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Cooper T53 and T53P

Lorenzo Bandini in the Centro Sud Cooper T53 Maserati at Warwick Farm in Feb 1962. Copyright John Ellacott 2008. Used with permission.

Cooper had swept to the World Championship in 1960 with the "lowline" Cooper T53 and, for 1961, built a series of replicas. These cars are given the same type number in Cooper records but many historians refer to them as Cooper T53P to distinguish them from the 1960 factory cars.

This research was originally the result of the collaborative efforts of Allen Brown in England, Eric Perrin in Switzerland and the late John Blanden in Australia. David McKinney has subsequently added much more information. Thanks also to Don Thallon, Terry Hefty and Eric Jeffries who have contributed details on their own cars, to Doug Nye for his comments on the Centro Sud cars, to Willem Oosthoek who identified the Alan Connell car, and to Ted Walker, John Ellacott and Karol Andrews for their photographs.

Any other contributions to this massive jigsaw puzzle would be greatly appreciated. Please email Allen if you can add anything.

The 1960 works cars

Chassis	History	Current owner
Cooper T53 F2-5-60	Cooper Cars for Bruce McLaren F1 1960. Used by McLaren at the New Zealand Internationals January 1961. Subsequent history unknown.	Unknown
Cooper T53 F2-8-60	Cooper Cars for Jack Brabham F1 1960. Used by Brabham at the New Zealand Internationals January 1961 but Brabham then brought his own car over from South Africa for the Australian races. Subsequent history unknown.
	Owned by Steve Froines (US) for some years. To Rodney Smith and raced at the Goodwood Revival Meeting 2004.	Rodney Smith (UK) 2004
Cooper T53 F2-12-60	First seen as a spare car at the Portugese GP 14 Aug 1960. Believed to be one of the works T53s that went to the US GP in 1960 and the car used for Jack Brabham's "test" at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in November 1960. Used as a spare car for the 1961 Indy '500' project but "did not leave the garage" and then sold to Hap Sharp. Demonstrated by Hap Sharp at the Road America 'June Sprints' in 1961 and in 1964, smashing the unofficial lap record on both occasions. Won the Colorado GP in 1965. Later donated by Jim Hall to IMS Museum in 1969 or 1970.	Indy Museum (US)

