Beschreibung:

This wonderfully evocative late-model Cooper Monaco is offered here after having been preserved, prepared and raced in British Historic events by the current vendor – a very prominent figure within the British ‘vintage’ racing world - who has owned it since 2001. Prior to that it resided here within the United States from its first delivery as-new to prominent – and extremely competitive - Texan road racer Alan Connell in 1962 until it was finally sold back into UK ownership as long ago as 1990. The Cooper Monaco series of sports-racing cars was launched by England’s world-famous Surbiton-based marque for the 1959 racing season. Cooper had previously pioneered rear-engined racing car design within the modern era, initially with its chain-driven motorcycle-engined 500cc Formula single-seaters from as early as 1946, and then from 1955 with rear-mounted water-cooled lightweight aluminum racing engines manufactured by the Coventry Climax company. The initial 1955 Cooper-Climax ‘Bobtail’ sports cars were most unusual in having their driver’s seat and controls sited on the centerline, and the cars wore otherwise all-enveloping streamlined bodywork. They were nicknamed ‘Bobtail’ because the tail bodywork ended in an abruptly abbreviated transom panel. This was projected as an aerodynamic feature, as researched and developed by the German aerodynamicist Dr Kamm. Genial John Cooper – manufacturer of these cars – cheerfully dismissed that notion by explaining simply that “If the tail was any longer you couldn’t open it to get at the engine”… While these ‘Bobtail’ sports cars excelled in 1955-56, a slipper-bodied, open-wheeled single-seat derivative emerged that latter season as the prototype Cooper-Climax Formula 2 car, powered by a 1500cc Climax engine. Uprated versions of this design would take Cooper-Climax into the Formula 1 arena, and in 1957 works driver Jack Brabham shone in a little 1.96-liter version against the full 2½-liter Formula 1 cars in the Monaco Grand Prix. Early in 1958 a further enlarged Cooper-Climax single-seater driven by Maurice Trintignant won the Monaco GP. It was in celebration of this victory that John Cooper and his father Charles named their new sports-racing Cooper-Climax for 1959, the ‘Monaco’. And as it happened their No. 1 driver Jack Brabham would win the marque’s second consecutive Monaco GP that year, and go on to clinch the Formula 1 World Championship titles for himself and for the Cooper-Climax marque. The original Cooper Monaco sports cars were short-chassised and stubby-bodied. Through 1960-61 the model evolved, an improved longer-wheelbase multi-tubular chassis frame being adopted, together with more sophisticated coil-spring/telescopic shock absorber suspension replacing the original design’s transverse rear leafspring arrangement. The body designs, produced in-house by chief designer Owen ‘The Beard’ Maddock and made there by the father and son team of Fred and Pete Bedding, became more sleek and attractive. For many the finest-looking Cooper Monaco model of them all proved to be this sleek-nosed, tail-finned design of 1961-62. Some of the greatest road racing drivers of their day campaigned these cars, including the then double-World Champion Driver, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Roy Salvadori and even Jim Hall and Hap Sharp of concurrent Chaparral fame. The long-chassis T61M Cooper Monaco was also supplied to American owners intending to fit not the British 4-cylinder Climax FPF engine – then available in 2.0, 2.5 and 2.7-liter capacities – but much larger, little heavier and obviously very much more powerful Detroit V8 engines from Ford and GM. Most prominent of these would be Carroll Shelby with his factory team of Monaco-derived, Ford V8-engined ‘King Cobras’. This particular car, chassis serial ‘CM-3-62’ was supplied new to former ‘Birdcage’ Maserati exponent Alan Connell of Fort Worth, Texas. A copy of the original Cooper Car Company invoice to him is included in the document file accom