17 replies to this topic

[Harvey]

I saw the recent thread on the Bobtail which was up on Ebay and was just amazed at the information that was unearthed and rather selfishly wondered if the history of my Cooper could be unravelled a little more. The Cooper is a T43, chassis: F2-27-57. What I know (or think I know!) is as follows:

The car was sold with a 1500 Climax FPF (which it still retains) to Joe Lubin and raced for him by Bob Drake. I’ve a copy of a program with the car entered for Pamona in October ’57, which I guess would be its first race. It’s mentioned in Art Evans’ book on Paramount Ranch and I have some photos of it racing there in Dec. ’57.

The car went to Ron Ellico in ’58 and was raced by him and then John McLoughlin into ’59. I found copies of a program showing the car racing at Palm Springs in April ’58 and the last reference I can find for the car is in Feb ’59 on Tam McPartland’s site here:

http://www.tamsoldra...JoePlayan2.html

There is then something of a gap until the car was purchased by Martin Stretton from Walter Giovanelli of Barchetta Motor Cars in December ’88. I bought the car from Martin after it had been stored for many years and now race it in historics.

Any information would be very gratefully received.

Harvey Sykes

[antonvrs]

Did Lubin and Drake race more than one 1500 Bobtail?
The reason I ask is that Lubin still had what he said was the car that Drake raced in his place of business here in Los Angeles until 2 or 3 years ago when it was bought by Raymond Milo and resold not long thereafter. I first saw it there in the mid '80s.
Anton

[David McKinney]

It was being advertised for sale in August 1988 by Bob Herlin - was he connected with Barcehtta?

[Harvey]

Anton

I think Lubin had just the one bobtail and it was at the Silverstone Classic, it tested but didn't race. I'm no expert, but it looked very original - a lovely car.

Harvey

[Harvey]

David

I don't know if Bob Herlin was connected with Barchetta. Do you know if he is contactable?

Harvey

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by antonvrs
Did Lubin and Drake race more than one 1500 Bobtail?

I don't know about that, but they only raced one open-wheeler F2 Cooper 1500 (the car now with Harvey)

[Jerry Entin]

Joe Playan on the left, Jack McAfee in his Porsche in the middle and on the right Bob Drake in the Lubin Cooper.
In the mid 50s Joe Lubin was the official West Coast Cooper agent, so a number of bobtails are likely to have passed through his hands. When visited in 1996, Lubin still had his own bobtail, as well as a London taxicab, on display in his offices at 2121 E. Firestone Boulevard in South Central Los Angeles. He said it was the bobtail that Drake drove for him.
all research Willem Oosthoek- Photo Joe Playan collection- Lester Nehamkin photo

[David McKinney]

To clarify further
Drake did indeed raced Lubin's bobtail (as pictured)
He also raced Lubin's open-wheeler F2 Cooper

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Harvey
I don't know if Bob Herlin was connected with Barchetta. Do you know if he is contactable?

His August 1988 phone no. was (407) 746-6746 which is Orlando, Florida. I presume he's the IMSA driver of the same name.
A Bob Herlin is president of Evolution Petoleum in Houston (713) 935-0122 but might not be the same man

[Allen Brown]

I'm sure you're already aware of this and I guess it's a typo, but F2-27-57 has been identified as the #28 Ecurie Demi Litre F2 Cooper-Climax driven by Ivor Bueb in the BARC Aintree 200 at Aintree on 19 April 1958.

Allen

[David McKinney]

And before that by Brabham in the 1957 Oulton Park Gold Cup
Don't know about a typo - I suspect the Bueb number is just a mistake

[Allen Brown]

Just to digress slightly - any idea which car Bueb had David?

[David McKinney]

Possibly F2-5-57, which he had acquired the previous June
(Ecurie Demi Litre was entrant for Bueb's 500s)

[HistoryFan]

Is there more info about Joe Lubin?

[Jerry Entin]

History Fan: Joe Lubin Sr. died on November 22, 2003 and is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
I presume that his sons Dave and Joe Jr. continue to operate his tractor aftermarket business, TAP Equipment Co. in Los Angeles.

all research Willem Oosthoek

[HistoryFan]

Thank you!
And more about his racing career?

[Jerry Entin]

History Fan:
Joe Lubin was born in Montreal of Russian parents. His family moved to California when he was six. After the war he bought an entire Liberty ship of Caterpillar parts in England and started his tractor parts business in South Central Los Angeles. Frequent business trips to Europe led to friendships with David Brown, John Cooper and the Orsis.

Joe Lubin raced outboards in C-class hydroplanes in the 30s, followed by some midget racing at Gilmore Stadium, but he actually did very little competition himself.

In the 50s he became a Cooper distributor for the West Coast and entered a bobtail for Bob Drake. He also entered three DB3S competiton and two production [single carbs] Aston Martins for drivers such as Drake, Richie Ginther and Bob Oker. He once mentioned that after the purchases there was little cost involved in racing them: Brown supplied spare engines, Avon supplied the tires and Girling supplied the brake parts.

When the Astons became obsolete he turned to Maserati in 1959, buying the first Tipo 61 Birdcage plus one of the ex-Temple Buell piccolo 250Fs. His last race as an entrant came in the November 1960 U.S. Grand Prix at Riverside where Drake drove the 250F, which had been upgraded with Girling discs up front, to 13th overall.

all research Willem Oosthoek

[HistoryFan]

Thank you!