Taproot of the McLaren marque

The past ten days have certainly been jam-packed. On Monday, June 20, we opened a crate containing what many (including yrs trly) consider to be a rare and immensely significant treasure - the mortal remains of Bruce McLaren's 'long lost' 1964 Cooper-Zerex-Oldsmobile, just retrieved after more than 50 years in South American storage.

With contemporary Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team mechanic Howden Ganley, and Allen Brown of oldracingcars.com, we lifted the crate lid and silence reigned...until Howden remarked, "hmmm, it's in better nick than I expected", and after further close inspection added "for me that is certainly the real car". Whereupon I heaved a sigh of relief. We had not totally been sure quite what we would receive.

On the Tuesday it was trucked to Goodwood, where it took 12 or so of Bonhams' strongest to lift it bodily from the crate and place it upon display during their Festival of Speed Sale viewing and auction days, on Thursday/Friday.

This is the remarkable 'Great Transformer' car which began life in 1961 as the Cunningham team's Formula 1 Cooper-Climax T53, driven (and crashed) by Walt Hansgen in the year's US GP at Watkins Glen. The damaged car was then bought by Roger Penske - for $1,250 - and converted by mechanics Roy Gane (? spelling?) and Harry Tidmarsh into Roger's rule-bending centre-seat 'Zerex Special' sports-racing car. Using a 2.7-litre Coventry Climax FPF 4-cylinder engine, Penske promptly ran rings around the strong opposition to win both the 'Los Angeles Times' GP at Riverside and the Pacific GP at Laguna Seca, before adding a third straight win at the Puerto Rico GP on the Caguas circuit.

The car became a transformer, perhaps most simply explained as follows:

Iteration 1 - 1961 1.5-litre 4-cylinder Formula 1 Cooper-Climax T53P (with T55-influenced bodywork) - conventional single-seat open-wheeler. Entered by Briggs Cunningham and driven by Walt Hansgen.

Iteration 2 - 1962 2.7-litre 4-cylinder US sports-racing 'Zerex Special' (with distinctive centre-seat narrow-cockpit wheel-enveloping bodywork, tiny legalising 'passenger seat' tucked offset into left-side pontoon space) sports-racer. Entered by Roger Penske's Updraught Enterprises Inc and driven by him. Multiple significant race wins.

Iteration 3 - 1963 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Climax FPF-engined US sports-racing 'Zerex Special' (with broad cockpit, two equal-size seats equally spaced each side of the car's longitudinal centreline, offset - to the right - driving position) sports-racer. Entered by the John Mecom Racing Team of Texas and driven by Roger Penske. Multiple significant race wins, best reult being Penske's win in the international Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch, England.

Iteration 4 - Early-1964 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Climax FPF-engined UK sports-racing Cooper-Zerex-Climax (with bodywork slightly modified from Iteration 3 Penske/Mecom form) sports-racer. Entered by the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team and driven by Bruce McLaren. Two significant race wins, at Aintree and Silverstone..

Iteration 5 - June 1964 3.5-litre Oldsmobile V8-engined UK sports-racing Cooper-Zerex-Oldsmobile (with all-new McLaren team-made straight-tube chassis centre-section uniting the retained original F1 Cooper extreme front and rear structures), individual 'stack-pipe' exhausts. Entered by the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team and driven by Bruce McLaren to win the major Player's '200' international at Mosport Park, Canada.

Iteration 6 - August/September 1964 3.9-litre Oldsmobile V8-engined UK sports-racing Cooper-Zerex-Oldsmobile (retaining the all-new McLaren team-made straight-tube chassis centre-section uniting the retained original F1 Cooper extreme front and rear structures), individual 'stack-pipe' exhausts. Entered by the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team and driven by Bruce McLaren to win the international Guards Trophy, Brands Hatch, then start from pole, lead and set fastest lap in the RAC TT at Goodwood.

