For Sale: 1961 Cooper Race Car in Astoria, New York

??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?