Buy, Sell & Trade Forum

Good afternoon all! I’d like to introduce myself as one of the new owners of the long thought missing 1964 Courier Lightweight 1138 along with my cousin, Christopher Patterson. First off I’d like to thank the previous owners, Brooks Nicholson and his wife Linda, and their son Jimmy Nicholson for being the good shepherds of this car for the last 50 or so years. They were fantastic sellers, so pleasant to work with. I’d also like to thank Gary Cossaboon for his help in identifying the car after it was listed on the Elva Facebook group recently.
This will be my first race build, so I’ll be asking lots of questions and advice from the members of this fantastic group along the way. My first of many follows: does anybody have ANY information about this car? She was born a race car at the factory and has a long racing history, but many of the records seem to have been lost in a flood while the car was in storage - not much of the history came to me with the car. In particular, we are looking for the Log Books and the build plate. If any of you have any information or photographs please let me know as I’m trying to compile a thorough history of its time racing until the 70s when it was parked up on jackstands and sat.

A little about the car as far as I know it has the fiberglass doors and floors that differentiated the four 1964 Lightweights, as well as the air intakes on the quarter panels, sebring fuel tank and a few other discernible odds and ends.

Glad to be a part of this group and the Elva owners group as a whole. Thanks in advance for any and all info and comments you have. I very much look forward to seeing some of you in the near future.

Best,

Luke Atkins

Hi Luke, congratulations on your purchase. E1138 is certainly an interesting find with the lightweight specs. Did you get the engine and gearbox with the car? Is this one MGB powered?

I am restoring E1149 which is a Courier MK4 fastback coupe. It has it's original MGB 3-main bearing engine and 3-synchro overdrive gearbox and the Tru-Track independent rear suspension. I am located in the Rochester, NY area so I am guessing we are 4-5 hours away.

That is a shame that so much of the history was lost. You have made a great start in working with Gary Cossaboon. Have you looked at Racing Sports Cars website? If you know the names of previous owners and tracks possibly you can piece together some of the history.

All the best,
Dan

Dan,

My apologies, must have completely missed this message. I got an engine and gearbox with the car, not sure about any info on it as it hasnt been tested or pulled apart yet. Mowog 1800, non OD trans. Tru - Trac suspension as well.

I believe Rochester is 4 hours or so away, we should get a coffee next time I'm in your area. I've done a bunch of research on Racing Sports Cars, found a decent amount of photos of what might be this car. Somewhat difficult to tell as it seems people put on aftermarket 'lightweight' components, i.e. air scoop on fenders and such.

Wishing you the best on your restoration. Curious to see photos!

Best,

Luke