This extraordinarily successful car was then sold by Bruce to Texan SCCA exponent Dave Morgan, modified into:

Iteration 7 - As above, Olds-engined but fitted with distinctive 'anteater' nose body section - otherwise retaining the BMcLMRT straight-tube centre-section chassis of Iterations 5 and 6, with its F1 Cooper extremities - raced in SCCA South-Western Region events and at Nassau in the Bahamas Speed Weeks of 1965 and '66.

Then sold to Leopoldo ‘Leo' Barbosa in Venezuela, raced by him there in 1967-68 and perhaps into 1969.

Then sold to Guillermo 'El Mono' Montero c.1970 - offered for sale but attracted no buyers, stored for some years.

Sold eventually to another South American owner c. 1980 - stored in dismantled state for very many years.

Howden, Allen and I just feel privileged to have welcomed the old lady 'home'.

Below: Top body section is a South American-made post-period panel, nicely fabricated in aluminium. Sills, I believe, are original.



Howden Ganley (centre) and Allen Brown (right) just after we opened the crate.



Rear end with Cooper 'square' and ZF transaxle longsince replacing the Colotti.



McLaren-made centre frame was fabricated in the infant team's dirt-floored New Malden workshop by Tyler Alexander and Wally Willmott and appears to be in great shape despite its 58-year age, tanks are original, Traco Olds V8 engine missing one Weber carburettor.



Cooper F1 front frame survived the Penske and McLaren centre-section changes - foot pedals upon which Penske and McLaren once danced so successfully are offset from original centreline position on Cooper lower front cross-member, presumably during the Penske/Mecom 1963 conversion to conventional sports-car configuration.





All Photos Copyright: The GP Library

You will ask how this retrieved treasure relates to the 'Zerex Special' publicised in recent years and as run at some Goodwood events? On the basis of that car's owner's storyline as presented to me, which suggests he was misled at some stage, that car should be regarded as an unrelated tribute to the real thing, as now pictured here.

This wonderful and important survivor - the first sports car to carry Bruce's Kiwi team badge - is to be offered for sale by Bonhams at the Goodwood Revival Meeting in September.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 01 July 2022 - 07:11.

Wow!

Will it eventually be repainted in 'garden gate green'?

A wonderful box full of goodies, there Doug...

Including the period mechanical pieces. A pity about the Weber.

What a find and such an important car not only to McLaren followers but Motorsport as a whole. And I thought that the red Zerex car we saw at Goodwood was the real thing

One of my early memories is this one at Oulton Park 1964 at the April Spring Meeting and seeing Bruce and this car which I think was his first race in the UK with it so this must be iteration 4.  Tyler Alexander is chatting to Bruce.

Almost a Bruce eye view... 1964 Aintree 200 meeting (as far as I'm aware)

Photo: B F E Clarke

Stephen

I added this to the Roger Penske 'Mr Motorsport' thread last week, may as well be here too.

To use Doug's infomation - iteration 2 heading for a win at November 11th, 1962 Puerto Rico GP

Stephen

I would love to see any more photographs showing the car in its Oulton Park, Aintree, Silverstone configuration - Iteration 4 - with the body panels removed to reveal the chassis...  Or ditto during Roger Penske's 1963 season with it in Iteration 3 form.

DCN

Fantastic, how wonderful that so much of the 'original' structure is still intact!

Wow!

 

Will it eventually be repainted in 'garden gate green'?

I always think of that colour as "lawnmower green".

As this car appears to be almost complete, does this mean that the replica that MotorSport described last year as "The McLaren you never knew existed" or some such silly title, didn't contain a single genuine part, despite the owner's very dubious claims?

I wonder what became of the centre section material removed to make way for the McLaren-made chassis revision; scope there for a 'restoration' claiming the same identity...!

(I need to re-read the previous thread on this - and other material that I've read and since forgotten.)

I always think of that colour as "lawnmower green".

