Cooper T45

[henk4]

Again please see the introduction on the T41 thread.

The T45 is the 1958 (MarkIII) version of the original F2 car. Chassis numbers still start with F2-..and end with -58. The Cooper records show 24 individual cars, all of them FPF engined.
There is no number 24, as the one but final car on the list is given as F2-23A-58, Workscar Number 1. (Also F2-5-58 is given as Workscar Number 1)
23A saw further life as Workscar for the 59 season and is now mostly called T45/51.
16 cars were sold in the UK, 2 each to Australia and NZ, one to France and one to Switzerland. Two have no further information on their destination.
Of the cars I have seen so far, two are a bit of a puzzle, one I have recorded as a T45 (as far as I can see it has the front coil springs), but somehow I noted it down as F2-2-57. It was in Monaco and at the Goodwood Revival this year.
The other problem is RAC102, Brian Joliffe's car, that did much racing in South Africa, before coming back. Last time I saw the info supplied by the owner, it stated:"research continues" Based on the nationality of the buyer of the original cars, it might be either be F2-13-58 or F2-23-58. Alternatively one UK car left the country pretty soon in 1958.
So we have F2-2-57(?)
F2-7-58
F2-8-58
F2-14-58
F2-20-58
F2-21-58
F2-23A-58 (showing its current long term owner rather prominently;) )
and RAC102
There is another unidentified car, shot at the Ring in 2004.

[henk4]

and here are the three remaining cars.

So let's try to establish the fate of the other 15 or so cars.

[Jeremy Hall]

Surely this thread should have a major caveat that the data so far posted is based on observations of contemporary cars. Without supporting evidence there is nothing here to support any of the claims to any given identity. Specifically, one of the numbers you identify is a car which was sold fifty years ago to its current owner by its first owner. It is not the car which is photgraphed here. The car of which I write is, I beleive unique in that it is a two owner car whose history can be taken back to point of inception, though there may be one other. Unless this is done in each case the carrying today of a chassis plate , story board or sadly, in some cases, just the current owners dreams is not history.

[allenbrown]

I completely support Jeremy's comments. We cannot assume that a car in historic racing claiming a particular identity is what it says it is. Usually it is, but sometime it isn't.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

I completely support Jeremy's comments. We cannot assume that a car in historic racing claiming a particular identity is what it says it is. Usually it is, but sometime it isn't.

Jeremy and Allen,
Thank you for this. I think in my intro to the T41 thread I sort of explained what I was after. I lack the historic knowledge and documentation to start an investigation on the basis of contemporary race results like is now going on in the Chevron B19 thread. Eventually the need arose to show the cars that are currently being raced and under which identity. Hopefully on the basis of starting the process a little bit differently, and on the basis of the data that I have, we could try to trace the cars originally delivered. If you think it will help I don't mind to simply copy the chassis register (showing chassis number, and name and nationality of the client as well as original engine number) as published in Doug Nye's book, (and he is aware of my efforts) to see whether it is possible to get the full picture. We can always hope isn't it?

[David McKinney]

I'll have a got at doing to the T45s what I've done to the earlier models - but it'll take me more than five minutes