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1960 Cooper Monaco
Type 57 MK II
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History |
Restoration |
Reference Books |
Price |
Jackie Stewart’s First Professional Race Car
ex- Ecurrie
Ecosse
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Chassis No. : DM / 773 / W
Reg. No. : DS 288
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Engine:
Coventry Climax
2 ½ Liter
Serial No. : FPF 430 / 17 / 1177
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Four cylinder DOC, 94mm bore x 89mm stroke
Dual side-draft 58mm Weber carburetors
Rated at 260 b.h.p.
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"King-maker"
"I was watching the final Member's
Meeting of 1963 , when I saw this young Scot called J. Y. Stewart driving
(the) elderly Ecurie Ecosse Cooper Monaco. And He was clearly
very fast. I got in my car and drove across to St. Mary's and watched him for
several laps. He really stood out. On the Monday after the
meeting I gave Ken Tyrell a call and told him what I thought of young
Stewart. Ken phoned Dumbarton the same evening and invited Jackie to
come and test the new F3 Cooper. Jackie had never driven a single-seater
before, but he seemed very relaxed. Bruce McLaren, who was then
Cooper's Number One Formula 1 driver, took the car round to set a
benchmark time, and then Jackie went out - and went half a second
faster. Naturally Bruce wasn't amused, and he went a bit quicker
too. And so Jackie replied by going faster still. Ken called a
halt then. And John Cooper, who'd been watching down at Madgwick,
came back and said to Ken, 'You can put those watches away. This
boy's quick...'Jackie would have made it anyway, but I'm glad I made that
phone call" - Robin McKay, Goodwood Track Manager. As quoted in
The Glory of Goodwood.
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This is particular Cooper Type 57 ‘Manaco’, one of 32 built between 1959 and
1964 and one of only four Mk II’s built in 1960, was purchased in kit
form from Coopers and built by Ecurie Ecosse. This Scottish team was a
major international force in the 1950’s, winning Le Mans twice for
Jaguar in 1956 and 1957. In the 1960’s it was the launching pad for
Jackie Stewart, one of the world’s greatest racing drivers. In this ‘Monaco’
he had his first professional contract, first win, first course record and
first major racing incident. In it, he was also discovered by Ken Tyrrell
for Formula 1, and as they say “the rest is history”.
The ‘Monaco’ was designed by John Cooper as a sports car, directly
developed from the 1958 Cooper Grand Prix car. It inherited the
suspension, engine and driveline from its Formula forebears. The majority
of the later Type 61M ‘Monacos’ were sold to Carroll Shelby to form
the basis of the ‘King Cobra.’ There are very few remaining today that
retain the original Coventry Climax motor.
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1960
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DM / 773 / W was originally registered on May 5, 1960 and was first raced
by Tommy Dickson at Charterhall on May 28, 1960, where it posted two first
place finishes. In October of 1960 the ‘Monaco’ was sent to The States
to compete in three SCCA sanctioned events; the International Formula
Libre Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, and two U.S. west coast professional
sports car races; the Los Angles Times Grand Prix at Riverside, and the
Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. At Watkins Glen, Roy Salvadori came
home third overall and first in class behind Stirling Moss and Jack
Brabham in Formula 1 cars. At Riverside, Salvadori spun early on and
fought back to finish fourth. At Laguna Seca, Jack Brabham drove the car,
where, as a result of a blown tire which damaged a rear brake, he was
forced to retire.
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1961
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During the 1961 season, the ‘Monaco’ competed in numerous events in
Great Britain with impressive success. In addition, it competed in the
1000 km event at Nurburgring in the hands of Tommy Dickson and Bruce
Halford. The car also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans again driven by
Dickson and Halford. At Le Mans, the ‘Monaco’ was running in 7th
position and moving-up when Halford lost control in the rain and crashed
it under the Dunlop Bridge.
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1962
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For the 1962 season the Coventry Climax motor was taken out of the ‘Monaco’
and used in the Tojeiro-Climax GT, the first prototype rear-engined GT car
built in Britain. The Tojeiro competed in the 24 Hours of Le
Mans,
retiring as a result of gearbox failure. At Monza, Jack Fairman attempted
to set a new 2 ½ liter record in it. He set a new fasted ever speed for
that type of car on the banked circuit at 152 m.p.h. and equaled the FIA
record.
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1963 - 1964
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1963 and 1964 saw the best of times and worst of times for the ‘Monaco.’
Jackie Stewart, in his first professional diving contract, drove the car
to eight consecutive race wins between August of 1963 and March of 1964.
At the Fall Meet at Charterhall, he broke the lap record twice in a period
of 15 minutes. In fact, Doug Nye dubbed the car the ‘King-maker’ as it
was Jackie Stewart’s performance in the car that led the Goodwood track
manager, Robin McKay, to recommend him to Ken Tyrrell for the 1964 Formula
3 season.
