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This Is A Rare “Costello V8” MGB GT

Ken Costello is a name that deserves to be better known in automotive circles, he’s been called “the British answer to Carroll Shelby” and and it’s an apt comparison – Costello was a championship winning racing driver who developed his own V8 version of a popular British roadster, just like Carroll Shelby.

Whereas Shelby developed a V8 version of the AC Ace and called it the Shelby Cobra, Costello developed a V8 version of the MGB and named it the Costello V8. Much to the chagrin of some the Costello V8 was faster in a straight line that both the E-Type Jaguar and the Porsche 911.

Fast Facts – The Costello V8 MGB

Ken Costello was born in Kent, London and studied automotive engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic. In the 1960s he became a racing driver, originally in Minis, and by 1967 he had won the Redex British Saloon Car Championship.
A year earlier Costello had appeared as a stunt driver in the 1966 movie “Grand Prix” starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Françoise Hardy.
After filming of Grand Prix wrapped Costello happened to see an all-alloy Rover V8 on the floor of a workshop at Pipers Garage in Kent. The small size and low weight of the engine gave him an idea. He borrowed an MGB and after 6 months he had a working prototype.
The Costello V8 proved so popular that he put it into production, building over 225 of them before the release of the official MGB GT V8 (which had been based on his design) put his company out of business.

Ken Costello And His Grand Idea

Ken Costello was born in Kent in Southern England, he had an early aptitude for cars and so when he was old enough he enrolled at Woolwich Polytechnic to study automotive engineering.

A picture of Ken Costello with one of his open-wheeled race cars and a Mini in the background. If you look carefully you’ll also see part of an MGB Roadster with a removable hardtop in the background.

Early in his adult life Ken would get into automobile racing, he showed remarkable talent and would frequently beat cars with engines twice the displacement of his own little Minis. His success as a driver didn’t go unnoticed, and he was hired as a driver for the 1966 movie Grand Prix starring James Garner – one of the biggest movie stars in the world at the time.

His racing career culminated in 1967 when he won the 1967 Redex British Saloon Car Championship, this would have ensured that his name was always remembered, but today he’s better known for his foray into low-volume specialist vehicle production with the Costello V8.

The Costello V8 – A Genuinely Fast MGB

In the late 1960s Ken Costello would spy a Rover V8 on the floor of a workshop called at Pipers Garage in England. He marveled at the small size of the 3.5 liter engine and its low weight thanks to its aluminum alloy block and heads, and he realized it could probably be made to fit neatly into the engine bay of the MGB.

There are only a few minor external clues that this is a far more powerful car than the regular MGB GT. The power bulge in the hood, the “egg-box” radiator grille, and the Jensen alloy wheels are the most obvious.

What Ken didn’t know at this time was that the engineers at the British Leyland had been tasked with seeing if they could fit Rover’s new V8 into the MGB engine bay. Try as they might they couldn’t manage it, and their final report noted that the MGB would need to be widened at least 3.5″ in order to make the engine fit.

As the saying goes, “those who say it can’t be done shouldn’t get in the way of those who are doing it.” It took Costello less than six months to figure out the packaging of the Rover V8 in the MGB engine bay, with minimal modifications, working alone using a red MGB roadster borrowed from an Insurance Assessor friend.

The completed car was vastly quicker than the stock MGB with its simple four-cylinder engine, and the highly-regarded handling of the MGB was unaffected by the new engine as, believe it or not, the Rover V8 was approximately 30 lbs lighter than the all-iron four-cylinder engine it replaced.

Demand was so high for this new custom-built V8 British sports car that Costello was inundated with orders, he set up a company and began building the cars to order.

Interestingly the all-alloy Rover V8 weighs approximately 30 lbs less than the original all-iron four-cylinder engine.

Unsurprisingly the executives at the British Leyland soon learned of this new venture, they showed much interest and asked Costello to bring one of his cars out to the factory so they could take a look at it.

He agreed to the request and the car was inspected with much interest. In fact British Leyland inspected it at least twice before deciding to essentially copy much of his work and release their own factory version of the car.

This was bad news for Costello as there was no way he could really compete with the lower cost of the official MGB GT V8, and after approximately 225 Costello V8s had been built he would shutter production. British Leyland never paid him a penny for his work.

Today the surviving Costello V8s are among the most collectible MGBs in the world, a few dozen are known to survive, and the company was reformed many years ago to supply parts and do restorations on the surviving cars.

The interior of the car remains largely original, and this car is fitted with the rarer sunroof option.

The 1972 MGB GT Costello V8 Shown Here

The car you see here was originally built by Costello using a 1972 MGB GT, it was fitted with a 3.5 liter Rover V8 which was mated to a Borg Warner T35 automatic gearbox.

