1959 Lister Special Roadster

BHL 124 was the first of nine Costin-bodied Lister-Corvettes produced. Prior to the streamlined Frank Costin-designed bodywork, eight 'Knobbly' bodied Chevrolet-powered Listers were produced for a total of approximately 17 Lister-Corvettes.

BHL 124 was the first Lister chassis specifically built for the small-block Chevrolet V-8, the previous cars had been adaptations of frames originally designed to house Jaguar engines.

Carstens and Carroll Shelby (the Southern California distributor) went to England during the winter of 1958/1959 to convince Brian Lister to start producing cars specifically set up to receive the Chevrolet V-8.

Delivered new in April 1959 to Tom Carstens, Tacoma, WA, BHL 124 was originally black in color. Carstens, a car dealer and early West Coast racer, had already owned a number of successful race cars including the '8-ball' Allard and the HWM-Chevrolet 'Stovebolt Special.' Carstens was the Lister distributor for the Northwest and BHL 124 was one of three Listers (two Corvette and one Jaguar powered) that he received.

Race Record
Carstens raced BHL 124 in 1959 and 1960, winning the Northwest Championship in 1960. Lew Florence became the 2nd owner and claimed a 3rd place finish in the 1962 Northwest Grand Prix at Seattle Raceway. BHL finished its contemporary racing late in 1964, driven by Stan Bennett.

Specifications
Chevrolet 283 cubic-inch V8 bored to 301 cubic inches and stroked to 339 cubic inches. Cast iron block and heads, wet-sump, 12.5 to 1 compression ratio, Rochester Fuel injection. Then 360 horsepower / now 475 horsepower. Redline at 7,000 RPM. The gearbox is a Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed. The wheelbase is 89 inches, and the weight is 1,960 lbs. It has a Salisbury Limited-Slip differential with various axle ratios.