The 1960-61 production cars

Chassis	History	Current owner
Cooper T53 "F2-5-60" (maybe F2-17-60)	A new car built late in 1960 but using the identity of one of the 1960 works F1 cars.  Jack Brabham (UK) 1960 for South African GP (December 1960) then for early 1961 Australian races, 1961 Intercontinental and 1962 New Zealand internationals - Lex Davison (Australia) 1962 to replace F1-2-61 - Tony Osborne (Australia) 1963 and later rebuilt by him as the Argo-Corvette sports car with Chev engine. The Autopics web site has a picture of Ian Cook driving the Argo at Sandown in 1967. Subsequent history unclear.	Unknown
Cooper T53 "F2-8-60"	A new car built late in 1960 but using the identity of one of the 1960 works F1 cars. Tommy Atkins (UK) 1961 for Bruce McLaren in Intercontinental - Bruce McLaren (UK) 1961 for 1962 New Zealand and Australian Internationals - David McKay (Australia) 1962 for Australian Gold Star - Bill Thomason (New Zealand) 1963 for New Zealand Gold Star - Feo Stanton and Ian Rorison (NZ) 1964 or 1965 and rebuilt as Rorstan Sports with 2.7-litre Climax ... Danie Lupp (NZ) 1970 ... Bob Moore (NZ) with 4.5-litre Oldsmobile and then 2-litre Vauxhall Victor ... Kerry Pennell (NZ) - Ted Giles (NZ) by late 1980's: retained 2001 still in Rorstan Sports specification.	Ted Giles (NZ) 2001
Cooper T53 "the Owen car"	Reportedly "ex-Atkins/McLaren" car - Arthur Owen (UK) September 1961 for hill climbs - Gray and Agnes Mickel (UK) 1963 for hill climbs - Fred Tuck (UK) 1966. Subsequent history unknown.
	Remains found in Jersey by John Harper (UK) 1980's and rebuilt to 1960 specification - Gerry Porter (UK) 1991 - Spencer Flack (UK) 1999 - Barry Cannell (UK) 2001 and raced in UK historics 2001.	Barry Cannell (UK) 2001
	First reference with Roger Sweet (UK) early 1980's - Stephen Griswold (Berkeley, CA) 1982 - John Casado (Los Angeles, CA) 1983: raced in UK then taken to US in 1986 to race at Sears Point and the Monterey Historics - James Stollenwerck (Beverly Hills, CA) 1987 - Tom Byrnes (Ross, CA) 1992 - Don Schoeny (Princeton, MA) 1997: raced at various events (Monterey Historics, Sears Point, Watkins Glen, Lime Rock) since: retained 2002.	Don Schoeny (US) 2002
Cooper T53 F1-1-61	Built for 1961 season.  Yeoman-Credit Racing (UK) 1961 for John Surtees in F1 and then for Tony Maggs in Springbok series - Mike Harris (SA) 1962 for South African F1 - Alex Blignaut (SA) 1963 ... Gordon Littleford (SA) 1966 ...
	Remains located by Ivan Glasby (SA) and exported to Australia - John Harper (UK) 1995 - Ted Rollason (UK) 2001.	Ted Rollason (UK) 2001
Cooper T53 F1-2-61	Built for 1961 season.  Yeoman-Credit Racing (UK) 1961 for Roy Salvadori in F1.  To Lex Davison (Australia) 1962 and crashed at Longford.  Replaced by Jack Brabham's spare frame "F2-5-60".  F1-2-61 sold damaged to Don Fraser (Australia) 1963, rebuilt with 2.5-litre BRM and raced from 1965 onwards - Tony Osborne (Australia) 1976 - Don Thallon (Brisbane, Australia) May 1999: retained 2010.	Don Thallon (Australia) 2010
Cooper T53 F1-3-61	Built for 1961 season.  Lloyd P Casner's Camoradi International (US/UK) 1961 for Masten Gregory in F1 - Ian Burgess 1961 (last raced late 1962) ... advertised from Hampshire May 1963 ... To Bill Liddell (UK) for hillclimbs mid/late 1963 with a 1.5-litre Climax and then in 1964 with a 4.7-litre Ford V8. To Ian Swift (UK) 1965 for hill climbs with 4.7-litre Ford V8 and crashed at Dyrham Park late 1965.  Rebuilt around new spaceframe chassis as "Swift-Ford" and used to 1969.  To Stephen Cuff (Frome, UK) for 1971 for sprints: ran at Tregrehan and Trenwainton early 1971; advertised October 1972 and March 1973. Advertised by another Frome number Sep 1975. To Peter Bloore (UK) 1970's - John Harper (UK) about 1990/91 (probably the car advertised from Oxfordshire 1993/94) and rebuilt back to T53 specification - Doug Mockett (US) 1998: retained 2001 and raced in UK historics 2001.	Doug Mocket (US) 2001