It has a certificate of authenticity signed by Ken Costello himself and it was originally ordered new by a soldier in Quebec. The car was brought back to Europe in the early 2000s and bought by a French collector who carried out a restoration.

The car is now fitted with a more powerful 3.9 liter Rover V8 engine mated to a more sporting manual gearbox. €15,000 is said to have been spent at Belgian specialist Atelier du Mecano refurbishing much of the driveline.

The car is now due to cross the auction block with Artcurial at the Le Mans Classic Sale on the 2nd of July. The price guide is $42,000 – $63,000 USD and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more or register to bid.

Images courtesy of Artcurial

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$2.1 Million Dollar Barn Find: A 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder

This 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder has spent the better part of 35 years sitting in a barn somewhere in the Swiss countryside. Early in its life it was owned and driven by a number of well-known Swiss racing drivers including Rita Rampinelli, Heinz Schiller, and Formula 1 ace Jo Siffert.

During the 1960s the car was upgraded with a number of “werks” factory components including an engine upgrade and new Porsche RS60 bodywork, in order to ensure the car would remain competitive against more modern machinery.

Fast Facts – A Barn Find Porsche 550 Spyder

The Porsche 550 Spyder was introduced in 1953 and sold until 156, with just 90 examples produced in total. Values have been climbing steadily in recent years, a 1958 550A sold for $5.17 million dollars in 2018.
Unlike the Porsche 356, the Porsche 550 is mid-engined, with the engine in the rear but in front of the rear axle line. It was designed to be as low an aerodynamic as possible, and it raked up many wins in period 1.1 and 1.5 liter racing classes.
The 550 Spyder was powered by the legendary flat-four Porsche Carrera four-cam engine, with double shaft-driven overhead cams per bank, dual ignition, dry sump lubrication, and 110 bhp from a displacement of 1498cc.
The car you see here started out as a standard 550, it was then later upgraded with a new factory engine and an RS60 body in the 1960s to remain competitive. It was recently rolled out of a barn where it had been sitting for 35+ years and it’s now being offered for sale.

The Porsche 550 Spyder

The Porsche 550 Spyder is probably best-known today as the car that James Dean was driving in September of 1955 when he was involved in an accident and killed instantly.

This 550 Spyder was rebodied in the 1960s with an alloy RS60 body, and it was given a new factory engine.

In some respects the tragic death of James Dean has overshadowed what would have otherwise been an entirely positive story, about a small European automaker that built an innovative racing car, and went on to win countless David vs Goliath battles on the race tracks of Europe and North America.

The first production Porsche had been the rear-engined 356, it proved successful as a race car in its own right however it was clear that a newly developed racing model would be more competitive.

Some early experiments into mid-engined cars had been undertaken at Porsche, and of course Ferdinand Porsche had developed the iconic mid-engined Auto Union Grand Prix cars in the 1930s.

With all of the above in mind, Porsche engineers developed a flat-welded steel tubular frame onto which they affixed a lightweight and low-slung aluminum body. The car was so low in fact that racing driver Hans Herrmann once famously drove one under the boom gate at a railroad crossing during the 1954 Mille Miglia.

Above Video: This short film from Porsche gives a fascinating and fast-paced look back at the history of the 550 Spyder, including plenty of period racing footage.

In both 1.1 and 1.5 liter form the 550 Spyder would prove highly successful for the fledgling automaker, taking class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana, and winning the Nurburgring Eifel Race, the Targa Florio, and a slew of other events.

Today the surviving examples of the 550 are among the most collectible vintage sports cars in the world.

The 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder, interestingly it was originally used for a promotional image outside of the Porsche factory to demonstrate the wide range of color options available for the model.

When it left the factory it was finished in red with white darts, its first owner was Rita Rampinelli, a highly-regarded Swiss racing driver who competed with the Spyder in period. The car was later sold to fellow Swiss racing driver Heinz Schiller who competed in the car in Switzerland and at notable circuits like Monza and Avus.

Unusually for a Porsche from this era, the 550 was powered by a mid-mounted engine for optimal weight distribution. It would be the first of many successful mid-engined Porsche race cars.

The car would later be bought by Edouard Margairaz, who raced the car in Swiss hill climb events. Later in its life the car would also belong to Swiss Grand Prix winner and Formula 1 driver Jo Siffert.

At some point in the 1960s this car had its original body and engine removed, an alloy Porsche RS60 body was fitted along with a new factory engine – most likely to keep the car competitive. For reasons unknown it ended up storage in a Swiss barn where it remained from the 1980s to the present day – over 35 years.

The car is now due to cross the auction block with Gooding & Company on the 3rd of September at their London Auction, due to be held at the prestigious Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace.

If you’d like to see more about the car or register to bid you can visit the listing here, the price guide is £1,250,000 – £1,750,000 which works out to approximately $1.5 – $2.1 million USD.