As I recall from Bruce's - or rather Eoin Young's - own writings it was finally completed on a Sunday afternoon prior to a Bank Holiday meeting and in those (pre-Sunday trading laws) days the only place they could get any paint was a garden centre. Admittedly it's a shade which you'd probably also have seen on your Suffolk Punch, but it was described as 'garden gate'!
 

Presumably  the FIA have a letter in the post to the proud owner of the car previously known as the Xerex Special asking for their papers back.

I always think of that colour as "lawnmower green".

 

As this car appears to be almost complete, does this mean that the replica that MotorSport described last year as "The McLaren you never knew existed" or some such silly title, didn't contain a single genuine part, despite the owner's very dubious claims?

Another magazine article claimed part of the frame as original. This could only mean that the centre section cut out by the McLaren mechanics in 1964 in that dirt floor garage, was saved for 52 years and made available to the fabricators. I find that highly unlikely. 

Edited by Bikr7549, 30 June 2022 - 15:59.

As I recall from Bruce's - or rather Eoin Young's - own writings it was finally completed on a Sunday afternoon prior to a Bank Holiday meeting and in those (pre-Sunday trading laws) days the only place they could get any paint was a garden centre. Admittedly it's a shade which you'd probably also have seen on your Suffolk Punch, but it was described as 'garden gate'!
 

Fastest garden gate in the world then !    

Unless you know otherwise, of course !!! 

Doug just made the two greatest posts of all time.

Oh I say - steady on...

DCN

With a car like this, essentially a special which evolved, the question of which iteration to restore it to arises.  I would vote for iteration 2 or 3 as that is where the car's reputation was made,  If a 2.7 litre Climax can't be sourced then I'd vote for Iteration 6.

With a car like this, essentially a special which evolved, the question of which iteration to restore it to arises.  I would vote for iteration 2 or 3 as that is where the car's reputation was made,  If a 2.7 litre Climax can't be sourced then I'd vote for Iteration 6.

Hang on - one car was made , one car exists how can there be more ?

By definition there is only one car.

Edited by Red Socks, 30 June 2022 - 21:54.

Hang on - one car was made , one car exists how can there be more ?

By definition there is only one car.

Yes, of course there is: this one. But it was an ever-evolving machine. The question is which episode of its history does one choose to preserve and freeze in time? Duncan favours an early one.

But if the material of the surviving chassis is essentially viable (and I’m assuming that few would consider It.7?) then surely it has to be a later one, It. 5 or 6, because 1) it’s closer to the surviving material; 2) reverting would mean deleting the centre section, which itself has genuine and important history, and replacing it with new material that has no connection to any stage of the car’s life other than its layout; and 3) for the sake of prestige for the owner, it’s the last one linked to globally famous names and significant events.

On the other hand, one could honour the car’s history as an ever-evolving machine by continuing to develop it - make some further chassis modifications, convert to electric power and add some aerofoils. I mean, why not?

Anyway, thanks for sharing this Doug. Wouldn’t we all love to have been there when the crate was opened?

Edited by 2F-001, 01 July 2022 - 07:58.

At this very moment, I'm looking at a B&W snap I took of Bruce's car in the paddock at Mosport for the 1964 Player's 200.  If that's green from memory, it's the dirtiest, darkest shade I could ever imagine.  On a side note, what was the colour and shade of the centre stripe?  HA!

And as far as that goes, what the devil is that in the cockpit located in what would be just off his left shoulder mounted on what I would think is the panel separating cockpit from engine bay?  Looks for all the world like an ignition coil.

At this very moment, I'm looking at a B&W snap I took of Bruce's car in the paddock at Mosport for the 1964 Player's 200.  If that's green from memory, it's the dirtiest, darkest shade I could ever imagine.  On a side note, what was the colour and shade of the centre stripe?  HA!

