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 had 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.'
Related Reading : Cooper Monaco History
Sports car racing had been slowly growing in popularity since the conclusion of the Second World War, peaking near the close of the 1950s. The competition had grown, and designs had become perfected. Cooper began work on their racer in 1958, with the intention of competing during the 1959 season. The resulting vehicle was named the Monaco, in honor of Trintignants accomplishments at that race in....
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