Tag Archives: climax

The First Lotus F1 Car

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1957 Lotus-Climax 12

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | May 2024

Photo – Bonhams

Lotus’s track-focused cars built prior to this were mostly of the sports racing/prototype variety. The 12 was unveiled at the 1956 London Motor Show but wouldn’t hit the track until 1957. That first year it contested three F2 races, one each at Silverstone, Goodwood, and Oulton Park. Drivers Henry Taylor and Graham Hill split driving duties.

After a few more F2 outings in 1958, the car was ready to step up to F1. It was Lotus’s – and Graham Hill’s – first Formula One appearance when the car appeared at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. The competition history for this chassis, 353, includes:

  • 1958 Monaco Grand Prix – 9th, DNF (with Graham Hill)
  • 1958 Dutch Grand Prix – 14th, DNF (with Hill)
  • 1958 Belgian Grand Prix – 13th, DNF (with Hill)

Then it was back to F2 for some events in 1958 and 1959. And don’t think the 12 was an F1 dud. Hill’s teammate in ’58 was Cliff Allison, and Allison finished 6th, 6th, and 4th, respectively, in the same outings Hill had.

Power in the car is from a Coventry Climax inline-four. The car was purchased by its current owner in 1991 and was later restored. Quite the specimen of F1 and Lotus history, the car could fetch between $310,000-$420,000. You can read more about it here.

The First Brabham F1 Car

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1962 Brabham-Climax BT3 F1

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | May 13, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Motor Racing Developments Ltd, aka Brabham, was an F1 team that competed between 1962 and 1992. That makes this car from their first season as a team. Jack Brabham drove for Cooper the few years before this, and his business partner Ron Tauranac designed this car for Brabham to drive in 1962.

Power is from a 1.5-liter Coventry-Climax V8 that made about 157 horsepower in 1962 spec. The competition history for this chassis (F1-1-62) includes:

  • 1962 German Grand Prix (Nurburgring) – 19th, DNF (with Jack Brabham)
  • 1962 U.S. Grand Prix (Watkins Glen) – 4th (with Brabham)
  • 1962 Mexican Grand Prix – 2nd (with Brabham)
  • 1962 South African Grand Prix – 4th (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Monaco Grand Prix – Did not start (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Belgian Grand Prix (Spa) – 15th, DNF (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Austrian Grand Prix – 1st (with Brabham)
  • 1963 Italian Grand Prix – 5th (with Brabham)
  • 1964 British Grand Prix – 17th, DNF (with Ian Raby)
  • 1964 Italian Grand Prix – DNQ (with Raby)
  • 1965 British Grand Prix – 11th (with Raby)

Imagine the same F1 chassis competing in four different seasons today. This car had many other non-championship races and wins (that Austrian GP race was a non-points race). This car spent decades in the Donington Collection before the current owner bought it in the 2000s. This is a pretty remarkable piece of racing history and has a pre-sale estimate of $590,000-$850,000. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold $471,501.

1957 Arnott-Climax

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1957 Arnott-Climax 1100 GT

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 18, 2017

Photo – Gooding & Company

Three quick things we love about this car: 1. that shade of green; 2. the fact that it’s a factory race car from a cottage industry sports car manufacturer that has survived this long and; 3. gullwing doors!

There aren’t many car companies out there founded by women, but Daphne Arnott managed to produce about 25 cars – some for the road, some for the track – between 1951 and 1957 in London. She started with F3 cars and ultimately ended up with Coventry Climax-powered sports cars that competed at Le Mans. This car uses a 1.1-liter Coventry Climax straight-four that makes 94 horsepower.

The body is aluminium and just enough of it exists to cover all the important pieces underneath. This was one of only a few “factory race cars” the company ever had, and it’s competition history includes:

  • 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans – 44th, DNF (with Jim Russell and Dennis Taylor)

After the ’57 24 Hours, the team (and automobile-building portion of the company) folded. This car was parked in the Arnott workshop for over 15 years before being rescued in the early 1980s. The new owner restored it and it’s had a few other caretakers since, successfully completing some touring rallies along the way.

Being the only Arnott quite like it, of only a few automobiles produced in total, it should bring between $350,000-$425,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Tojeiro-Climax Coupe

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1958 Tojeiro-Climax Coupe

Offered by H&H Classics | Epsom, U.K. | June 6, 2017

Photo – H&H Classics

Almost every car built by John Tojeiro is a one-off. If he built cars in a series, it was usually a short series. Born in Portugal, Tojeiro built cars in England in the 1950s and 60s. Just about all of them had a race-focused purpose, but some of them were street-legal too.

This diminutive Climax-powered Coupe was built when Tojeiro was asked to build a spaceframe chassis for a performance car by a client. The body was from Wakefield & Sons and the client put some 20,000 miles on it. The engine is a 1.1-liter Climax straight-four. Horsepower could be anything, as those Coventry-Climax engines were produced in so many varieties that I can’t pin this one down based on just displacement alone and who knows how it was tinkered with when the car was assembled.

The current owner acquired this car in 2009 and had it restored to as-new condition. It’s covered just 38,000 miles since its inception and is the only one like it. The pre-sale estimate is between $83,000-$96,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

February 2017 Auction Highlights

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We pick up where we left off with the last post in Retromobile. We’ll start with Bonhams and a few no-sales: the MV Agusta pickup, Talbot-Lago, Stratos rally car, and Giannini. The top sale was this 1935 Aston Martin Ulster for $2,151,765.

