1,467 cc OHV MG XPAG engine, two SU carburettors, four-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension by coil springs and wishbones, live rear axle with transverse leaf spring and radius rods, four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 88"

- One of the first race cars built by John Tojeiro, who designed the AC Ace

- Complete provenance, including 1950s English racing history and photographs

- Superb restoration, extensively raced and rallied in recent years

In the early 1950s, Cliff Davies commissioned John Tojeiro to build him a car with a two-litre, Bristol six-cylinder engine. Tojeiro, the established designer and builder of sports racing “specials,” obliged with a car registered as “LOY 500,” which was bodied by Panelcraft to look like a Ferrari 166MM Barchetta. The Bristol engine was developed from the BMW 328 and developed 128 horsepower, while the whole thing weighed only 1,180 pounds.

Soon after, Tojeiro built an MG-powered Barchetta, LOY 501, and one – perhaps two – more cars. One of these is believed to be the car on offer today, the MG-powered LOW 77, while the other was Vin Davison’s LER 371, which was being built with a Lea-Francis engine. About the same time, Tojeiro was working for Ernie Bailey at Buckland Bodyworks, which was supplying bodies for A.C. Bailey suggested that A.C. might be interested in Tojeiro’s design.

Tojeiro borrowed Cliff Davies’ Bristol-powered LOY 500 and drove down to the A.C. works at Thames Ditton. A.C. wanted a car they could display at the upcoming 1953 Earls Court Motor Show, but there weren’t any available, until Tojeiro talked Davison into lending them LER 371. A.C. fitted Davison’s car with one of its own engines, painted it blue, re-licensed it as TPL 792 and introduced it as the A.C. Ace roadster. The model attracted Carroll Shelby’s interest, and the rest, as they say, is history.

LOW 77, on the other hand, was sold to Reg Bicknell, who had been racing a motorcycle-powered Formula 3 Revis. But he never really clicked with the car, and after a mediocre 1953 season, he sold it to Ormsby Izzard-Davies. In the hands of Izzard-Davies’ driver Alan Moore, 1954 was much more satisfactory, and the car performed well at Crystal Palace and Silverstone. The 1950s racing pictures of LOW 77 are almost all of Moore and even include photos by Klementaski.

But by 1955 the world was moving on, and the new Lotuses and Coopers were faster than LOW 77 and the other MG-powered cars, so Izzard-Davies sold LOW 77 at the end of the 1954 season. It was advertised in Motorsport Magazine for $850 – a considerable sum in those days – with the ringing endorsement that it had “always finished every race.”

LOW 77 changed hands eight times in the next 30 years, mostly around Eastern England. John Stock bought it next and kept it 10 years, then C. Tufnell, Adrian Biggs, Michael Young, Robert Bowman and Paul Delderfield. Richard Roberts kept it almost 10 years before selling it to Chris Mann, who sold it to C.L. Sieffert in Longmont, Colorado. Once across the pond, LOW 77 was enthusiastically rallied in the Colorado Grand and the Copperstate 1000 and driven by Augie Pabst in the Steamboat Springs vintage races. It had such fun that subsequent owner Richard Rome spent almost $11,000 to bring it back to first-class condition. Most recently the car was owned by noted collector Bill Jacobs of Chicago, who actively raced the car in a variety of events. A mainstay at all major events around the country, Mr. Jacobs never missed a Colorado Grand.

LOW 77 comes with volumes of provenance and many photos in action, all compiled in a thick history binder. It is a sheer delight to drive and a gorgeously presented Tojeiro design, ready for a number of historic rallying events.

Please note this car is offered on bill of sale only.