Cooper T53 F1-4-61	Built for 1961 season.  Yeoman-Credit Racing (UK) 1961 for John Surtees in Intercontinental Racing and then F1. Presumed car used by Roy Salvadori in New Zealand and Australian Internationals 1962 (but logically more likely to be the Surtees car) and crashed heavily at Warwick Farm. Subsequent history unknown.
	First seen with John Ceirpicki (Australia) 1970 with Holden engine - Bob Minogue (Melbourne, Australia) with Ford V8 - D.F. Laselles (Australia - see DNA at Oran Park F5000 race 25 Jun 1972) - George Johnson (Australia) - Alan Banister (Australia) 1974. Retained 1999.	Alan Banister (Australia) 1999
Cooper T53 "VR"	Built for 1961 season by Yeoman-Credit with streamliner bodywork. Yeoman-Credit Racing (UK) 1961 for John Surtees in F1 - Bernard Collomb (Nice, France) 1962 - Andre Wicky (Lausanne, CH) 1963: used with 2.8-litre Maserati engine for Swiss hill climbs - Ph. Reitzel (Aigle, CH) 1967 - Wicky again 1967 - J.P. Adatte (Geneva, CH) 1968 - M. Rochat (St Blaise, CH) - Eric Perrin (Geneva, CH) 1979. Retained 2003. At Geneva/Cologny revival meeting June 2003. Retained 2006.	Eric Perrin (CH) 2006
Cooper T53 "P2"	Presumed built for 1961 season by Yeoman-Credit.  Yeoman-Credit Racing (UK) 1961 for Roy Salvadori in Intercontinental Racing, possibly using carnet from F1-5-61.  Assumed to be the car raced by Surtees in New Zealand and Australian Internationals January/February 1962 (but logically more likely to be the Salvadori car). Assumed to be the spare Parnell car in New Zealand and Australian Internationals January/February 1963. Subsequent history unknown but see the 'the Bryan Eccles car' below. The name 'P2' is given here to the fourth standard T53 used by Yeoman-Credit in 1961. As well as the three cars that appear in Cooper records (F1-1-61, F1-2-61 and F1-4-61), they produced a streamliner known as "VR", one extra standard car and later a T56-based car. When the T56-based car appeared at Monza, Denis Jenkinson noted that this brought their team strength to six, two F1s, two ICs and now two specials. The Formula 1 Register developed the notation 'P1', 'P2', to denote extra cars built by the Parnell team and their notation is used for "VR" ['P1'] and the extra standard car ['P2'].	Unknown
Cooper T53 F1-5-61	Built for 1961 season.  Bib Stillwell (Australia) 1961 for New Zealand and Australian Internationals and Australian Gold Star racing - Bill Patterson (Australia) 1963 - Don O'Sullivan (Australia) late 1965: crashed at Lakeside 1966, "formed the basis of" his Cooper-Ford sports car with 289ci Ford V8 - Bill Downey (Australia) 1967 - Stan Starcavitch (Australia) 1968, rebuilt as SS1-11 sports car and reportedly later wrecked in accident.  Remains still in Australia 1999.
	First seen with Sid Hoole (UK) 1989/1990.  Previous history unknown. To Barry Brown (US) 1990: retained 2001. At auction during 2001.	Barry Brown (US) 2001
Cooper T53 F1-6-61	Built for 1961 season.  Jack Lewis (UK) 1961 for F1 - Ian Raby December 1962 - Lucien Balsiger 1963 for hillclimbs with Buick engine ... Sacchi 1965 ... Zuccatti 1966 ... S. Bourlier 1966 ... probably to Andre Wicky ... Savary 1969.  Subsequent history unknown but believed to have been crashed and parts sold separately.	Destroyed?
Cooper T53 F1-7-61	Built for 1961 season.  Rob Walker (UK) 1961 for Stirling Moss in F1 and later in New Zealand and Australian Internationals 1962 - Sandown Park organisers (Australia) 1962 - Frank Gardner (Australia) 1963 for Australian Internationals and crashed at Sandown March 1963 - Stan Jones (Australia) 1963 - Ken Cox (Australia) 1966 for Holden engine.  Ken Cox is recorded by Racing Car News racing a Cooper Ford V8 in a race at Winton on 7 Dec 1969. At Hume Weir three weeks later, Cox won an event in a Cooper Ford entered by 'J Cierpicki'. Subsequent history unclear but see Alan Bannister's car above which can be traced back to a John Ceirpicki in 1970 .	Unknown
	At Lukey Museum (Australia) - Art Valdez (US) 1987.  Subsequent history unknown.
Cooper T53 F1-8-61	Built for 1961 season.  Terry Bartram (UK) 1961 for Shane Summers in F1. Destroyed in fatal accident in practice prior to Brands race June 1961.	Destroyed
