Elva Mk 7 & 8

[RAP]

Can anyone help with chassis numbers/history of Elva Mk7 & 8 that raced in the UK. I have identified the following, mainly from programmes -

Mk 7 (I think 69 were made between 1963 and 1965)
1963
Doug Graham 1100cc Ford Blue/yellow For sale Oct 63
Ewen Paul 1100 Climax Blue Still raced in 64. Debut Brands March 63. Recent advert says chassis 05 which fits timewise.
Steve Minoprio (Eq Elva London) 1100 Ford Green. Race debut Goodwood Easter 63
Robin Benson (Eq Elva London) 1100 Climax DNA Goodwood Easter 63
Elva Cars/ Bill Moss 1600 Ford Silver Debut Goodwood Easter 63
T Lanfranchi (Team Crostune) Ford 1600 For sale Oct 63
Elva Cars/ Mike Beckwith Porsche at Boxing Day Brands - probably exported thereafter

1964
T Lanfranchi/Eq Elva BMW green with silver strip Easter Goodwood
David Prophet 1100 Ford Green Easter Goodwood - still entered in 1966
Willment BMW red/white stip for sale Oct 64
T Taylor BMW yellow at Tourist Trophy, then raced by Lanfranchi at Crystal Palace etc
John Barnes supercharged Ford in hill climbs blue (I think)

1965
Bill Forbes BMW Red Rufforth Easter 65
Chris Williams (driven by Gethin and Lanfranchi) yellow/black
K ST John (Radio London) BMW purple I think this was chassis 065. For sale May 66
P Linton 1100 Ford Purple/white. Later 1600 engine in early 66
Willment BMW presumably 64 car unsold
P C O Roberts BMW Silver still raced in 66
A Clegg Butt BMW White entered Croft 15/8/65

1966
R Scott BMW Red ex Forbes?
A Eccles/C Ashmore Climax V8 1.5
T Howard BMW Brands Boxing Day
R Terry BMW hill climb car later with Buick V8

Mk8
1965
Wks/McLaren rcg usually driven by Amon BMW red/silver
Also an all red car ??
1966
Malcolm Wayne BRM (NOT BMW) white/black strips
Any extra data welcomed!!

[glyn parham]

RAP. Knew Keith St John well, and yes his car was purple, sponsored and entered by Radio London. There is an unidentified photo of this car on Motor Racing Retro's web site in the Mystery page taken in 1964 at Silverstone.

[David McKinney]

Sorry, can’t help with early numbers
A couple of comments, however
•I have Barnes hillclimbing his car, with BMC engine, in 1963, before the Ford engine went in for the following year
•I also have Beckwith’s Porsche-engined 1963 Boxing Day Brands car as a Mk6
•Production figures: I have 29 Mk7 units being produced, plus 42 7S's (of which 19 had Porsche engines and 15 BMW) which makes a combined total of 71

[RAP]

David
Thanks for your reply.
Info re Barnes blows a theory that his was the Doug Graham 63 car based on colour + engine
The Beckwith Boxing Day 63 car WAS Mk7 - see photo Autosport 3/1/64 p9. Also, in results.
I wonder if the difference in production figures could be the GT160 model as this was basically a Mk7 (or 8) wasn't it?

[Bryan Miller]

Rap.

The Keith St.john car was purchased by Dr. Michael Henderson of Australia , who was resident in the U.K. at the time.
The car returned to oz with Michael and was raced by him for a few years with it's BMW engine , sold went through various hands , untill repurchased by Michael about 6/7 years ago , re-restored and is still in his possesion and used in historics.
We also have 2 , I think MK8's , one definately owned by Brian Sampson of Melbourne for many years , BMW again , and I believe ex. U.S.A. about 20 years ago.
The second is ex. Sth. Africa/ Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe, I believe.
Will try to define ch.no. for you.

Bryan Miller.

[Bryan Miller]

RAP.

Further to the above ,

Dr Michael Henderson's car is ch.no. 70/065.
Mr. Brian Sampson's car is Mk8s 80/10.

