1958 Cooper Type 45 Single Seater

Lot details
Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: F2-21-58
Mot Expiry: N/A

This Cooper, a Type 45 single seater with Coventry Climax FPF engine, was originally built in Charles and John Cooper's Surbiton works in 1958. The first Cooper had been the 1936 T1, an Austin 7 powered special. The second, the 1946 T2 (or prototype Mk1) with Speedway motor for Eric Brandon was a rear-engined half-litre racer with some Fiat 500 components. The T3 (the definitive Mk1) made its debut at the first 500 race at Gransden Lodge in 1947 and the first production versions of the Cooper F3 quickly followed. Stirling Moss was one of the first customers for a Cooper, his T5 actually being his first racing car.
Soon, now with much larger Bristol engine up front, the Cooper-Bristol F2 became a force to be reckoned with in major single-seater races during the 1950s. Whilst in winning the 1958 Argentine GP, Rob Walker's T43 Cooper-Climax with Moss at the wheel achieved the first World Championship race victory for a rear-engined car. The mechanical simplicity of the Cooper enabled the works team to run in F1 for a whole season on a budget of £50,000, while the all-important private and paying owners were able to keep their Coopers going in race after race, and in far flung places too.
Derived from the Cooper `bobtail' sports, though with narrower tubular chassis, transverse leaf suspension and a Coventry Climax FWB driving through a Citroen-based gearbox, the T41 of 1956 saw a return to a rear-engined Cooper single seater. Intended for the introduction of the new 1.5-litre F2 in 1958, Roy Salvadori gave the T41 a debut shake-down victory in 1956 in a British GP support race. Five T41s were built and raced alongside the T43 (or F2 Mk2), which had modified chassis and larger bodywork. By early 1957, these Coopers were powered by the Coventry-Climax FPF (in 1475cc form producing 141bhp, though later enlarged for participation in F1). Indeed, the first Cooper F2 to run in a F1 GP was when Brabham pushed his car across the line to finish sixth at Monaco.
After the T44 (a one-off modified T43 with 2.25-litre Bristol engine for Bob Gerard) came the T45, little changed in the chassis, but with coil spring and wishbone front suspension and transverse leaf spring only retained for the rear, though soon making way for wishbones like the front end. The Climax engine was inclined to the left and was fitted lower in the chassis and a ZF diff adopted for the F1 T45s. Drum brakes, initially fitted, were quickly overtaken by discs all round.
A total of twenty-four F2 T45s were built and all sold, Bruce McLaren making his name in one and Moss in Walker's T45 winning the French F2 series. For F1, Coventry-Climax made a 2.2-litre FPF producing 194bhp, which was made available to the Cooper team, Salvadori finishing third at Silverstone and second at the Nurburgring. Meanwhile, Alf Francis produced a 2-litre FPF for the Walker cars, one of which driven by Maurice Trintignant won the Monaco GP. Rounding off a great season for the T45, Moss won GPs at Melbourne in 1958 and in New Zealand at the start of 1959.
According to the plate on the chassis tube and the information within the FIA papers with the car, the T45 being auctioned here is chassis number F2-21-58, indicating that it was the twenty-first T45 chassis to have been constructed in 1958. That being the case it was therefore most probably first owned, he imported two T45s, and then driven by A. Mildren to victory in the 1960 Australian GP although this has not been confirmed.
The current owner acquired this F1 car (it has never been an F2 car or run with a 1500cc engine) in February 1989 from America via Martin Stretton, the celebrated historic racer, who currently maintains and operates it for him at all the historic meetings. It has the immense benefit, it gets two races for most meetings, of being eligible for both the pre-1961 and pre-1966 races in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Races (HGPCA). We also understand that there are contemporary and historical references to this car in the 21 February 1958 `Autosport`, 28 March 1958 `Autocar`, May 1961 `Road and Track' and on page 333 of historian Doug Nye's definitive `Cooper Cars'.
The chassis, bodywork and the green paintwork are all in excellent order and the Crosthwaite and Gardiner engine, which is currently fitted to the car and built by them some 2 or 3 years ago, is subject to an annual 'freshen up' by them at a cost of some £5000. Above all, this car would enable a new owner to take part in all the major historic meetings on both sides of the Atlantic.
Please note: The FPF Type 2.2-litre engine, currently in 2 litre specification, and number 430-3-10829 is said to have been first fitted to the Cooper works team chassis number F2-23A-58 and was then fitted to this car in 1959. That engine was driven by Jack Brabham and is currently out of the car but is included in the sale and can be inspected, and collected, separately from the premises of Martin Stretton.