Cooper T53 F1-9-61	Built for 1961 season.  Bernard Collomb (F) 1961 for F1 and wrecked in accident in practice for Brussels GP 1962.  Some parts used in hill climb special in Switzerland.
	Rudolfo Junco in his Cooper T53 at Monterey 2003. Copyright Karol Andrews 2004. Used with permission. Some parts acquired from Switzerland or southern France by John Harper (UK) late 1970's and reconstructed - Allan Miles (UK): retained 1999 ... Ted Williams (UK) 2001. A car with this number raced at the 2003 Monterey Historic Automobile Races in California. It was owned and raced by Rudolfo Junco (Redondo Beach, CA).	Rudolfo Junco (UK) 2003
Cooper T53 F1-13-61	Built in May 1961.  Scuderia Centro Sud (Italy) 1961 with Maserati engine for Lorenzo Bandini in F1; later in New Zealand and Australian Internationals 1962 and F1 1963 - Jo Siffert (Switzerland) late 1969. From Siffert Collection to Fredy Streun (Switzerland) about 1975. Retained 2003. At Geneva/Cologny revival meeting June 2003.	Fredy Streun (Switzerland) 2003
Cooper T53 F1-14-61	Built for 1961 US GP.  John M. Wyatt III (US) 1961 for Roger Penske at US GP and entered by Cooper for Tim Mayer in 1962 US GP.  Possibly the car used by Penske in Libre ('Intercontinental') racing in the US in 1962. Subsequent history unknown.	Unknown
Cooper T53 F1-15-61	Built for 1961 US GP.  Hap Sharp (US) 1961 for US GP. Sold to Alan Connell (US) 1962 for Libre ('Intercontinental') racing in the US in 1962 and later for the 1962 Mexican GP. May have been loaned back to Sharp for the 1962 US GP. John Thompson's The Formula One Record Book lists this as F1-16-61 at the Mexican GP but this car is thought to have been used to create the Zerex Special by then. Note that the T53 demonstrated by Hap Sharp at the Road America 'June Sprints' in 1961 and in 1964, smashing the unofficial lap record on both occasions, is likely to have been his 2.5-litre 1960 Cooper T53 F2-12-60, now in the Indy Museum. Subsequent history unknown.
	... Martin Eyeares 1991 - sold at Coys auction Coys 1993 ... Christopher Bullimore (UK) 2001.	Christopher Bullimore (UK) 2001
Cooper T53 F1-16-61	Roger Penske in the Mecom-owned Zerex Special at Brands Hatch in August 1973. Copyright Ted Walker 2005. Used with permission. Built for 1961 US GP.  Briggs Cunningham (US) 1961 for Walt Hansgen and crashed at US GP - Roger Penske (US) 1961 and maybe used in libre racing by Penske (see F1-14-61 above) and by Timmy Mayer 1962.  Rebuilt as Zerex Special late 1962 with 2.75-litre Climax (won at Riverside, Laguna Seca and Puerto Rica in Oct and Nov 1962) - John Mecom 1963 (nine races in 1963 and early 1964 including wins at Marlboro, Cumberland and Brands Hatch) - Bruce McLaren 1964 and rebuilt as Cooper-Oldsmobile with 3.5-litre Traco-Oldsmobile V8 (four wins from five races including wins at Aintree, Silverstone, Mosport and Brands Hatch).  Sold to US owner late 1964 and not seen again until appeared at Nassau Speed Week December 1966. At some point imported into Venezuela by the late Leo Barboza and raced there. Subsequent history unknown.	Unknown
	In 2005, a replica of the car, probably in its late 1962 form, is being built in the Northwest USA.
Cooper T53 F1-19-61	Built December 1961.  Okura Trading Co - i.e. Honda. Retained. At Goodwood Festival of Speed 2000.	Honda (Japan) 2000
Cooper T53 "the Hyslop car"	Built late 1961 for Angus Hyslop taking chassis plate from Hyslop's T45. Possibly not new but a Yeoman Credit car (George Palmer once told a young reporter it had been previously crashed by Salvadori). Hyslop (NZ) 1961 - Jim Palmer (NZ) 1963 - "Red" Dawson (NZ) 1964 - Pat McLoughlin (NZ) 1966 - Charlie Conway (Auckland, NZ) 1986: restored and retained 2005. Advertised for sale Sep 2005.	Charlie Conway (NZ) 2005
Cooper T53 "F2-30-57"	Built from spares by Ray Gibbs in UK early or mid-1960's.  To Australia about 1966 - Bob Punch (Australia) and fitted with Ford Falcon engine. Bob Punch is recorded by Racing Car News racing a Cooper Ford in a race at Winton on 7 Dec 1969. The car was advertised with a Falcon engine by Punch from Melbourne in Feb 1970 as 'Victoria's top libre car'. Subsequent history unknown.	Unknown

