Bob Jane, driving the Repco V8-powered Elfin 400, finished in 2nd to Frank Matich, in a Matich SR3 Olds, during the Royal Automobile Club Trophy Race for sports cars held at Warwick Farm on May 14, 1967. Jane was the first privateer to run the Repco engine.
Photo: www.autopics.com
I always look forward to seeing the monthly “Market Guide” in “Vintage Racecar Journal.” Not that it gives me some idea of my next competition vehicle, but I like to see how those marques with Australian connections are faring far from where they were made or from where their designers came. Marques like Brabham and Ralt are always of interest.
Elfin founder Garrie Cooper sits in the cockpit of an Elfin 600 while under construction in his Melbourne, Australia workshop. Photo: www.autopics.com
Elfin is also of special interest, as each one came from the fertile mind of Australian Garrie Cooper and were built entirely here in Australia. In many ways, it could be said that Garrie Cooper was Elfin and Elfin was Garrie Cooper. Like the Chevrons of Derek Bennett and, to some extent, the Lotuses of Colin Chapman, Elfins were the product of a single, brilliant designer. Unfortunately, Elfin would also share the same fate as Chevron and Lotus in that the untimely death of its founder and guiding light would ultimately lead to the company’s demise.
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