1959 Tojeiro Climax
£POA
The 1950s was undoubtably a golden era for motor racing. Not only was the sport dominated by some of the most gregarious characters to sit behind the wheel of a racing car but that decade saw some of the most beautiful racing cars ever built, emerge. None more so than the Sports-racing cars, not just from the iconic factory teams such as Ferrari, Maserati, Aston-Martin and Jaguar but also the smaller constructors like Lotus, Lola and Tojeiro.
Legendary designer John Tojeiro's place in history is cemented with his design and creation of a Sports racing Special which sired the AC company's now immortal Ace and Cobra models. Alongside this he also designed some of the most interesting, successful and attractive Sports Racing cars of the era, featuring MG, Bristol, Jaguar and Coventry Climax power units. By the end of the 1950s the larger engined cars were constantly losing out to smaller engined but more nimble machines such as Lotus and Lolas. John Tojeiro joined the fray, designing an effective multi tube space frame chassis coupled to 1100cc or 1500cc Coventry Climax power.
Clothed in sleek all enveloping alloy coachwork. Only a handful were built but they certainly gave the others in their class a run for their money.
The car offered here, carrying chassis number TAD/3/59, now carries the 1100cc Coventry-Climax engine and was discovered in the 1970s derelict, engineless and part dismantled by John Neil, a race mechanic at Wolfe Racing. He passed it on to legendary D and C-type Jaguar specialist, John Pearson who, in turn, sold it to David Lee. It featured very distinctive Elva magnesium wheels and unique three eared knock on spinners. These wheels, it is believed were only fitted to one Tojeiro, the 1500cc Climax powered car raced by Sir John Whitmore during 1959. It has not been possible at this time to categorically confirm that this is one and the same car but from Whitmore the car is believed to have passed to Fred Warnell in the 1960s and there the trail goes cold until this car is discovered in the 1970s.
By 1978 Lee had restored the car, fitted a competition 1100cc Climax engine and started competing in historic classes at various hillclimbs around the country. There are various programmes, photos and results sheets from Davids’s days hillclimbing the car. David retained ownership of the car for almost 50 years until his death after which the vendor purchased it from his Widow.
The car has recently been revived, sympathetically recommissioned and, with the help and support of Robin Tojeiro of the Tojeiro register, successfully road registered with a modern V5C. It has proved a rewarding and spirited drive on the road and is a beautiful and unique survivor from one of the more coveted low volume manufacturers. TAD/3/59 would, no doubt be a most welcome and potentially competitive addition to any of the numerous Historic Sports-Racing car series for which it is eminently eligible.