The diminutive Cooper T39 Bobtail had an outsized impact on mid-century motor racing, incorporating the latest in mid-engine chassis design and aerodynamics. Its truncated rear end—the “bobtail”— borrowed from German engineer and designer Wunibald Kamm’s previous work, was a novel and effective feature that improved airflow. Powered by lightweight Coventry Climax inline four-cylinder engines, the T39 Bobtail was the Cooper Car Co.’s first major foray into mid-engine chassis design and paved the way toward the company’s eventual success in Formula 1. Raced by the likes of Sir Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Sir Stirling Moss, Roy Salvadori, and Jim Russell, its immediate success on circuits helped seed the mid-engine layout that is used in most purpose-built racecars today.

Cooper Car produced 40 to 50 examples of the T39 Bobtail from 1955 through 1957. This beautifully restored example is believed to be one of only 13 surviving—a Mark II, which the company updated with a larger cockpit, revised wheels and brakes, and enhanced rear dampers. Although long thought to be a 1957, research by a previous owner indicates that it is a 1956 works car, identified through scars sustained in competition and its original chassis, which features characteristic weld marks that indicate a higher steering-wheel position used for taller/larger drivers.

Jack Brabham competed in the car throughout the 1956 season, while works driver Michael MacDowel drove it at Goodwood on 8 September 1956 at the Sussex Trophy, where he finished first in class and sixth overall. In correspondence with the previous owner, available for review, MacDowel recalled John Cooper and Jack Brabham asking that he drive the factory Bobtail to allow Brabham to compete with a Formula 2 prototype. Following its stint as a works competition car, it was repaired and sold in 1957—hence the confusion over its model year.

What became of the car over the next few decades is not known, except that it remained in the United Kingdom where it was likely used in hill climbs and other local competitions by more than one owner. In the late 1980s, Dick Crosthwaite of Crosthwaite and Gardiner in Buxted, England rediscovered the Bobtail, which was noted at the time to be a “Specials/Trials” car. It would eventually be acquired and restored by Silver Arrows in London and sold to Steve Rees of Kansas City, Missouri in 1995, in “complete but not race-worthy” condition, according to correspondence on file. At this time, Silver Arrows stamped the number JB964 on the frame for export identification as the chassis number was not known then. In 1996, Rees sold the car to Cooper Weeks, also of Kansas City. He would travel to England and meet with John Cooper, co-founder of Cooper Car, who reportedly identified the Bobtail as being a works car.

The Bobtail would change hands again in the mid-2000s, acquired by Marc Richelsoph who lived in Tennessee and later North Carolina. Richelsoph would restore the car and through persistent research, corresponding with Cooper works driver MacDowell, Michael Lavers of Silver Arrows and others, he would positively identify it as chassis number CS/55/57. With this information, Richelsoph took steps to certify the car, submitting paperwork and photographs from his research to the Cooper Car Club in England, which created a chassis plate with the number CS/55/57.

The car would remain with Richelsoph until 2012, when it was acquired by the consignor. Understanding the Bobtail’s significance, both within the context of Cooper Car and more broadly motor sports history and development, the consignor immediately enlisted award-winning restorers The Creative Workshop in Dania Beach, Florida to undertake a decade-long meticulous, comprehensive cosmetic and mechanical restoration to exacting standards sparing no expense. Invoices dating from 2014 through 2023 totaling more than $300,000 attest to the monumental effort in which every detail was thoroughly considered to bring this rare works Bobtail to concours-quality condition, exactly as it was raced back in 1956. The car has been shown at many events, including the 2014 and 2022 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in 2015, and the 2023 Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance, among others. It is now ready to continue being shown at any number of prestigious events or, better yet, to be driven in vintage races and rallies as it was originally designed to do.