger’ Hamilton. He’d also built up a decent, if compact, garage business based in Hollyfield Road, Surbiton, Surrey”.
The Cooper Car Company born.
The first cars they built in 1946 were single seater 500cc formula 3 racing cars powered by a JAP engine. Interestingly due to the shortage in materials immediately after World War II the first prototypes were created by joining two Fiat Topolino’s front ends together. As the car was powered by a motorcycle engine, out of practicality the Cooper’s decided to mount the engine behind the driver. This turned out to be a stroke of genius.
Their first car was called the Cooper 500 and it had lots of success on tracks and in hill climb events. Two such cars were built initially, one for John and one for Eric. Both proved themselves very competent young drivers, their cars arguably the best in the new class. Brandon won one of the first post war race meetings at Granson Lodge Airfield in the car. This quickly created demand from other drivers. Over the years drivers like Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, Jim Russell, Ivor Bueb, Ken Tyrrell, and Bernie Ecclestone ended up driving Coopers.
In the 1940’s and 1950’s Cooper built some 300 single and twin cylinder cars. Cooper dominated the F3 category winning 64 of the 78 races between 1951 and 1954.
At the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, Cooper made its first appearance at a Formula 1 race. American driver Harry Schell qualified his Cooper T12 in 20th place but unfortunately had to retire after a collision on the first lap.
In 1952 Cooper introduced a front engined Formula 2 car powered by a Bristol engine. These were driven by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio and Mike Hawthorn and furthered the company’s growing reputation.
In 1955 the company began building rear engined sports cars based on the 500cc cars. These cars were powered by a modified Coventry Climax fire pump engine. The ‘Bobtail’ Cooper sports car had been born. These cars really started the rear engined revolution, not just in their class but also in other categories.
In 1957 Jack Brabham raised eyebrows when he finished 6th at the Monaco Grand Prix with a rear engined Formula 1 Cooper. The first race of the 1958 Formula 1 season was held in Argentina on the 19th January 1958. After qualifying in 8th place, Stirling Moss piloted his Cooper first to the chequered flag giving Cooper its first Formula One victory. Frenchman, Maurice Trintignant replicated Moss’ achievement winning the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix.
The Coopers became more successful leading to Jack Brabham and the Cooper Works team winning the Formula One World Championship with their T51 in 1959. This was a first for a rear engined race car and the sign of things to come. Brabham and his Cooper T51 dominated the 1960 Formula 1 race season taking back to back championship wins.
The Cooper T-39 ‘Bobtails’ were very successful in sports car racing. Developed by Own Maddock the first T-39, driven by Ivor Bueb made its debut at the Easter race at the Truxton circuit near Andover in the UK. Between 1956 and 1962 ‘Bobtails’ managed to rack up and tally an incredible streak of domination and competitiveness, scoring 91 total wins and clinching 236 podiums finishes, an incredible record.
