Tuesday 15th July

Lola T70 Spyder | PH Auction Block

You've pored over it at Goodwood - bidding opens this week...

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A car has to be pretty special to stand out at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. But we’ll go out on a limb here and say PH achieved that this year; on our first ever stand at the Festival was this Lola T70 Spyder. Not many walked past without giving the lovely Lola at least a quick glance; plenty had a good gawp, read about it and wanted to talk at the stand about a spectacular old sports car. 

It’s easy to understand why. The T70 was the ultimate evolution of the formula that underpinned so many classic British roadsters: add ruddy great US V8 to a very pretty, very small body, stand well back and hold on tight. Except the Lola was more sophisticated than most, with an aluminium monocoque chassis, the engine in the middle and disc brakes; after the GT40’s dominance and before the arrival of cars like the Porsche 917, Lola T70s finished first and second at the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona. So not just another old British sports car. 

There were never very many, however, which makes this Lola T70 all the more significant. It isn’t a continuation or recreation, instead a proper factory T70 MkII Spyder from 1965. It has race history from British F5000, Formula Libre and something called the HSCC Atlantic Computers Series in the 20th century. Which you certainly don’t get with anything more modern.

As proper old Lola, too (chassis SL 142/22, in fact), there’s a whole host of contemporary competitions it could race in. It has its FIA Historic Technical Passport, which should open up plenty of classic events - pre-’66 should make it eligible for Revival racing, for example. It also promises to make hillclimbs and track days absolutely unforgettable. 

The Lola shouldn’t take very much prep to get into a race-ready state, either, as the T70 is fresh from a ground-up rebuild. Sufficiently so, in fact, that the freshly restored 5.7-litre Chevy V8 will need some final testing before being used in anger. Safe to say that something like 440hp in a racer weighing less than 1,000kg will be a moment to cherish. The paint has been redone, the transmission overhauled to accompany the new engine, and the suspension parts nickel-plated to help them last. 

There’s everything you’d want to see and more, basically, from a classic racer project. Sadly, the previous owner is no longer with us, but they spent their quarter century with the car striving to make it the best it can be. The results speak for themselves. And if it stood out at Festival of Speed, just imagine what the Lola might do anywhere else…

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See the full listing here

[Caterhamfan]

Hmmmm, now if it had been a Coupe

[Orchardab]

Simply Lovely.

[Petrus1983]

Stunning.

Link says the auction starts tomorrow at 9am though.

[v8notbrave]

Want to give it way more than 5 stars, a real beauty

[Fetchez la vache]

Wow. Thats sublime.

[WPA]

Lovely

[BigChiefmuffinAgain]

My father once tried to make a proper road car out of a T70. Got Michelotti to design a body, Sbarro to try and tie together all the mechanics and borrowed a dashboard from the then being developed Aston Martin Bulldog. The result was, to be honest, a bit of a nightmare and virtually undrivable on the road
[url]

These things are far more complicated to do in reality than they appear on paper. There are more pictures here https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/listing/lola-... - last I heard someone had returned it to an original Lola body and was racing it somewhere....

[smilo996]

just stunning, what a shape, the noise of burning fossils likely to leave the V10 comfort blanket clingers speechless too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-G9AdJM30

[IMI A]

Proper car.

[86wasagoodyear]

Dreamland. A T70 (or a good replica, I wouldn't be that fussy) would be in my lottery garage to be both driven and looked at. What a lovely thing.

[200Plus Club]

86wasagoodyear said:

Dreamland. A T70 (or a good replica, I wouldn't be that fussy) would be in my lottery garage to be both driven and looked at. What a lovely thing.

I did just that and built a GD T70 myself. Had it 8 yrs or so for trackdays and sprints. Its now been made road legal by Gardner Douglas for its current owner. 500bhp in 900kg, probably slightly stronger and safer than the originals too.
The Lola T70 and its era of can-am cars were perfect sports cars for me, stunning to look at and hear.

[Bloody ULEZ]

Utterly wonderful.
As beautiful as any car to my eyes.

[ttthilvester]

The dog's danglies right there!

[ChevronB19]

HSCC Atlantic Computers Series was an utterly wonderful series.

Sponsored by John Foulston, who owned Atlantic computers, and regularly ran a McLaren M8D in amongst other things (car was an utter monster).

I do remember Mike Wilds running out of brakes in a Chevron coming down to Redgate at Donington in the lead, deliberately spinning it to scrub off speed, then carrying on, still in the lead, to go on to win the race. Also Martin Donnelly racing the M8D.

JF also competed in Formula Junior in the same meetings (we also raced FJ at those meetings). He was an ‘interesting’ person. Rod Tolhurst (Lenham Transport) sponsored the FJ series, we even got start money - 75 quid in the mid 80’s, which covered the entry fee and more.

Sadly JF died in a testing accident at Silverstone on September 29, 1987, while driving a McLaren M15S Indycar

[Water Fairy]

Oooooof! Now that's a proper motor.

I'd happily draw attention to myself driving around in that.

Literally sexual.

[LotusOmega375D]

My parents had a unique road registered Lola T590 back in the 1990s / 2000s. It had been a race car in the Dutch Sports 2000 series in the early 1980s, prior to being repatriated and converted to a road car. The conversion entailed , bench seat and harnesses for two, dashboard with speedometer and Stax rev counter, headlamps, rear lamps, side lights & indicators, handbrake, horn and an ineffective silencer box for the stubby exhaust.



I think they bought and sold it for about £15k.

Not sure from this if it’s still around:

[sideways man]

A pretty old thing , I’m a big fan of these and I’d love a drive of one.
Always amazed by how much noise they can produce!

[The Pistonsdead]

Orchardab said:

Simply Lovely.

+1

[200Plus Club]

dsddasoj said:

How much should such an old car be worth?

£250k and up depending on its famous owners/history generally.

[unpc]

BigChiefmuffinAgain said:

My father once tried to make a proper road car out of a T70. Got Michelotti to design a body, Sbarro to try and tie together all the mechanics and borrowed a dashboard from the then being developed Aston Martin Bulldog. The result was, to be honest, a bit of a nightmare and virtually undrivable on the road
[url]

These things are far more complicated to do in reality than they appear on paper. There are more pictures here https://www.carrozzieri-italiani.com/listing/lola-... - last I heard someone had returned it to an original Lola body and was racing it somewhere....

Chapeau to your old man. He sounds like an interesting geezer. I have to say, Michelotti was an interesting choice but they had form in making some awkward designs. Different era then and wedges were very much in vogue but you're right, it's a massive task.