Description:

From the pen of Owen Maddock, Cooper’s first volume-produced small-capacity sportscar, the transverse leaf-sprung Type 39, was essentially a streamlined tube-frame single-seater chassis which, on its introduction in 1955, carried the Coventry Climax FWA engine mated to a Citroen-based ERSA gearbox. With its truncated tail, the model was quickly nicknamed ‘Bobtail,’ which stuck. A vestigial perch beneath a hatch in the left-hand sponson was capable of taking a small passenger, thus satisfying sportscar racing regulations. Indeed some were driven, two-up, to race meetings.

Despite being pushed along by around 75bhp, the slippery drum-braked featherweights would pull around 125mph and handled superbly, making for an attractive and competitive package. Ivor Bueb and future race school king Jim Russell’s successes in factory-run cars – countering the might of Colin Chapman’s Lotus 11s – were eagerly added to by private entrants. Edgar Wadsworth/ John Brown ambitiously debuted theirs in the Le Mans 24 Hours, and finished well.

For 1956 the stretched 1460cc Climax FWB engine brought greater, power, success and more orders for the Lotus eaters. Russell, Roy Salvadori and Michael MacDowel raced the factory cars and Stirling Moss won the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park, before briefly owning one. Others contested the Sebring 12 Hours in the USA, the World Championship TT in Northern Ireland, Goodwood Nine Hours and Le Mans. 

The model proved popular, with a total production of circa 50, although surprisingly few of this famed model have survived. 

Original Cooper records were lost, so the precise number emerging from the Hollyfield Road factory over a period of two and a bit years eludes even marque experts. For that reason, compounded by not every car being issued with a chassis ID plate, pinpointing the histories of numerous individual cars has proved difficult in the intervening period.

Not so with this example, the provenance of which is exemplary. Supplied to Cooper’s US West Coast agent Joe Lubin of Los Angeles in 1956. When Lubin retired the Bobtail from racing it was placed on display at his office on Firestone Boulevard in Los Angeles for many years. The car was subsequently sold by his family to the current owner 52 years later.

Lubin entered the car, proudly carrying America’s white and blue national colours into battle, for Bob Drake, one of the West Coast’s leading sportscar drivers of the period, who enjoyed success over many years in Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche and most famously Maserati ‘Birdcage’ sportscars owned by wealthy entrants. He subsequently successfully saddled Max Balchowsky’s celebrated, and extremely hairy, V8 special Ol’ Yeller IV.

Drake competed in the little Cooper over five seasons, winning first at Palm Springs in 1956. He also scored victories at Paramount Ranch, Santa Barbara and Pomona. While many of the events contested were regionals, the combo also finished 10th in the GP of Riverside 200-miler in October 1958 and a USAC Road Racing Championship round at Pomona in 1959. Other tracks frequented included Stockton, San Diego and Del Mar. At many of these venues he battled with drivers of the calibre of Pedro Rodriguez and Ken Miles for wins.

During the current owners tenure the car benefitted from much work by highly respected Cooper specialist Hoole Racing, including the building of a fresh engine incorporating a new cylinder block and head. Following this the car was raced by the current owner at Spa, Nurburgring, Silverstone, Oulton Park and Donington amongst other circuits and was found to be great fun to drive. Treated to a thorough overhaul in 2017, its 1460cc Coventry-Climax FWB engine, like the ERSA transaxle it drives through, were refreshed by renowned Australian race engineer Ian Tate during the renovation programme. 

More recently the Bobtail has benefitted from much work to allow it to get fresh FIA HTP. This included sourcing and fitting the original type gear linkage and gear gate- a most complex set-up, re-working the roll-bar rear support bracket to comply with current regulations, re-fitting the original SU Carburettors and sourcing and fitting original type dampers. The vast majority of this work being carried out by world-renowned specialists Crosthwaite and Gardiner Ltd, see invoices on file totalling circa £20,000.

This Bobtail would make an ideal and potentially very competitive entrant for the world’s leading historic motor sport events including Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival, the Woodcote Trophy, FISCAR and countless other races and series around the globe. Offered with fresh FIA HTP until 2030. 
 

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