We have the pleasure to offer this beautiful and iconic 1959 ex-works Lister Jaguar Costin, chassis number BHL2-59, for sale.

Dominating the British Sports Car racing in the 1957 and 1958 seasons with Archie Scott-Brown driving, Brian Lister developed a new car for 1959 with aerodynamicist Frank Costin. Constructed around the same basic chassis as the ‘Knobbly’ but incorporating Costin’s aims of low frontal area and low drag, the 1959 Lister-Jaguar looked quite different and more refined than the previous season’s car.

Our car, the first ‘Works’ Costin constructed with chassis no. BHL 2-59 was driven to a debut victory by double Le Mans winner Ivor Bueb in the Sussex Trophy race at Goodwood on Easter Monday 1959. Two weeks later, Bueb finished 5th in the British Empire Trophy at Oulton Park, sharing fastest lap with the 2nd-placed Jack Brabham’s Cooper Monaco. At Crystal Palace in May, Bueb was 4th behind the Coopers of Salvadori and Jim Russell and the Lotus of Graham Hill.

The following month, the car was entered at Le Mans in a two-car ‘Works’ team, driven by Bueb and Lister stalwart Bruce Halford and confirmed by accompanying Le Mans entry forms. As a round of the 3.0-litre-limited World Sports Car Championship, all Jaguar-engined cars were forced to run the notoriously unreliable de-stroked 3.0 liter version of the more reliable XK engine. Although the race started positively for Lister, the sister car of Walt Hansgen and Peter Blond suffered engine failure after four hours. Running as high as 4th after eight hours, BHL 2-59 succumbed to the same fate after 121 laps. Bueb’s 6th place at the British Grand Prix meeting at Aintree aside, this was BHL 2-59’s ‘Works’ swansong. Following Brian Lister’s decision to withdraw from racing the following week, the car was offered for sale at the end of the 1959 season by renowned London car dealership The Chequered Flag.

BHL 2-59 made its way to California in early 1960. For the next two seasons it was raced by Dave Ridenour extensively in SCCA, USAC and California Sports Car Club events, taking wins at Riverside and Laguna Seca and other podium placings at Cotati, Stockton, Sacramento and Vaca Valley. His last recorded outing with the car was a 2nd place at Cotati in May 1962. Ridenour then sold BHL2-59 to fellow Californian Ted Petersen who raced the car for the remainder of the 1962 season ended by an accident at the Riverside LA Times GP.

In 1982 the Lister was repatriated to the UK by Jaguar Specialist John Pearson who undertook its restoration and then sold the car the following year to collector and racer Chris Drake. After having raced BHL2-59 for a few years on the historic racing scene, Drake sold the car in 1985 to Peter Kaus for display in his ever expanding Rosso Bianco Museum near Frankfurt, Germany.

With the closure of the museum in 2006, the entire collection was acquired by Louwman in Holland. They retained the cars needed for their own collection and offered the other cars, including BHL2-59, for auction with Bonhams at the Goodwood Revival in September 2006 where it was bought by Scottish historic racer Tom Mc Whirter. After a complete restoration by JD Classics, Tom frequently competed with his Lister in a number of historic racing events, appearing at the 2010 Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival and multiple races with Motor Racing Legends in the UK and abroad. After 10+ years of enjoyment, Mc Whirter sold the car in 2019 to the current Dutch owner who sourced a 2nd race-spec wide-angle D-Type engine together with different-ratio differentials and additional wheels. He also had a new wiring loom and fuel cell installed together with a rebuild of the gearbox and suspension by Riedling & Mouser (UK).  When all this was done, he has continued to compete successfully with BHL2-59 in various historic events including a win at Le Mans Classic 2023 where it was co-driven by multiple Le Mans 24-hour winner Emanuele Pirro.

Accompanied by a recent report from marque specialist Chris Keith-Lucas, he identifies the chassis as retaining several features unique to Costin Listers, including the distinctive rectangular chassis cross member and the rear trailing arm pick-ups being located outside the main chassis tubes (and not inside, as on earlier Knobblys). The report identifies that the car is fitted with a works specification 3.8-litre dry-sump engine with wide-angle D-type cylinder head and a fully syncromesh XK gearbox.

BHL2-59 has been road registered in The Netherlands and is fully race prepared. The car has a current FIA HTP (valid until 2027) and comes with extensive spares including a 2nd race-spec wide-angle 3.8 liter engine, multiple differentials, 2 sets of wheels, spare radiator, windscreen and extra spotlights.

This beautiful, ex-works Le Mans Lister Jaguar Costin is ready to be enjoyed by its next custodian in any of the multitude of 1950s sports car races and events for which it is highly eligible.

History