All images copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photos by Mathieu Heurtault.

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There’s An Original Unused 1985 Renault EF-Type Formula 1 Engine For Sale

This is a Renault EF-Type Formula 1 engine listed as being from 1985/1986, interestingly it remains with its original crate and it was never used for racing. That makes this an unusual opportunity to buy what is essentially a brand new NOS F1 engine from the turbo era.

Renault was the first to take advantage of the change in F1 regulations that allowed turbocharged engines, introducing a turbo V6 in 1977. Every other team in F1 followed suit over the next few years, a precursor to the world of modern F1 in which all cars are turbocharged small-capacity V6s.

Fast Facts – The Renault EF-Type Formula 1 Engine

The Renault EF-Type Formula 1 engine is remembered now as a revolutionary engine for three distinct reasons. It was the first to take advantage of new regulations to switch to turbocharging in 1977, it was the first to use pneumatic valve springs, and it was a pioneer in the use of static ignition systems.
These three technological innovations would slowly be adopted by all Formula 1 teams, with much success.
The engine you see here is listed as being from 1985/1986, it comes with its original Renault Sport transportation crate, and the Renault Classic engineers have taken care to keep turning the engine regularly so that it didn’t seize.
It’s now for sale with Artcurial at the Le Mans Classic auction due to be held on the 2nd of July, with a price guide of $62,500 – $104,000 USD.

The Renault EF-Type Engine

In its final stage of development the Renault EF-Type engine was said to be capable of over 1,200 bhp at 12,500 rpm in qualifying trim. Though at this state of tune the engine would only last four of five laps, a new engine at a lower level of tune was then fitted for use during the race.

Above Video: This episode from Autosport focusses on the history of the early turbocharged Renault engines, giving some fascinating additional history.

It’s been said that Renault F1 engineers have been criminally under-recognized for their contributions to the sport over the years. It was Renault that too the first gamble on introducing a new 1.5 liter turbocharged engine in 1977, every single over engine manufacturer followed within a few years.

The regulations had been changed back in 1966 to allow either a 3.0 liter naturally-aspirated engine or a 1.5 liter forced induction unit. Earlier in the history of grand prix racing there had been both supercharged and turbocharged cars of course, when regulations were less strict, but the 1977 Renault is now seen as the first “modern” use of turbocharging in F1.

Pneumatic Valve Springs

Further Renault innovations include the first use of pneumatic valve springs in F1, this was another development that would soon be copied by all Formula 1 teams, and all F1 teams currently racing still use the technology to this day.

This Renault EF-Type Formula 1 engine remains unused, possibly making the only NOS engine of this type left in the world. The Renault Classic engineers have regularly turned the engine over to ensure that it doesn’t seize due to inactivity.

Pneumatic valve springs are typically used in conjunction with a more traditional camshaft, the cam opens the valves and the air pressure from the pneumatic system closes them – it doesn’t rely on valve springs as these tend to lose effectiveness at higher-RPMs and eventually fail with catastrophic consequences.

The Renault EF-Type engine was under constant development from its introduction in 1977 until it was replaced in 1986 with the Renault RS engine, when F1 returned to naturally-aspirated engines.

The turbo-era would be characterized by some of the most powerful engines that have ever raced in Formula 1, with some manufacturer’s power units producing over 1,500 bhp in qualifying trim. The turbo engines would return to F1 in 2014, now running as hybrid engines with battery packs and electric motors providing additional power and better fuel economy.

The engine comes in its original shipping and storage crate , carrying the 1980s-era Renault Sport logo on the sides.

The Renault EF-Type Formula 1 Engine Shown Here

The engine you see here is an as-new Renault EF-Type Formula 1 engine from the 1985/1986 seasons, it was never fitted to a car or raced and the listing notes that it’s quite possibly in running condition.

The highest-horsepower versions of this engine were capable of over 1,200 bhp at 12,500 rpm in qualifying trim, significantly more than any current F1 engine.

If you’d like to read more about this engine or register to bid you can visit the listing here, it’s due to roll across the auction block on July 2nd at the Le Mans Classic sale held by Artcurial.

Images courtesy of Artcurial + Renault Communication

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Rare Japanese Project Car: A 1969 Datsun 1600 Roadster

This is a Datsun 1600 Roadster from 1969, it’s currently for sale out of Richmond in Kentucky and it comes with a spare engine and transmission. Back in the 1960s this model won a number of SCCA races, helping to put Datsun on the map as a sports car marque.

Also known as the SP311 or SPL311, this 1.6 liter droptop roadster was a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. It led directly to the creation of the Datsun 240Z, and the Z car series that remains in production to the current day.