Some of the mystery cars - then ...

There are a considerable number of T53s that ran in minor racing later in the 1960's and it has not been possible to work out which was which in all cases. Some, on closer inspection, turn out to be T51s or earlier cars. The following are those to have been identified as T53s from photographic evidence or are widely believed to be T53s. David McKinney has a list of ten probable T53s from the 1960's so more will be added to the list as the photographic evidence becomes available.

Chassis	History	Current owner
Cooper T53 (T56?) 'the Alderman car' (1962-1965)	Used in SCCA Nationals by George Alderman (US) with an Alfa engine of some description. First mention discovered so far is 3 Sep 1962 SCCA National at Thompson Raceway; also at the 22 Sep Watkins Glen SCCA National. Won the Libre class in the inaugural SCCA American Road Race of Champions (the 'Run-Offs') in 1964. Alderman had a Cooper-Alfa in the new category Formula B car in 1965, dominating the Vineland National early in 1965. No other history known. Possibly previously the ex-Penske Libre car (if this was different to F1-16-61) which would have been taken out of service around August 1962 as its engine was destined for the Zerex Special. However, that car (F1-14-61) is probably the car used by Tim Mayer at the 7 Oct 1962 US GP.	Unknown
Cooper T53 'the other Centro-Sud car' (1963-date)	Mimo Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud had two Cooper-Maseratis in F1 in 1961, their older T51 F1-13-60 and a new T53 F1-13-61. The old T51 was wrecked in Johnny Mansell's fatal accident at Dunedin, New Zealand in February 1962 but the remains of the car were exported back to Italy. On 21 April 1963, Centro-Sud reappear in F1 at the Gran Premio d'Imola with a pair of Cooper-Maseratis and photographs show that both cars appear to be T53s. The Formula 1 Register, in John Thompson's excellent The Formula One Record Book (Leslie Frewin Press 1976) speculated that the Carlo Abate entry was a rebodied T51. However, it is also possible that Centro Sud had acquired a second T53 frame. Abate ran the car again at Syracuse four days later, finishing a strong third, and Carlo Peroglio drove at at Vallelunga in May, after which Centro Sud acquired a more recent BRM P578 and a Cooper T60 and the older Cooper-Maseratis were retired. One of these cars went to Jo Siffert (see F1-13-61 above) and the appears to have been sold by Centro Sud in October 1972 to collector Bob Sutherland (Denver, CO). The car was restored by Alf Francis in the mid-1970s and remained in Sutherland's collection until 1995 when it was sold to Terry Hefty (Lafayette, CO) who has raced it in historics using a 2.5-litre Climax. This car carries a "F1/12/59" chassis plate with the first "1" appearing to be overstamped. It thus appears to be the second Centro-Sud T53 using the identity of their T51 F2-12-59. Retained by Hefty 2002.	Terry Hefty (US) 2002
Cooper T53 'the Bryan Eccles car' (1963)	Used in 1963 British Hill Climb Championship by Bryan Eccles (UK) with a 4.7 Chevy engine. Photographs show this car to be a T53 or T55: it was described as a T55 in one report, as ex-Yeoman-Credit/Roy Salvadori in another. David McKinney believes this is the car then raced by Alan Eccles (UK) in libre racing in 1964 and 1965 before crashing and destroying the car. No other history known. Possibly originally the car used by Yeoman-Credit (by then Bowmaker) as a spare in the 1963 New Zealand and Australian Internationals. If so, it could be the proposed "P2" described above or the ex-works T58 which was bought by Yeoman-Credit in mid or late 1962 and used at the Mexican GP with a BRM V8 engine. The 1963 New Zealand spare appears in pictures to be a standard 'lowline' T53, not the 'slimline' T58.	Unknown
Cooper T53? 'the Langdon car' (1967)	A car bought by Ray Langdon (Jersey, UK) in 1967 and fitted with a 4.7-litre Ford V8 for hill climbs. Used until 1968 or 1969. Second at Guernsey hill climb at Val des Terres August Bank Holiday Monday 1968 (AS 13 Sep 1968 p43). Subsequent history unclear.	Unknown

... and now

There are a few cars seen in recent years that appear to be T53s but cannot be traced back to any of the known cars of the time.

Other relevant cars

Other puzzling references

Jerry Rulon had an ex-Salvadori 2.7-litre Cooper-Maserati running in Formula A in Iowa and Wisconsin in 1965.

These histories last updated on 7 February, 2010 .