 

And as far as that goes, what the devil is that in the cockpit located in what would be just off his left shoulder mounted on what I would think is the panel separating cockpit from engine bay?  Looks for all the world like an ignition coil.

I am not yet certain of its Canadian debut-race (in Olds V8-powered McLaren form) livery, BUT I believe it won there in New Zealand black and silver, with unpainted sill panels - before being repainted BRG with white nose and centre stripe, edged in red, for the Guards Trophy and Goodwood TT.

The cylindrical object visible above Bruce's left shoulder - at least in our TT image posted above - is the leading carburettor trumpet on the V8 engine's left-side bank.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 01 July 2022 - 12:02.

This photo is from Bruce McLaren Trust   Don Markle

Taken at the Players 200.

I remember the colour scheme differently as dark green, but that may be influenced by reading Eoin Young's book

McLaren Memories

Racing Sportscars have a similar photo and list the colours as dark blue and silver.

What surprise me is the entry list names the car as Zerex Special. I would have sworn it was Cooper-Oldsmoblie

and I'm sure the announcers mentioned that on race day. Again, Eoin Young says that diplomatically it was called a Cooper-Oldsmobile when it was in all but name the first McLaren sports car.

Whatever called it was spectacular to see, those stacked pipes really suited. And Bruce's first race in Canada was a win.

Edited by D28, 01 July 2022 - 14:19.

Colour representation from contemporary film can be very misleading where dark green, dark blue and black are concerned.  The car could well have been dark BRG at Mosport but I have always believed it to have been in New Zealand 'All-Black' livery, black and silver there, with bare aluminium sill panels.  Upon its return to England its detachable body panels were repainted BRG with white nose flash extending into centreline stripe, subtly edged in red.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 01 July 2022 - 14:43.

Hang on - one car was made , one car exists how can there be more ?

By definition there is only one car.

Q: How many Bugatti T35 were originally made ? I don't know, but somebody will.

Q: How many Bugatti T35 now exist ? I don't know, but I would bet a lot more than the answer to Q1 !

Time and again "original" cars have been built up, very often from very genuine parts, to re-create "original" cars.

The point here is that the photographic evidence, and the judgement of people who know, is very clear that THIS is the original car. Doug does not often get these things wrong ! When the "existing" car was first shown, it was made clear that it was based upon "parts from" the original.

Q: How many Bugatti T35 were originally made ? I don't know, but somebody will.

 

Q: How many Bugatti T35 now exist ? I don't know, but I would bet a lot more than the answer to Q1 !

 

Time and again "original" cars have been built up, very often from very genuine parts, to re-create "original" cars.

 

The point here is that the photographic evidence, and the judgement of people who know, is very clear that THIS is the original car. Doug does not often get these things wrong ! When the "existing" car was first shown, it was made clear that it was based upon "parts from" the original.

Just to clarify, I absolutely agree that this is the original car but believe that it has always existed as a single entity .

The only person who can decide whether that entity can become two, from discarded scrap, is the owner of the scrap which is discarded.

I do not believe at any time the updater/modifier believed that the discarded parts were or constituted a/the car and therefore cannot believe that any car built from discarded scrap can claim the identity of the car from which the scrap came.

What was the owner at the time discarding? 

Scrap not a car.

We are clearly on the same page Red Socks. Sorry if I mis-interpreted your previous post !

Don't get me started on Lola T70s !!!!

Understandable viewpoint (Post 30) but not entirely justified.  

Some historic artefacts have significance beyond the personal preferences of an inevitably transient owner/curator, and in certain cases he/she/it surely bears a personal responsibility to posterity.

Much depends upon how an owner describes whatever might have been built incorporating the 'scrap'...

This 'continuous history' concept is very old now, it has been the subject of much confusion and misdescription, sometimes bordering upon the criminal, sometimes crossing the line into palpable fraud, though sometimes honestly described and honestly intended.  The more experienced one becomes within this specialised world the less dogmatic one might become...

