Vehicle Description
1958 Lister Jaguar Sports Racer
The Jaguar D-Type sports racer was a very dominate machine due to
its excellent performance and handling characteristics. As such,
there was a strong demand from Jaguar to continue to produce sports
cars. In 1957 a fire at a factory and Jaguar's withdrawal from
racing saw the production of the D-Type come to a close. As a
result, others stepped in to produce racers based on Jaguar
components. One of the more successful of these creations was
designed and built by Brian Lister. His first racers came on the
scene in 1954 and often competed against stiff competition such as
the Aston Martins and Jaguar D-Types. Archie Scott-Brown was one of
the more memorable drivers who piloted the Lister built machines to
many podium finishes and dominated the British racing car scene in
1957, winning 11 out of the 14 races. The 1957 Lister/Jaguar
machine was constructed of a light-weight steel space frame chassis
and bodied in an aluminum body. Its body was lump and thus it was
given the nickname 'Knobbly'. Development continued throughout the
years with a total of seventeen examples being created with most
going to the United States. The first two examples were built for
the legendary American sportsman, Briggs Cunningham. Seven examples
were delivered to Jim Hall and Carrol Shelby who outfitted them
with Chevrolet power-plants.
As the story goes BHL 113 was purchased by Leroy Edwards in the
70's at an automotive swap meet near Dallas Texas. It sold to Mark
Davies (UK) and shipping papers show BHL113 was shipped from
Houston Texas to the UK on February 22,2013. Metallurgical testing
which used samples from this chassis and 2 other documented chassis
from the original 17 produced, verified that the metals matched in
contents thus, providing supporting evidence, BHL113 is a valid
chassis. There have been rumored stories floating around about
Brian Lister being superstitious and avoided the use of the number
13, however these are unverified.
Exterior
Noted collector Terry Larson from Mesa, Arizona was the coordinator
of this build, where a new company has in their possession the
original bucks from the Lister Company. At this location a new body
was painstaking pounded out of thin aluminum just as the race cars
were in 1957-58. This new body was then shipped back to Terry
Larson where it was finished off in a beautiful black gloss, and
received the remaining treatment including mating correct magnesium
wheels with Dunlop Racing 600 tires in the front and 650's on the
rear.
Interior
The current owner/consigner requested that the interior be fitted
with a bit more luxury that what the race car would have been, so a
fine grade of racing green padded leather adorns most of the open
right hand drive cockpit. A chronometric tachometer, and various
other knobs switches and small gauges sit within a black dash. This
is fronted by a billet style lightweight steering wheel which is
finished off in walnut wood. A tripod permanent mounted center
mirror sits atop the dash and helps with vibration dampening when
viewing what's aft within the mirror.
Drivetrain
Famed engine builder Bill Terry could not salvage the original
engine block which was the victim of a thrown rod, and a new block
was used. However, the original Cunningham twin plug wide angle
head, was used after being carefully machined. This head sports
wider valve openings, and dual plug cylinders to ensure the burning
of as much mixture as possible on each stroke. A comfortable
5-speed transmission has been mated with this racing power plant
and is noted that this combination can run very nicely at lower
RPM. Testing reveals that this slightly de-tuned version will
produce 340HP.
Undercarriage
The lightweight steel space frame chassis is pristine. Various
other racing innovations can be seen such as inboard rear disc
brakes, and adjustable chassis, standard disc brakes in front, and
riveted aluminum sheeting for the majority of the undercarriage to
help with aerodynamic efficiency. Also noted is the use of all
braided stainless steel tubing for oil and hydraulic brakes, and
low tech wood used as fill at various locations underneath.
This beautiful example which is FIA Approved, and has its Heritage
Sticker (original block has been retained) and is definitely built
to be a driver. The consigner states that a 1,000 mile shakedown
through the mountains of Montana was driven when the car was
finished, and there were no problems (except for hoping the Dunlops
would grab in the corners!). An interesting story, and some real
maneuvers were gone through to put BHL 113 back on the road/track,
and back to life. A lack of any racing heritage brings the value
lower than its 16 other counterparts, however the attention to
detail, and keeping with the original spirit, is out there for the
Jaguar collector or Lister aficionado at a very fair price.
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 300 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania,
conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76
Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and
our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for
more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
