Tucked away in a garage somewhere near Chicago lie these two rare and interesting vintage Formula 3 cars: a 1950 Cooper Mk IV Streamliner and a 1953 Effyh. The green streamliner is of particular interest as its frame was made by the same John Cooper who popularized rear-engined race cars and transformed Austin’s Mini into the world-dominating Mini-Cooper. Though little history of the car is given, the seller indicates that the replica fiberglass bodywork covers an original frame, a Norton Manx short stroke engine, an Aerial 4-speed gearbox, and a Dellorto GP replica carburetor. The silver 1953 Effyh stands in a far more complete state with its 500cc Jap engine, Norton 4-speed transmission, and all original body in place. Built in Copenhagen the Effyh weighs just 500 pounds (without a driver) and waits for the next owner to refresh the mechanicals before returning to the track. There are many reasons to love early Formula 3 cars such as these. Parts are either easy to source motorcycle components or are easy to fabricate. And the cars offer surprisingly strong performance with small running costs. If these were ours we’d hang the streamliner body from the ceiling, rebuild both as full-fledged F3 cars and either enjoy the cars with a friend on test and tune days, or race wherever other early F3s can be found. Find both F3s on eBay near Chicago, Illinois. The green Cooper here, and the silver Effyh here.
The green Cooper reminds me of Pete Lovely’s Pooper, which was a Cooper streamliner with a Porsche 1500 pushrod, not quad cam engine. The Pooper, under Lovely’s expert direction could wax Porsche 550s in SCCA and CSCA races in the mid fifties. In the late fifties it used to show up at races in the Northwest and at Westwood in Canada, driven by Tommy Meehan. I have not been following vintage races recently, so I don’t know if the Pooper is still running. I always thought that it was a very clever idea to stick that engine into the ultra-lightweight Cooper. It made the Porschefiles grit their teeth to see it winning over the 550 Spyders. The central steering position featured an almost horizontal steering wheel like a Greyhound bus.