Photo – Bonhams

Other big dollar cars included the Bugatti Brescia for $541,015 and the Maybach for $719,304. On the other end of the scale are the CAP-Fiat Scoiattolo that went for just $9,836 and the APAL Horizon for $31,969. The Tracta sold for $63,938. And the nearly 125-year-old Benz Victoria sold for a price that seems just too low for something this old: $30,739. Click here to view more results from Bonhams.

Artcurial held the “official” Retromobile sale and the Dino Prototype was the top seller at $4,653,824. The Ferrari 166 was second at $3,138,024. Most Interesting goes to this 1908 De Dion-Bouton Bi 15/18HP Double Phaeton that sold for $82,093.

Photo – Artcurial

Of the five Delahayes we featured, only the cheapest (the 135 by Dubos) ended up selling and it went for $126,297. The sell through rate overall was a little rough at this sale, but the Breguet Electric did manage to bring $44,204. Click here to see the rest of the cars that sold.

The Finest had a sale held during the Boca Raton Concours, and while we didn’t get to feature anything, this 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster was the top seller at $246,750. Click here for all of their results.

Photo – The Finest

Mecum’s Los Angeles sale was held in February and, surprise, surprise – a Ford GT was the top sale. This was a 2006 model that brought $305,000.

Photo – Mecum

The Nissan Pao we featured sold for $12,500. Click here for complete results.

Finally, Silverstone Auctions’ Race Retro Competition Car Sale, which was the first part of a doubleheader they have in February. The top sale (at the time of posting, there were a few cars yet to be listed) was this 1961 Emeryson-Climax Formula 1 car that sold for $217,277.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The Ginetta we featured failed to sell. Final results can be found here.

December 2013 Auction Roundup

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The first sale of December was Bonhams’ London Sale. Our featured Jaguar C-Type was the top seller at $4,762,011. The second top seller also came from the fabulous Ecurie Ecosse collection. It’s a 1956 Jaguar D-Type and it brought $4,212,831.

1956 Jaguar D-Type

The coolest car from this sale also came from that collection. It was the Ecurie Ecosse team transporter (technically it’s a 1960 Commer TS3) and it sold for a huge $2,931,441.

1960 Commer TS3

This 1934 Aston Martin Ulster Two-Seater looks awesome and downright mean. It sold for $2,125,947.

1934 Aston Martin Ulster Two-Seater

Our featured Frazer Nash Targa Florio sold for $441,795. The oldest car in the sale, our featured 1903 Clement brought $569,937. The other four Ecurie Ecosse team cars all sold. The 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster brought $1,155,729.

1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

Our featured Tojeiro EE-Buick Coupe brought $350,265. The other Tojeiro, this 1959 Tojeiro-Jaguar, sold for $624,855.

1959 Tojeiro-Jaguar

Another prototype race car was this 1960 Cooper Monaco-Climax Type 57 Mark II. It sold for $359,418.

1960 Cooper Monaco-Climax Type 57 Mark II

And finally, the cheapest car of the bunch – a 1961 Austin-Healey Sprite. It went for a downright budgetary $101,304. And Schumacher’s Benetton sold for $1,009,281. Check out complete results here.

1961 Austin-Healey Sprite

Next up was H&H’s Chateau Impney sale where this 1939 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe was the top seller at $328,600.

1939 Lagonda V12 Drophead Coupe

I didn’t get to feature any cars from this sale, but the first one I was going to feature was this beautiful 1938 Alvis 4.3-Litre Drophead Coupe. It sold for $125,900.

1938 Alvis 4.3-Litre Drophead Coupe

Other cars that were on my to-feature list included this 1919 Armstrong-Siddeley 30hp Open-Drive Limousine that ended up bringing $27,380.

919 Armstrong-Siddeley 30hp Open-Drive Limousine

I would’ve featured this 1928 Falcon-Knight Six-Cylinder Tourer but it’s not in the best of shape and I know there are other Falcon-Knight’s out there. But it’s still interesting. It sold for $18,400.

1928 Falcon-Knight Six-Cylinder Tourer

And finally, one of only two F2 cars built by Gerald Smith. It’s a 1957 Smith Formula Two Single Seater and it sold for $61,700. You can check out full results here.

1957 Smith Formula Two Single Seater

We featured one car from Mecum’s Kansas City sale: this 1918 Cadillac. And it was stolen at a bargain price of only $29,000. The top sale went to another Cadillac from the same consignor. It was this 1931 Cadillac V12 Series 370 Convertible Coupe by Fleetwood. It sold for $175,000. You can check out full results from this sale here.

1931 Cadillac V12 Series 370 Convertible Coupe by Fleetwood

Coys got their December results posted in time for this recap. Our featured Victor Electric Highwheeler did not sell, but the Mercedes-Simplex brought an auction high of $1,174,900. You can see full results here. And the final sale covered this year is Bonhams’ Oxford sale, where this 1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur sold for a sale-high $178,843.

1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur

Our featured Frazer Nash-BMW failed to sell and the Sunbeam Tourer brought $60,369. I thought this 1924 Crossley 19.6HP Sports Tourer was pretty cool for $31,127.

1924 Crossley 19.6HP Sports Tourer

And finally, our featured Vulcan Touring car brought an impressive $126,479 – bettering the upper end of its estimate. You can check our full results here.