Images via William I’Anson
William I’Anson have an absolute beauty on their hands, offering this stunning Works 1959 Lotus 15 for sale.
The car, chassis 621-3, was completed at the end of February in 1959, and has maintained a well-documented history since. Although it began life with a 1.5-litre Climax, it would be fitted with a larger two-litre Coventry Climax FPF and was one of very few Lotus 15s to be fitted with a ZF five-speed gearbox. Originally left unpainted, the car sports the polished aluminium look.
Upon completion, 621-3 would go to Team Lotus and become Alan Stacey’s Works entry. Its official debut came at the 1959 BRDC Goodwood Easter International Meeting just a month after it was completed. Stacey claimed a class victory in the Sussex Trophy. Victory at Oulton Park in the 1500cc 20-lap race for sports cars during the British Empire Trophy Meeting would soon follow.
Now sporting the two-litre Coventry Climax FPF, Stacey and the car would place second in the 7th Grand Prix Rouen-les-Essats, following Stirling Moss on board a Maserati Type 60 Birdcage.
The car would then make a trip half way around the world, purchased by George Palmer in New Zealand. His son Jim, a very tidy steerer known for success in Formula Junior and the Tasman Series and a four-time winner of CAMS’ Gold Star Championship, would pilot the car. In 1959, he won twice at Wigram and once at Levin to secure fourth in the 1959 Gold Star Championship. 1960 would see him break the top 10 in the New Zealand Grand Prix, finishing 7th.
Allan E. Moffat bought the car in 1960, racing it through to 1963, when he sold it to Barry Porter. Porter would win two consecutive Sports Car Championships – 1964 and 1965 – as well as the Wharton Trophy and NZRDC Championship. He was also responsible for taking 621-3 to a 145 mile an hour quarter mile at the Longbeach Road Sprint.
A serious shunt in 1966 would see the car in need of some love, and its ownership passed to John Armstrong in 1967. Armstrong owned Armstrong’s Auto Maintenance in Dunedin, and would complete the car’s repair, finishing it in green with yellow wheels and a yellow racing stripe.
He would race the car until 1970 in circuit events as well as hill climbs. The car’s next move would actually involve a swap, Armstrong trading it for a Fiat 850 Coupé and a Hitman Minx with Randell Howe. Howe moved it on to Tracy Gough, who, in 2000, sold it to Spencer Flack and sent it back home to England.
With four busy decades of competition under its belt 621-3 went to Lotus 15 registrar Bill Colson for a well-earned restoration maintaining its original specification and condition. The sympathetic restoration saw the FPF motor rebuilt and a new aluminium body built with the original body retained. Flack would race the car in historic events throughout Europe. In 2003 it would go to Simon Llewellyn, who raced it until he sold it to its current owner in 2007.
The car has since had a complete look-over and race preparation by Mark Lewis, is in top fighting shape and has been extremely successful at some of historic racing’s most prestigious events. Each season has seen it stripped and refreshed, and it has not been raced since the end of 2014.
This iconic sports car will be a shoe-in at historic events around the world and is sold with a history file, FIA papers, road registration documents, FIVA passport, VSCC Buff form and its original body. In prime condition, it’s as quick as it is stunning and its well-documented history makes it something very special indeed.
For more details, head to William I’Anson’s website here.
Via William I’Anson. Images via William I’Anson.
The post For Sale: Ex-Alan Stacey Works 1959 Lotus 15 appeared first on Motorsport Retro.