In this particular case the extreme front and rear ends of the surviving structure pictured almost certainly date from 1961.  The structure linking them dates from 1964.  Bruce contemporarily insisted it be described as a Cooper, and although he did so largely on political grounds (aiming to serve out 1964-65 as Cooper's F1 team leader) he was spot on in that the car not only came from Cooper roots, but physically incorporated Cooper-designed and made parts.

For what it's worth I believe that any future owner attempting to 'return' this particular car to an earlier iteration would be, shall we say, "...doing posterity a gross mis-service".  Or - to put it bluntly - he would be vandalising a great car which has a truly spectacular history, having won highly significant international races for three consecutive seasons, in four different configurations.

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa has areas of overpaint/changes of mind/modification. I doubt - thank the Almighty - that anyone would seriously strip them off to retrieve the long-obscured first try.

DCN 

Edited by Doug Nye, 01 July 2022 - 16:26.

I agree, Doug; I went through this with Listers (as have you) but this car is a remarkable and important find - Well done you!

Another shot of Players 200 Gordon White photo Canadian Motorsport Historical Society

Difficult to say blue, green but dark at least.

Edited by D28, 01 July 2022 - 17:08.

 

Another shot of Players 200 Gordon White photo Canadian Motorsport Historical Society

 

Difficult to say blue, green but dark at least.

There is a large clear colour photo of Bruce at the June Mosport race in Dave Friedman's McLaren Sports Racing Cars (MBI 2000 p33) and there is no mistake that it is dark green with silver stripe and the author mentions this colour in his caption.

When the car raced at Oulton in April 64 the car was still in Mecom colours - a sort of metallic pale blue as there was no time to change it.  Tyler Alexander in his book mentions that either before Aintree or just after they painted it dark green (and nicknamed it the 'Jolly Green Giant') . Looking at b&w photos from the aintree and silverstone races they certainly seem to be a dark colour and why would the team want to repaint it again in another colour when time was so short ?  The programmes for Oulton and Aintree list the car as green so presumably the McLaren team wrote this on the entry forms and always intended to have this colour.   When it raced at Goodwood for the TT it was also green. 

The Mclaren M1A that he debuted at the September Mosport race (the Canadian GP ?) was painted black with silver stripe so maybe this is where memory plays some tricks with us. There are some excellent photos in Dave Friedman's book.

Edited by 68targa, 01 July 2022 - 18:56.

There is a large clear colour photo of Bruce at the June Mosport race in Dave Friedman's McLaren Sports Racing Cars (MBI 2000 p33) and there is no mistake that it is dark green with silver stripe and the author mentions this colour in his caption.

 

When the car raced at Oulton in April 64 the car was still in Mecom colours - a sort of metallic pale blue as there was no time to change it.  Tyler Alexander in his book mentions that either before Aintree or just after they painted it dark green (and nicknamed it the 'Jolly Green Giant') . Looking at b&w photos from the aintree and silverstone races they certainly seem to be a dark colour and why would the team want to repaint it again in another colour when time was so short ?  The programmes for Oulton and Aintree list the car as green so presumably the McLaren team wrote this on the entry forms and always intended to have this colour.   When it raced at Goodwood for the TT it was also green. 

 

The Mclaren M1A that he debuted at the September Mosport race (the Canadian GP ?) was painted black with silver stripe so maybe this is where memory plays some tricks with us. There are some excellent photos in Dave Friedman's book.

From Eion Young's account, the car was completed while Bruce was at the Nurburgring and that was May 31 after Aintree and Silverstone.  So they had very little time to complete the work before shipping it off to New York/Toronto and the  Players date June 6. He mentions the green paint job and the much repeated story.

So I agree with you  the colour was green, though it doesn't seem to resemble the  garden gate shade as described, in these photos. The Dave Friedman image would be definitive.

That is GREAT information - BRG and silver.  Thanks for digging deeper than I have (so far).  Much appreciated.

