1968 Costin GT

The Costin name is deeply rooted in motorsport history. Frank and his brother Mike have left a legacy that isn’t often rivalled. Cosworth, Marcos, Lister Costin, the Lotus MK VIII and that’s only the beginning. Frank Costin even designed the body of the Vanwall that won the inaugural constructor’s championship in Formula 1! To say that the Costin family were talented would be an understatement. Frank was both a structural engineer and aerodynamicist, his knowledge and passion converged when it came to designing cars and the results spoke for themselves.

 

The Costin-Nathan was a one such design. Groundbreaking aerodynamics and driving dynamics from the renowned Roger Nathan, powered originally by a standard Imp engine (80bhp), the first ever outing of the Costin Nathan, before any major tweaks and set up, the car put down a 57 second lap of Brands Hatch, later that year Roger piloted the car down the Mulsanne straight to 167mph with a Nathan tubed Imp engine, with around 96bhp, which is astounding and all thanks to the slippery body and featherweight build. The Costin-Nathan cars were punching well above their weight.

 

So, to the car in question – isn’t the famed wooden chassis Frank was best known for; this is the one and only spaceframe chassis “Costin-Nathan” GT. Auto X1VS as it is known was originally penned by Frank in 1965 whilst on holiday in Sicily, we know this as we have the excerpts from his diaries detailing the chassis designs and tube calculations, through to the delivery of the chassis. Frank chose Progress Chassis to manufacture his design and it was built by Frank Coltman, a specialist in tubular chassis, and it was delivered to his workshop on 3rd October 1967. It is presumed that after Frank and Roger Nathan went their separate ways, that Frank would look to continue to build the cars on his own and this chassis would be a more economical & faster way to produce the finished item.

 

Having spent its life unused, the car was picked up by its first new custodian in 1980, with a plan to get the car built and racing as intended, work began. Unfortunately, the car was always on the back burner and didn’t ever see a track as planned. Our client and ex-racer had known the car well for the past many years and having always wanted the opportunity to see it finished. He acquired the car 5 years back with one goal. That goal you see before you today, a running, driving Costin GT. The car is yet to be run in, tested and set up, so there is still work to do, but HPC Classics are very proud to be able to offer, for the first time in its history, chassis Auto XV1S for sale (the S standing for Spaceframe quite aptly).

The car has taken 5 years to build, with a whole host of parts made from scratch, or manufactured from the original drawings from Frank’s diaries, it is not only a highly impressive feat of engineering, but a real doff of the cap to the man who had the vision in the first instance, Frank Costin. There are a host of spares to come with the car, in order to make campaigning it a lot less of a frightening prospect, suspension arms, rear uprights, gearing for the Hewland box for both 124 and 188mph!

 

The car has a Ford Cross-flow 1300 unit with a Kent 248 cam fitted and now has two twin choke Weber 40`s. This should give it some 130/140 bhp at around 8,000rpm. The engine is also dry sumped in preparation for ‘proper’ usage. The car came with a steel radiator, which was copied in aluminium. Many parts, such as the wheels were all fabricated for the car, there are a spare set of wheels with the car too. The gearbox is a Hewland Mk8/9, which had 4 gears as per a Formula Ford car, but this was rebuilt with 5 gears and a reverse. Final drive is taken care of with a cam and pawl LSD.

 

As mentioned, the car will need to be set up, run in, rolling road tuned and finished before it is ready to be driven on track. It comes equipped for with the following spares, along with a huge history file of its elongated birth from 1965 to the present date:

 

Two rear uprights

Two rear lower suspension wishbones.

Four alloy wheels

Steel water radiator

One roll hoop eye bolt

Spare nose cone and roof section

Gear ratios

Front screen

Haynes Ford Cortina handbook – for engine details

 

We are all hoping that a budding driver becomes the next custodian as opposed to a museum, as it belongs on the track and we are all sure that getting an invite to events with a never before-seen 1 off from a man such as Frank Costin would be a given. This car represents a unique opportunity to own, drive and even race a piece of 1960’s British racing history. Not to only own it, but to break it in, create the following such a rare and special car deserves and to accrue the results Frank always knew the car would be capable of.

 

 

Please get in touch on the number below to discuss the car in more detail, or to arrange a viewing, our helpful staff will be more than happy to assist you.

 

TOTAL NUMBER OF PREVIOUS OWNERS:  2

TRANSMISSION: 5 speed Hewland

Engine: 1,300cc Ford Crossflow

Power: 140 bhp (est)

0-60 mph: 6.6 seconds

Top Speed: 188 mph

PRICE: £33,995.00 - ONO