Lot details
Registration No: UN-REG
Chassis No: T73-135
Mot Expiry: None

Back in 1967 no one with the high-octane spirit of Motorsport in their veins could have denied the awesome sight of the new Lola T70 unleashing some 500bhp of power onto the formidable complex of fast, sweeping corners that made up the Spa-Francorchamps road circuit in Belgium. What a shock it must have been for drivers of Porsche and Ferrari sports-prototypes as the sleekly penned lines of the Lola swept past their instantly outmoded machines in a manner that sent the factory race car designers scuttling back to their drawing boards in search of an answer. It took two years before Porsche could come up with something like a reply and, as the Lola T70 started to suffer from the 5.0 litre limit imposed on sports-prototypes, the trailing opposition started to take an advantage with their race-bred multi-cam 12-cylinder engines gaining in power against the finite limitations of the Lola's pushrod V-8 Chevrolet road-based motor. But still the Lola proved that it could hold its own - on a pure handling package - where it demonstrated its supremacy in chassis design on the most formidable high speed circuits in Europe. It was not until Porsche copied the aerodynamics package on the Lola T70 that this milestone of race car development stepped out of the International limelight, still to continue taking the laurels from shorter, non championship races, which proved less strenuous for its over-stretched powerplants.
Technically the Lola T70 was a classic piece of design significant in the development of closed body, mid-engine sports racers. Its elegant bodylines belied the astute manipulation of aerodynamics, enforced at a far earlier stage and with better application than its market opposition in an era significant for quantum changes in tyre and aerodynamic technology. The Huntingdon built coupe became the working environment for such greats as Bonnier, Gardener, Donahue, Hulme, Surtees and Hobbs - a roll call of the great sportscar drivers of the period. The T70 was hailed as the cutting edge of the race technology of its era - not an exercise that could be translated for the road - or could it? One Franco Sbarro had another idea altogether……….
The car on offer today, SL73/135, was built on 12/10/1968 - the last Mk.III Lola T70 built - and, according to factory records, completed as a road car and finished in silver. It was consigned to Switzerland for delivery to sports car designer and constructor Franco Sbarro who fitted the car with a Morand 7-litre Chevrolet engine, mated to a ZF gearbox. Thus completed, SL73/135 was subsequently shown at the 1969 London Racing Car Show and offered at the huge figure of £7,000 + taxes. The next player to feature in this awesome road-burner's story was a Frenchman, Valentine Abdi. Quite what fun this 5-star hedonist had with this car is not recorded, except that he had a rather frightening fire in the car whilst leaving a French road toll (at what speed one wonders?) It appears that Sbarro again got involved with the car as the Swiss entrepreneur subsequently leased the T70 to Solar Productions, the company that produced Steve McQueen's motorsport drama 'Le Mans', filmed in 1969. The car, now in yellow livery, was used in several sequences, finally succumbing to being shot out of a cannon in the famous crash sequence. A small garage concern from Tours purchased the remains and it appears that the car was somewhat crudely repaired with a rear subframe fitted to the damaged monocoque. The car was then seen in a Museum in the South of France before being exported to the U.S.A in late 1994 by Guy Anderson, a well-known classic car 'sleuth' who has been responsible for unearthing a great many finds from his classic car base in Georgia.
It was here that the jungle telephone of the classic car world started to ring. Anderson called an old friend in the U.K to establish some homework on the old warhorse. His contact was Julius Thurgood, who went to work on ascertaining the car's credentials. Confident that this was the 'Le Mans' car, Thurgood passed the contact onto racecar collector Noel Butler in Birmingham. A deal was duly struck and by November 1997 the Lola was on its way home with the intention of putting the car into a restoration programme. The project hit a dead end when T70 historian, John Starkey, resolutely denounced the car. Frustrated by having the body of evidence supporting the car's provenance thwarted without proper leave for appeal, Butler let go of the project leaving Michael Shoobridge to take up the crusade to clear the Lola's name. Shoobridge's dogged determination to see the project through was rewarded in July 1999 when Lola Heritage archivist, Laurie Fray, sanctioned a letter authenticating without doubt that the car on sale today was indeed SL73/135. By June 2000 the vendor, a vastly experienced race driver and exponent of Lola T70 derived racecars, became the custodian of the now fully authenticated car. He set about a full restoration to original specification but with a view to completing the project so that the car could have the option to be raced. During this period many luminaries who raced these cars in period had the opportunity of seeing the car in the vendor's workshops. Many original detail points were noted, greatly adding to the car's kudos as a true original.
The final icing on the cake for our vendor's diligence in the restoration of this important car is that the Lola was inspected by the FIA representative in the U.K, resulting in SL73/135 being awarded FIA race papers, allowing the car to be raced in International Gp.4 historic race events anywhere in the world. A two year restoration has been finalised with all the built in advantages that the Mk.III T70 car offer, such as running ventilated 12.1" disc brakes with four pot callipers. Currently fitted with a roadable V8 running on a tractable Holley carburettor set-up, this significant Lola is as much at home on track days as it would be in competition, as proved at Donington in June 2002, in the capable hands of Simon Hadfield. The car comes fitted with expensive aircraft quality rubber bag tanks and is complete with spare race wheels and tyres. There is a custom built trailer costing over £12,000, which may be purchased from the vendor in a separate negotiation. Rarely do Lola T70s come up for sale, let alone under the auctioneer's gavel but this sale is truly unique in the fact that this is the only street version, endorsed with an invitation for the car to compete in the elite Cartier Style et Luxe Concours and this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed. Truly a Streetcar named 'Desire'.