However, in April of 1964 at Oulton Park, Jackie Stewart went out on cold
tires and crashed the car quite heavily. Of the accident he was later
quoted, “…I don’t know what the hell I did but I remember where I
went … I climbed down a branch of the tree to get out of the car and it
was a sorry sight … Major Thomson’s Monaco met its Waterloo
with me and I was very sorry as it was a wonderful car and I won a lot of
races with it….”
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1965 - 1966
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By 1965 the ‘Monaco’s’ design was ‘antiquated’ and the team
decided to rebuild it into a single-seat Formula Libre class racer. In
this form the ‘Ecosse-Climax’ competed in 15 races in Scotland,
accumulating 9 first place finishes. In its first outing at Ingliston,
Bill Stein drove the car to an all-time track record. At the end of the
1966 season, the venerable Cooper ‘Monaco’ Special was retired to the
collection Major Edward Thomson, Ecurie Ecosse’s benefactor.
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1970
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On August 27, 1970, Major Thomson’s collection was put up for auction
through Sotheby’s auction house for the benefit of the Royal National
Life-Boat Institution at the Gleneagles Hotel outside Edinburgh. The
current owner, then a precocious 9-year-old, was vacationing with his
family at the hotel. While there, he convinced his father, a racing
enthusiast, to bid on the ‘Monaco’ for him. The auctioneer’s hammer
fell all too quickly at the father’s bid of 1,160 pounds and the ‘Monaco’
had a new home in The States.
The car sat un-restored until 1995 when an extensive restoration was
undertaken by the owner through Bob Akin Motorsports. The project was
completed in August of 1998.
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From the period 1995 to 1998 an extensive restoration was performed by Bob
Akin Motorsports in Ossining, NY. Mr. Akin is the foremost authority on
Cooper Monacos in the United States, having owned, raced and restored them
since 1972. Great time and effort was taken to research every detail to
ensure the most accurate restoration possible. The original builders and
Ecurie Ecosse team mechanics were consulted to answer many questions that
arose during the project. Experts such as Doug Nye and Graham Gauld, the
Ecurie Ecosse historian, provided much valuable information prior to and
during the project. Period photographs and film footage were studied as
well, to aid in authenticity.
Once the Monaco was received by Bob Akin Motorsports, it was disassembled
and cataloged. Each part was inspected and was sent out for restoration as
necessary. All suspension pieces were magafluxed and were either restored,
rebuilt or replaced. The original engine was sent to Ted Wenz, the country’s
foremost authority of Coventry Climax FPF motors, for a complete rebuild (dyno
sheet attached), the headers were replaced as well. The original Jack
Knight C5S 5 speed gearbox was rebuilt and a new ring and pinion was
fitted to the engine through a new Tilton 4 plate clutch. The other
original components including the Smith gauges, radiator, pedal cluster,
brakes, steering rack, steering wheel, oil tank, uprights, mirror, fire
extinguisher (modern halon system added), Girling disk brakes, and shifter
were all restored and retained.
A new aluminum body was hand made by Steve Hall of the Panel Shoppe of
Stratford, Connecticut, using an English Wheel. Working from photographs
and templates from an original un-restored Cooper Monaco, he recreate the
body, interior panels, and a new fuel tank (with fuel cell). The body was
then painted Ecurie Ecosse Blue (Flag Blue Metallic) to exactly match the
original color by Vintage Racing Services.
All the components were reassembled at Bob Akin’s shop using authentic
fasteners and techniques. Five new period Cooper magnesium wheels were
purchased from David Piper and fitted with Dunlop L racing tires. The car
then went through extensive testing at Summit Point and Lime Rock Park
prior to its debut at the 1998 Vintage Fall Festival at Lime Rock. In its
first race, the Monaco started on the Pole and finished first. It also won
its class at the Concourse as well as the Circle of Excellence Award as
the Best Car Raced at the event. In its second outing at the 2000 Race at
The Base at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, it
started on the front row and easily won both its class and the overall
race as well a being selected as Class of the Field by Vintage Motorsport
Magazine.
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Following is a partial list of books in which the car is either mentioned or
photographed |
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Ecurie Ecosse, The Story of
Scotland’s International Racing Team |
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by David Murray
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Ecurie Ecosse, A Social History of Motor Racing from the Fifties to the Nineties
by Graham Gauld
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Cooper Cars
by Doug Nye
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Specialist British Sports/Racing Cars of the Fifties & Sixties
by Anthony Pritchard
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Jackie Stewart World Champion
by Jackie Stewart and Eric Dymock
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Jackie Stewart Triple-Crowned King of Speed
by Karl Ludvigsen
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| The Glory of
Goodwood, The spiritual Home of British Motor Racing
by Mike Lawrence Simon Taylor and Doug Nye |
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Laguna Seca Raceway, Forty Years through the Corkscrew
by David Friedman & Mary-Ellen Wright-Rana
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The Glen ’98 - 50 Years
of Road Racing Excellence
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Watkins Glen From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty years of Competition at the Home of American Road Racing
by J. J. O’Malley and Bill Green
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Price Upon Request - Serious Inquires
Only
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