Can somebody tell me?

 What car is this?

And while we're at it, what's the history on this little fella?

Answered my own question.

 

I was going to ask who this drag racer might be, but my instincts tell me anyway. I distinctly sense a sand groper here. And who else would choose the number 69.

My favourite magazine cover.

 

"One for you Mark Beasey"

 

All finished and ready to go.

 

Barry Campbell's Mk.7.ready for Group T racing in the new year.

Favourite 3-wheelers No.68

" One for you Ross Allen" as Simmo would say.

 

Remember this?

 

Cost him a championship.

Haven't had any utes for a while.

 So here's 3.

Some people will customise anything.

 

Nice job though.

I wonder where this one is.

 

Don't knock it.

 It must work.

Another Elfin that we all know well at Richmonds.

 Yes, Trevor's ME5.

1969 ELFIN ME5 SPORTS RACING CAR - ONE OFF - GROUP A

The Elfin ME5 was a unique sports car built in Adelaide by Garrie Cooper's team for Neil Allen to replace his Type 400.

delivered new in October 1969, it was intended to be a more competitive proposition against Frank Matich's Repco V8 powered Matich SR4 and Bob Jane's similar engined McLaren M6 driven by John Harvey.

Garrie Cooper's naming of the new car was basically 'M' for monocoque, 'E' for Elfin and '5' for 5 Litre engine capacity.

Principal builders and designers at Elfin in South Australia were Ron Lambert and Tony Alcock, who at the time had recently returned from the UK having worked for Brabham. Garrie Cooper was also an integral part of the design team.

Powered by a Bartz modified 5.0 Litre Chevrolet engine. Bartz engines had been used in the late 60's by McLaren in the U.S. and featured a steel crank, dry sump, alloy heads, roller rockers, Lucas mechanical fuel injection and mated to a Hewland DG300 transaxle gearbox. The engine and gearbox have only been run for approximately 2 hours since the last rebuild.

This amazing Historic race car has been through quite a few hands since Neil Allen, including Peter Woodward, Charlie Occupenti, Don Elliot, Johnny Walker, Bill Marshall, John Blanden, Rick Otten, Dutton & Sons, Greg Lovett, Bob Minogue, Dutch born Harm Lagaay (Porsche's Chief designer at the time) and now it is in its current owner's hands.

Considerable racing history is attached to this car, including competing at Spa, Elkhart Lake, Nurburgring, Daytona, Oshersleben, Melbourne GP circuit, Phillip Island, Dijon, Zolder, Hockenheimring, Monza and Zandvoort.

This race car has full FIA and HTP approval, along with its considerable history.

There is an amazing collection of spares to be negotiated with the sale.

Available to admire on our showroom floor in Adelaide.

This is definitely not a car for the road and won't be started in the showroom, it is an awesome, pure and very historic race car.

Price : $219,900.

Type Elfin ME5 into the search box in the top left hand corner for more ME5 stories.

A significant Elfin on onlinebids.com.au

 

1960 Elfin Streamliner #9 of 23 Built Coupe Black 1.2L 105E

Number 9 of 23 built. This is not to be repeated, and unbelievably rare and significant Australian

production race car.

3 Folders of very extensive history, documentation and photographs of the vehicle since 1960 are 

included. This has to be seen to be truly appreciated. An absolutely spectacular vehicle.

This is the original Elfin purchased on September the 9th 1960 by Tony Alcock, built by Tony while

working as an apprentice for Garrie Cooper. Tony later went on to found Birrana Racecars and work for Graham Hill in Formula One. Tony also spent time working for both McLaren and Brabham.

The vehicle seems to have passed from Tony Alcock to Jim Lush, then David Sullivan, followed by John Lawton, Lou Russo, RD Seath, Lindsay Walker, Roy Williams and then Jim McKeown.

The vehicle was purchased from Jim McKeown of Shell racing team fame in 1997 and been local to

Canberra since. It competed in Jim's hands at the Adelaide Grand Prix in 1990, qualifying 12th against

a field of McLarens, Mirages, Chevrons etc with a time of 2.02.70. It is shown in the rare publication

"Australian Elfin Sports and Racing Cars" as last known in the hands of Jim McKeown.

The vehicle seems to have been registered in South Australia in its early days, probably soon after

manufacture as SA 392.083 and was reportedly driven from Adelaide to Bathurst to compete and

then driven home. The factory records also show it fitted with a 100E Ford motor, being the only example painted black, although has seen several paint jobs and livery over the years before being returned to black. The body is all alloy fully restored and repainted by John Phillips some years ago.

An accompanying CAMS logbook shows serial number of V4323 being issued on 29th May 1978.

The vehicle was then painted British Racing Green and was registered for class L(b) with a dry weight 

of 408 kg and with Ford 105E engine number 204104 Bore 8.09CM and Stroke 4.84 CM for a swept

volume of 1200 cc's.

The vehicle comes with a large collection of historic material including letters, photographs and other

documents largely assembled by the late Roy Williams in an attempt to trace the entire history of

the vehicle. Amongst the material is a pristine copy od the magazine Australian Motorsport from December 1959 carrying the article "A Welcome Venture - The Elfin" by Bob Burke.

The vehicle comes with 5 different ratio differentials plus a complete spare 105E motor.

Over the years the vehicle has competed extensively at Mallala, Winton, Sandown, Geelong, Calder

Park, Mount Tarrengower, Phillip Island, Amaroo and Eastern Creek.

This is absolutely a once in a lifetime opportunity to own an incredible and very rare Australian 

production race vehicle with significant history. This is without a doubt the ultimate collectors piece

that can still be driven, raced and enjoyed.

Mechanical Profile

        Engine Capacity 1.2L 105E

Engine Configuration Inline 4 Cylinder

Fuel Unleaded Petrol

Transmission 4 Speed Manual

Drive Rear Wheel Drive

General Profile

Body Very Minor / Parking Dents

Paint Minor Scrapes & Scratches, Bubbling in paint, not rust

Front Tyres Apprx. 90% Tread Remaining - Minor cracking in sidewall

Rear Tyres Apprx. 90% Tread Remaining - Minor cracking in sidewall

Interior

Steering Manual Steering

Interior Colour Bare

Fittings

Alloy Wheels 13" Spokes

History

Odometer (KM) N/A

Service History Partial History

Registration

Registration Expiry N/A

Registration Number NO PLATES

VIN # TBA

Engine No 204104

Test Drive

Runs and drives well

You might also like to check Bollyblog posts "A very early Streamliner" Thursday, January 28, 2010 and

"The Alcock Streamliner" Monday, July 5, 2010.

Post Script : The successful bidder was "Bollyman". That's interesting.

This is my favourite Byfield.

 

One up on the Buchanans and JWFs as it's hand formed aluminium.

Yes I know his road car designs are magnificent too.

Favourite 3-wheelers No.67.

 Brave man.