Hope this assists. Bryan Miller.

[RAP]

Bryan
Thanks very much for your confirmation
Richard

[phdm]

70/013 Sidney Charpilloz (CH) 1963. Red. Climax engine. Hillclimbed in Switzerland. S. Charpilloz remembers he went to Elva and bought the car "for a good price".
He also bought a BMW engined 7S in 1964.

[Ted Walker]

John Barnes fitted a Supercharged Allard "Dragon" engine in his car. No one has mentioned the Elva MK7 BMW bought new and used on the hills by Ray Terry. He built a new Buick powered 4WD MK8 as well

[phdm]

There was also one Osca engined Mk7.

[JRTM]

Originally Posted by RAP

Can anyone help with chassis numbers/history of Elva Mk7 & 8 that raced in the UK. I have identified the following, mainly from programmes -

Mk 7 (I think 69 were made between 1963 and 1965)
1963
Doug Graham 1100cc Ford Blue/yellow For sale Oct 63
Ewen Paul 1100 Climax Blue Still raced in 64. Debut Brands March 63. Recent advert says chassis 05 which fits timewise.
Steve Minoprio (Eq Elva London) 1100 Ford Green. Race debut Goodwood Easter 63
Robin Benson (Eq Elva London) 1100 Climax DNA Goodwood Easter 63
Elva Cars/ Bill Moss 1600 Ford Silver Debut Goodwood Easter 63
T Lanfranchi (Team Crostune) Ford 1600 For sale Oct 63
Elva Cars/ Mike Beckwith Porsche at Boxing Day Brands - probably exported thereafter

1964
T Lanfranchi/Eq Elva BMW green with silver strip Easter Goodwood
David Prophet 1100 Ford Green Easter Goodwood - still entered in 1966
Willment BMW red/white stip for sale Oct 64
T Taylor BMW yellow at Tourist Trophy, then raced by Lanfranchi at Crystal Palace etc
John Barnes supercharged Ford in hill climbs blue (I think)

1965
Bill Forbes BMW Red Rufforth Easter 65
Chris Williams (driven by Gethin and Lanfranchi) yellow/black
K ST John (Radio London) BMW purple I think this was chassis 065. For sale May 66
P Linton 1100 Ford Purple/white. Later 1600 engine in early 66
Willment BMW presumably 64 car unsold
P C O Roberts BMW Silver still raced in 66
A Clegg Butt BMW White entered Croft 15/8/65

1966
R Scott BMW Red ex Forbes?
A Eccles/C Ashmore Climax V8 1.5
T Howard BMW Brands Boxing Day
R Terry BMW hill climb car later with Buick V8

Mk8
1965
Wks/McLaren rcg usually driven by Amon BMW red/silver
Also an all red car ??
1966
Malcolm Wayne BRM (NOT BMW) white/black strips
Any extra data welcomed!!

I own the ex-Stirling Moss Mk7S-BMW and have done for 4 years. He bought it from Richard Thwaites in 1987.

[John Turner]

And here it is, John, at the HSCC Silverstone meeting on 15 October, 2005:-



Along with Richard Oldworth's Mk8 - same meeting:-

[JRTM]

By the way the ex-Keith St. John Radio London car lives in Sydney where the owner took it in 1967. He is a colleague of mine - Mike Henderson - and he boought it in '67 before emigrating. He still races it today.

[John Turner]

Mark Clubb's 7S at Cadwell Park, 23, April 2006. The 'pole' emerging from the rear is a hydraulic jack lever!

[JRTM]

Just in passing I noticed Ted's comment about the Ray Terry Hillclimb car. That is my ex-Moss car which left the factory with a Nerus BMW engine in the back - it is still there today!! Sadly it failed a noise test at Cadwell yesterday (as did Mark Clubb's car) but we managed a get a race from the back of the grid after a couple of "modifications". Good fun until Matk fell off!

