Vehicle Description
??1961 COOPER MONACO MARK III SPORTS-RACING TWO-SEATERThis
effectively Mark II bodied all coil-sprung Cooper Monaco Mark III
is equipped with a full 2.7-liter Indy version of the illustrious
Coventry Climax FPF 4-cylinder racing engine, in this case one
which is recalled by a very experienced former owner of the car as
having been a very special FPF indeed, one of the strongest Ive
ever experienced. We understand that this power unit was taken, in
fact, from the ex-Scuderia Filipinetti 4-cylinder Formula 1 Eagle,
which infers that the engine was in fact one of the very special
FPFs built up by Dan Gurneys Anglo-American Racing (AAR) Formula 1
team at the outset of its World Championship campaign and career in
1966 pending delivery of its first full 3-liter Formula 1 Westlake
V12 engines. This car is regarded as a genuinely Cooper-built
Monaco still retaining its original chassis, which was probably one
of the very last Monacos of its type ever to leave the Cooper
factory. It was originally equipped with a pointed fin 1961-type
Monaco Mark III bodyshell but may not have been completed in 1961
as a running car. Our research indicates that it was probably
retained, as an uncompleted chassis/body unit stored away by a
former Cooper Car Company employee. From him it passed eventually
to that wonderful character, British specialist racing car and
prototype bodywork manufacturer, Mo Gomm of Old Woking, Surrey,
from whom it was acquired by respected Cooper specialist Sid Hoole.
He completed the car to running order fitting the broadly Mark II
bodywork it still boasts today, and from him it passed to John
Harper one of the most successful, longest-serving and best known
driver/dealers in British Historic racing. Harper fitted it with
the 2.7-liter engine, which, by common consent, has performed in
spectacular manner. An incredibly rare race car.Price: $279,500?
