1963 Lola MK 6 Prototype GT Sports

Lot details
Registration No: UN-REG
Chassis No: 0001
Mot Expiry: N/A

We are very pleased to offer this Lola Mk6 GT sportscar which is offered for sale by its Canadian owner and has been flown into this country with all the taxes paid.
Only three of these cars were constructed by Lola in the latter half of 1962 and the early part of 1963. The first, the prototype, with an all steel chassis was shown at the London Racing Car Show in January 1963 and was subsequently run by Lola at both Silverstone, race car number 48, and then at the Nurburgring under car number 115. It was one of the two cars which were later sold to Ford as part of the GT40 development programme although they actually did very little work to this chassis and gave it back to Mr. Broadley at Lola in 1964 who sold it to Allen Grant, a Vancouver resident, who still has it. This car, which has acquired a 289 Ford engine and Colotti transaxle, which has been inspected and photographed by the owner, has never been driven, but Mr Grant has agreed to allow a mould to be made from his rear body section to create the correct rear clip for this car.
In actual fact the third car was the second one to be actually completed in this short production sequence and it was immediately sold to the Mecon Racing Team of Texas who ran it in the May 1963 Brands Hatch meeting after which it was shipped to the U.S.A. where carried onn racing successfully. In 1964 it returned to Brands Hatch and then back to the States where it was crashed heavily by Augie Pabst. It lay derelict for some years before being sold to a Californian collector who sold it to Peter Kauss, whilst it was being restored, and he still retains it in his Rosso Bianco Museum and indeed it made its first public appearance at Goodwood last year.
The second of the three cars, now designated as chassis number 0001, was completed by Lola in the late spring of 1963 and painted in British Racing Green. It ran at Le Mans in the GT class driven by Attwood and Hobbs but a minor accident sidelined the car in the 13th hour and was, as previously stated, sold to Ford. One of Ford's development priorities on the Lola was the design and fitment of anti dive/squat suspension system and to that end Mr. Laurie Bray, who is now the official Lola archivist, but was at the time a new mechanic at Lola, installed what is now called the GT40 suspension and he clearly recalls this early development work on the new suspension and the other refinements as well as the testing which took place at Brands Hatch and Monza with Bruce McLaren as the driver. After this Ford shipped the car to Alf Francis at Serenissima in Italy for help in sorting out the troublesome Colotti gearbox, or to be more precise, its shift linkage. At the same time it was fitted with the Jimmy Clark Indianapolis pushrod engine and went to Italy in that form but minus its tail section.
When Francis had completed his work he attemted to ship it back to Ford in England but was unable to do so further to difficulties with the Italian customs. Ford removed the Indianaplois engine but Francis acquired the remainder of the car and had it converted to its current Gullwing configuration. Francis later emigrated to the States having fitted a Serenissima four cam engine, he badged it with that name, and imported in into Kansas City. The engine was later sold back to Italy and the car was bought by a Mr. James Whitmer from Oaklahoma minus the engine and still with the tail section missing. Whitmer installed a 289 Ford engine and fitted the repaired GT40 tail section from chassis number 5 and after enjoying it sold it to Robert Taylor of San Francisco through Jim Francis. Mr. Taylor sold it in 1981 to Mr. G. Benzon in Vancouver in 1981 where it has remained until now.
Benzon's intention to race the car was halted at its first attempt as he rolled it lightly at Westwood in British Columbia. He had the tub, the engine, the gearbox and suspension completely restored and effected repairs to the damaged roof, doors and tail section but unfortunately lost interest in the project prior to replacing the lights and glass. It then sat for some eighteen years in a racecar trailer in North Vancouver until earlier this year.
This very important sports racing car is now in virtually complete condition but in need of a thorough restoration. The fibreglass body has of course not been affected by the storage and indeed the largely dry climate does not seem to have affected the car dramatically. It still has the 289 engine and the Colotti T37 gearbox fitted and it comes with a lovely history file which contains many copies of magazine articles confirming its pedigree and of course it will be eligible for a host of major events.
A very significant car.