Fast Facts – The Datsun 1600 Roadster

The Datsun 1600 Roadster, also known as the SP311 (righthand drive) or SPL311 (lefthand drive), was released in 1965 and sold until 1970 when it was replaced by the Datsun 240Z.
The “Datsun Sports” model series started with the S211 in 1959. This was followed by the SPL212, the SPL213, and the 1.5 liter SP310.
In the early 1960s Japanese automakers were largely seen as being manufacturers of very cheap, almost disposable cars and they weren’t closely associated with racing or speed.
The Datsun 1600 Roadster played a big role in changing the perception of Japanese cars, showing they they could be race-winning sports cars that competed against the best in the world.

Datsun – Son Of DAT

Datsun originally started out as the Kwaishinsha (Kaishinsha) Motor Car Works in 1911. Three years later in 1914 the company released their first car, a very simple design that used many locally-produced components – they called it the DAT.

This is the DAT, the first car built by the company back in 1914. Image courtesy of the Nissan Motor Corporation.

The name came from taking the first letter of each of the company’s investor’s surnames: Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama, Meitaro Takeuchi. The company formally changed its name to DAT Jidosha & Co. in 1925, by this time they were making small trucks almost exclusively, due to the fact that local demand for automobiles was so low.

In 1931 the company came out with a new car named the Type 11 but better known as the “Datson,” as in “son of DAT.” The Type 11 was near clone of the popular British Austin 7, funnily enough around the same time a company over in Germany was producing their own (licensed) copy of the Austin 7 called the BMW Dixi.

From 1934 onwards DAT began building Austin 7s officially under license. The company continued to grow, offering a vast array of models, and by the 1960s they were making concerted efforts to enter the lucrative Western markets in Europe and the United States.

The Datsun 1600 Roadster – SP311

The Datsun 1600 Roadster was unveiled in 1965 as a competitor for the dominant roadsters of the day, largely from Britain and Italy.

This car comes with a spare engine and transmission, and a few additional boxes of supplies.

This included classics such as the MGB, Lotus Elan, Triumph TR4, the Austin Healey Sprite, MG Midget, and some Italian examples, like the Alfa Romeo Spider and the Fiat 124 Sport Spider.

The Datsun was designed very much in-keeping with the visual cues of these European sports cars, possibly because German automobile designer Albrecht Goertz had a hand in the final styling.

Under the attractive body everything was fairly normal by the standards of the era, the 1600 Roadster has independent front suspension on coil springs, a live axle rear on leaf springs, and a front mounted inline-four sending power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission.

There were a few things that set the little Datsun apart from its European peers, firstly and perhaps most importantly it was cheaper. Secondly it showed great promise on the race track, it would eventually win some SCCA races and claim some hard fought podiums.

The interior of the Datsun was well designed, with comfortable seating for two and an attractive wood-rimmed steering wheel with four spokes.

The 1600 Roadster was sold alongside the 2000 Roadster, the latter car had the larger 2.0 liter U20 engine, and together they were a common sight in SCCA competition in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Once Datsun’s Roadsters had proven their mettle the Japanese automaker released the Datsun 240Z, a car that became an icon in its own right, and gave rise to the Z series cars still being built today by Nissan.

The 1969 Datsun 1600 Roadster Shown Here

The car you see here is currently for sale out of Kentucky in non-running condition.

It’s clear that it needs a restoration however all the major parts look like they’re accounted for, and from the images shown in this listing, the rust actually doesn’t look too bad, though of course more investigating may be necessary.

The seller is including an additional engine and transmission with the sale, they have the clean title in hand, and they note that multiple boxes of parts (and odds and ends) are also included.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can visit the listing here on eBay Motors.

Images courtesy of Hakuryopete.

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Full Documentary: Miniac – The Story Of Heritage Garage

“Miniac” is a documentary film that offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of Graham Reid, the founder and owner of Heritage Garage – one of the most respected Mini Cooper restoration garages in the United States.

Heritage Garage is based in Costa Mesa, California. While they specialize in classic Minis they do work with the more modern variety also, and a selected range of classic British automobiles. Their vehicles have been featured on shows like Jay Leno’s Garage (embedded below), and Graham has so far appeared on the show twice.

Graham and his wife are well known in the California classic scene, taking part in various rallies and other competitions, and driving their Minis as far away as Mexico for some events in the Rally Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Heritage Garage has become one of the most respected classic Mini restoration companies in the United States, and proprietor Graham Reid spends every spare moment racing his own vintage Mini Coopers as far away as the Yucatan Peninsula.

Though he’s now an established expert on restorations Grahams relationship with cars didn’t start out particularly well – when he was young he crashed one on his way home, rolling it and totaling it completely.

The car was so far gone he borrowed a farmer’s tractor and buried it completely. In the many years since he’s restored countless cars, build many more rally and race cars, and helped many owners source hard to find spare parts.

This documentary was directed and edited by Marc Oliver Downing, it runs just over 10 minutes in length. You can visit the Heritage Garage website here.