Cheers

[John Turner]

Details of John's 7S (#59) here:-

http://www.johnmonson.co.uk/cars_elvamk7s.htm

[John Turner]

The 7S of Richard Kendle/Michael Scott at Brands Superprix, 6 May, 2006

[John Turner]

Dion Kremer's Mk7 at Brands Superprix, 6 May, 2006:-

[walter davies]

I don't know any UK Elva 7s, but I do know a Canadian one - it's in my garage!

I have 70/027 - I understand it was once owned by Carl Haas and is still in his livery. You can see it on my webpage here: http://web.mac.com/wdavies39/iWeb/WRVR/Hello.html

Walter Davies

[JRTM]

Nice website. there must be a Yorkshire connection with the White Rose? We are up in the frozen north ourselves!

I am sure you enjoy the Elva - they are the biggest fun to drive and also to look after (really easy).

Sadly I have just sold my ex-Moss Mk7S to across the pond after one of those offers - the one you cannot refuse - and miss it greatly. I was quite a thing watching the car at the Revival thinking ........!!

However, it has been replaced with a new toy - the ex-works Surtees TS9B F1 car. Talk about two extremes of user friendliness!!

Cheers
John Monson

[Steve Farthing]

Hi,my company Wren Classics Ltd. look after Chris Sharpe's Elva MK7 chassis number 70/003 racing in Tophat & Masters. Can you help me in tracking down the Ex Malcolm Wayne Elva BRM MK8S chassis number 90/01 ? Thanks for any help Steve.

[Leighton Irwin]

Bruce Jensen had an Elva Mk7 Ford TC 1600 for a short period of time in 69.
In the 66 68 period there were 3 Elva Mk8 BMW's running in Ont. Bill Gibbons had a blue one but ran rarely. Louis Donolo ran regularly in a red one and Dr. Tom Ashwell ran a Yellow one mostly at Mosport.

[cf3lola74]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Dion Kremer's Mk7 at Brands Superprix, 6 May, 2006:-

This is the car that my my associate Stephen Skinner had restored by Simon Hadfield in 2003, chassis 007/02 with a Lotus Twin Cam.

It was built in Feb '63 with a Climax #10952 and shipped to the US for importer Carl Haas as a show car.

It eventually found its way back to the UK via the Bahamas in 1988 with John Robinson who passed it on to Michael Bairstow. Following a half hearted restoration it was left in storage until I brokered the deal for Stephen Skinner.

It underwent a first rate restoration by Simon Hadfield and was then sold on to the current owner.

Seamus Doyle

[rogerwills]

I have recently purchased a MK7 chassis 70/023 from Robert Hartley who has run it the last few years in Top Hat/Masters and it ran at Goodwood last year in the Revival.

It was sent to Carl Haas in the US when new and bought back to the UK by Roger Fountain who restored it.

Simon Hadfield has prepared and run it for the last few years.

If anyone can assist with its history I'd be very grateful.

Roger

[rogerwills]

I just had an email from Roger Fountain. Here is some more detail on my car - 70/023:

Originally fitted with an FWA1100 Climax engine. Imported (to USA) by Carl Haas, who raced it himself before selling it on. He was the importer for Lola, Elva, and one or two other race cars of that era. I am not sure about the next owner, but it was owned by Dorsey Schrader, a racedriver and, and I believe, a fairly well known sports commentator for TV out west. He was based in California. He sold it to Jon Rhodes, who was then living in St. Louis, Missouri. He fitted a 1600 Alfa Romeo power unit, which required major work on the rear of the chassis to accommodate it, and raced it for a few years. I bought it from him around 1979-80, and mothballed it, as I had far too much going on at that time. We moved from Toronto back to the UK in 1989, with the Elva and six other cars, and I finally got around to restoring it 2001-2. It was a very tired race car, and the work was a major resto. Peter Denty did all the chassis work, and several suspension components, I bought a new body from the original suppliers to Elva in Hastings, George Wadsworth of Racing Fabrications did the engine, rads were recored originals, new tanks were made by Radicool Fabrications, and I did the rest. Rob, as you will know, had Simon Hadfield look after it during his ownership, and had a lot of success with it.

Roger Wills