DCN

For what it's worth I believe that any future owner attempting to 'return' this particular car to an earlier iteration would be, shall we say, "...doing posterity a gross mis-service".  Or - to put it bluntly - he would be vandalising a great car which has a truly spectacular history, having won highly significant international races for three consecutive seasons, in four different configurations.

For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its glory is in its Age and in that deep sense of voice­fulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympa­thy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity. ... It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architec­ture. That which I have above insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled. Another spirit may be given by another time, and it is then a new building; but the spirit of the dead workman cannot be summoned up, and commanded to direct other hands, and other thoughts.

-John Ruskin, "The Lamp of Memory", from The Seven Lamps of Architecture.

Okay, he was talking about architecture, but substitute "car" for "building", and there's plenty there to think about....

Originally posted by D28

 
Another shot of Players 200.....

Although fairly brief, Peter Garnier's The Sport columns of May 8th and June 5th 1964 Autocar issues, help pinpoint the transition from Climax to Olds power.

The former, stating how the conversion was happening after the ex Penske car was raced at Aintree and Silverstone meetings. It also shows a photo of car 41 in the Silverstone report.

Then in the June 5th issue it shows this photo with the details spread briefly over two pages.

Stephen

One thing that this thread has revealed is that the McLaren team had worked out a secret that always eluded BRM, how to keep stack exhausts in place for the duration of a race.

At last!

Proof positive that it was converted to a genuine 2-seater!

Yes, and doesn't the passenger look so incredibly comfortable... 

Yes, and doesn't the passenger look so incredibly comfortable... 

Tyler Alexander was a pretty big guy, but manages to fit in..just.

The Henry Ford Museum has some wonderful photos from the Dave Friedman Collection of the Players 200 meeting.
Here are some links to some really good shots but there are loads more...

https://www.thehenry...artifact/479143
https://www.thehenry...artifact/478971
https://www.thehenry...artifact/478921
https://www.thehenry...artifact/478724
https://www.thehenry...artifact/479212
https://www.thehenry...artifact/478907
https://www.thehenry...artifact/479233
https://www.thehenry...artifact/478927
https://www.thehenry...artifact/479106

 

Thank you , Doug. 

This is the stuff which makes this forum  such a good place for racing history.

For what it's worth I believe that any future owner attempting to 'return' this particular car to an earlier iteration would be, shall we say, "...doing posterity a gross mis-service". Or - to put it bluntly - he would be vandalising a great car which has a truly spectacular history, having won highly significant international races for three consecutive seasons, in four different configurations.

DCN

Re the object in the cockpit noted in my post #25 above...

Catalina Park's post above pointed to terrific images from the Henry Ford Museum also provide a peek at this thingie in the cockpit.  See...

https://www.thehenry...artifact/478724

https://www.thehenry...artifact/479212

It looks like an ignition coil but I seriously doubt it.

Edit: Am just noticing what appears to be sticky tape all over the windscreen and shows the car with and without in the two images I note from Catalina Park.  Was the screen cracked and breaking up?  My pix was post-race.

Edited by Manfred Cubenoggin, 03 July 2022 - 11:02.

It is the coil...

You can see the main lead from it clearly, the bracket holding it is typical.

And that would explain why Tyler is sitting the way he is, not wanting to 'pull the plug' so as to speak, or maybe get a quick dose of 30,000 volts.

Well it certainly looks like a coil (also evident in a couple of other pics I've seen, from Mosport).

Had there, perhaps, been issues with a coil getting too hot in the engine bay or otherwise failing? Located like that would make it easier to swap out during a race.

Just a thought...

The Henry Ford Museum has some wonderful photos from the Dave Friedman Collection of the Players 200 meeting.
Here are some links to some really good shots but there are loads more...
 

Thanks for posting these  invaluable photos and the link to more.

Edited by D28, 04 July 2022 - 14:33.