Beschreibung:

During the mid-1960s the British Elva company reached its zenith in sports-racing car production with the beautifully proportioned, well-engineered and extremely competitive Mark 7 design. These Elvas were manufactured in considerable numbers and sold widely not only here in the UK but also across Europe and in the USA. German engines were favoured, the 4-cylinder in-line BMW excelling in the UK and Europe while the alternative 1700cc flat-4 air-cooled Porsche power unit was very much favoured in the United States. Included in the documentation file accompanying this lot is a copy letter from none other than Baron Fritz Huschke von Hanstein himself, former competitions manager of Porsche, who wrote: “I was directly responsible for the creation of the Elva-Porsche. The final technical set-up of the cars was even done by our own Mr Herbert Linge, who went to England for some time to help with the final preparations. We agreed that this car was to be named Elva Porsche which proved that it belonged to the Porsche family…all this proves clearly that the Elva-Porsche has to be regarded as a Porsche design model…”. Praise indeed! This particularly fine example of the Elva-Porsche Mark 7S is one of only 19 cars built and it was supplied new from US importer Carl Haas to American owner/driver Charlie Hayes of Chevy Chase, Maryland, on May 22, 1964. Charlie Hayes drove this car to class victory at Augusta, Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen (beaten overall only by the big works Chaparrals of Jim Hall and Roger Penske), and 3rd in class at Lexington and in the Road America ‘500’ (co-driving with John Cannon). He placed 3rd overall in the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship. We understand that in 1965 this Hayes Elva-Porsche was sold to Pierre Phillips who continued its racing career, primarily upon the US West Coast. He then sold the car to Chris Stewart who continued to race it through 1967. On March 14, 1968, this car was sold by East West Motors to C.A. Menke who fitted a Wankel rotary engine for 1972 after racing it initially with the 2-litre Porsche 904 engine still installed. On May 11, 1979, Mr Menke sold the car – less engine – to J. Wellington of Rennsport Werke. Ten days later the car, together with many spares, was purchased from Mr Wellington by Warren Eade, who then acquired a “proper” 1700cc ‘flat-fan’ 4-cam Porsche engine for it from N. McDaniels who had it checked and verified by Mr Wellington at Rennsport Werke. In 1985 the car was sold by Warren Eade to Stan Siegel. He then began a complete restoration which was completed with the assistance of Al Cadrobi (engine) and Scott’s Porsche (the car). This work was completed in 1986. The car was sold two years later to Richard Becherer, in 1989 it passed via Mark Leonard to Reg Howell. The car returned to the UK last year, to the hands of the current vendor. This fine-history Elva-Porsche Mark 7S is offered here as restored, in fine condition, equipped with the Porsche 904 engine in nominal 1800cc form. In period these Elva-Porsches were outstandingly successful in USRRC competition, while the sister Elva-BMW used in Britain and Europe shone brilliantly, notably when driven by the late Tony Lanfranchi. Porsche’s own design and development of the 904GTS Coupe had prevented the factory keeping its racing Spyders up to date, and even they bought an Elva Mark 7S into which they dropped their 2-litre flat-8 engine. The works Elva-Porsche ‘8’ was then driven with success by works mountain-climb stars Edgar Barth and Herbie Muller. In capable hands, the strikingly-styled and immensely potent Elva-Porsche Mark 7S is a most attractive potential giant-killer.