188 | THE GOODWOOD REVIVAL SALE
Here it is a privilege to be able to offer the first fully roadworthy car
constructed by Charles Cooper. This remarkable survivor is the tap-root
of the ultimately double Formula 1 World Championship-winning
Cooper marque.
It was in 1937 that Surbiton garage owner and Brooklands racing engineer
Charles Cooper constructed this car for his son John's 14th Birthday. It
replaced a previous 'kiddy-car' Special which Charles had built using front-
wheel delivery boy's bicycle wheels and a Francis-Barnett motor-cycle
engine. In this case Charlie adopted the Austin 7 engine he had previously
used for the Flying Flea aeroplane he had built from Henri Mignet drawings.
He had modified the unit with high-lift camshaft, twin carburettors and a
special crankshaft, and now installed it in a cut-down Austin 7 chassis frame,
lowered on 15-inch wheels. The car weighed less than 800lbs, and it proved
good for close on 90mph, which in the mid-1930s was prodigiously quick
John was allowed to drive it on private land, and one memorable day got
most opt the way round the mighty Brooklands Motor Course in it before
being nabbed. John Cooper would recall 0t really was quite something" a
very quick little car...but 0 was caught and given a terrific rollicking .
Postwar, as the infant new Cooper Car Company Ltd entered full production
of its initial 500cc single-seat racing cars, quickly followed by a widening
range of sports specials, this Cooper-Austin would be listed retrospectively in
the marque's production listing as the Cooper model 'T1'.
No fewer than 90 more T-models would follow until the company ceased
production in 1969. And so it was In this car that the still under-age John
Cooper rapidly developed his passion for motor sport, and even sharing
the driving with his young friend Donald Campbell in it. After a spell running
supercharged for grass track racing, by the 1950s this Cooper-Austin had
become a well-known and welcome regular at 750 Motor Club events,
before falling into obscurity. 0n 1992 it became a barn find, being restored
with the assistance and blessing of John Cooper, and with reference to his
personal photograph album. The restored car has been displayed on the
Cooper factory stand at Mini anniversaries, and was invited to lead the 2001
Goodwood Revival tribute to John, after he had sadly passed away, aged 77.This remarkably significant and delightfully-proportioned little Cooper has
been used regularly in VSCC, 750MC and Cooper Car Club events including
Prescott, Shelsley Walsh, Brooklands, Beaulieu, Silverstone and at the Kop
hill-climb, amongst others. 0t is now offered here with a substantial history
and documents file, including VSCC buff form. Cooper Special Number
One' carries chassis number 'C 1' and has especial historical cachet as the
first of the long line of Coopers from 500s, sports cars and double F1 World
Championship Grand Prix machinery, to the Mini-Coopers that won multiple
To u r i n g C a r C h a m p i o n s h i p s a n d s o m a n y r a l l i e s , t o p p e d b y m u l t i p l e w i n s i n
the Monte Carlo Rally at its height of popularity and public renown. This is the
car that was at the start of it all - and now it could so easily become yours...
£30,000 - 50,000
€35,000 - 58,000163
Tap-Root of the Double-World Champion Cooper Marque
1937 COOPER-AUSTIN 'T1' TWO-SEAT SPORTS
Registration no. FPB 322
Chassis no. C1
- Built by marque founder
Charles Cooper - Austin 7 based
- Pre-War Brooklands special
- Displayed at Goodwood Revival
John Cooper in the ‘T1’, Charles Cooper - standing centre beyond, Brooklands 1936
© John Cooper Collection