1961 COOPER MONACO TYPE 57
MARK II RACE CAR
In the mid 1950's Cooper Cars, headed by Charles Cooper and his son John, created a series of non-production car based sports racing cars; a multi-tubular chassis was designed to hold Bristol engines....the same engines used in their open-wheeled Formula race cars. The Coopers developed other sports-racer variants, and several were powered by heavy 6-cylinder Jaguar engines as used in the C-Type and later D-Type race cars. John h ad seen the potential of the 1100 cc Coventry Climax FWA engine in 1955, the Coventry Climax engine was lighter than the Jag and the Bristol, so a very aerodynamic lightweight body-similar to the successful Costin-bodies Lotus Mk 8 sports-racer started taking shape. The Coopers had built a 500 cc record-breaking car with a streamlined body and rear mounted engine; the new sports-racer had a "sliced-off" rear end and became known as the "Bobtail". This "Monaco" is designated at Type 57 Mk II and is a much-refined "Bobtail."
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