A true “garage find” of a car was sold for more than £80,000 by H&H Classics at its Chateau Impney sale last Sunday. Discovered by a house clearance company in Manchester, the Costin Nathan had sat for some 45 years and is in need of a total restoration, but represents a fine example of a car that raced as both a Spyder and GT in period. Essentially complete — with a highly prized Hewland MK5 gearbox and Ford-based Twin-Cam engine in pieces — the car was estimated to fetch around £25,000, but when the hammer fell for the final time the bid was more than three times that figure.
The Costin-Nathan showcases Frank Costin’s unique talent for designing lightweight aerodynamic racecars, and this particular example was the works prototype, raced with considerable success by Roger Nathan in 1966. Nathan himself was on hand at the auction to see his former creation sold, and was thrilled and moved as the price soared into a range few would have thought possible. Once restored the car will be a unique machine that should be welcome at any of the world’s finest historic race meetings.
Gorgeous! Frank Costin’s designs of this period and slightly earlier were the inspirations for my life long interest in functional automotive design. Even today this car retains many of the the valuable lessons in form that Frank Costin used for aero efficiency before down-force replaced low drag as the key to on track supremacy. However… Almost everything he espoused still applies on the street.