Lot 207: Chevron Chassis and body panels

Derek Bennett, the founder of Chevron Motor Cars, was a largely self-taught, intuitive engineer and a talented amateur racing driver. In his early years he built, maintained and drove many racing cars for himself and other local enthusiasts and established himself as a competitive driver at club level. By 1964 there were sufficient requests for replicas of his Clubman car that establishing himself as a constructor seemed feasible. Aided by a small staff of like-minded enthusiasts (particularly Derek's friend and assistant Paul Owens) for a decade and a half, Chevron produced successful, beautiful racing cars and was particularly noted for its small capacity sports cars and its Formula Two, Formula Three and Formula 5000 single seaters. Although the first Chevrons were developments of Derek Bennett's Clubman special, the firm's customers soon started looking to more ambitious racing and a line of Gran Turismo cars was soon established with the B3 which developed into a line of successful BMW and Ford-powered cars capable of competing internationally in the two litre sports car class. The replacement for these cars was the beautiful B16, but driver Brian Redman pointed out that with heavy coupé bodywork it would be beaten on most circuits by lighter open-topped 'spyders' from marques like Abarth. The B16 Spider was introduced, with a body inspired by the Porsche 908 Spider (which Redman also drove!) and this started a long line of successful two litre sports racers. The body panels of this lot are clearly from a Chevron and include a bonnet - which still bears sponsorship decals from 'Maclerhaley, Portable Display and Exhibition Equipment' - a rear section, roof section and both doors. The chassis' history is less clear however. It appears unused and has light surface rust but does seem to be of the correct design. Accompanying the chassis and body panels are a number of auxiliary items, including aluminium brake covers and engine intake trumpets.