This 1956 EJS Climax Special Lives Up to the Moniker

Images: Artcurial

This breathtaking 1956 EJS Climax Special, soon to be auctioned at Artcurial’s Automobiles sur les Champs 7 sale, is unique, quick, eligible for historic racing and complete with a fascinating period history.

And did we mention how gorgeous it is?

EJS stands for Edwin Joseph Snusher, the automobile engineer who created this curvacious competition classic. From 1954 he spent two years designing and developing the car to compete against Lotus, Cooper, Elva and Tojeiro – and he did it all from scratch.

Its tubular chassis weighs just 30 kilograms with aluminium panels for rigidity. It’s shrouded in a fibreglass Mistral body, giving it those stunning looks.

Powering the car is a Climax engine and in period the power moved to the wheels through a five-speed Aston Martin DB3 gearbox.

The suspension was bespoke and designed to be adjustable. Up front the combination of a semi-elliptical spring with a coil spring under tension beneath it gives the car a constant camber and caster. The rear employed a De Dion axle, but used two parallel tubes instead of the single standard.

For the brakes rear drums were attached to the differential and featured separate circuits front and rear.

Snusher raced the car in 1956, achieving a fourth at Crystal Palace in that August, but then sold the engine and gearbox and put the car into storage.

That’s where it stayed, until 2001 when Sherwood Restorations bought it. They set about its restoration, fitting a Climax 1100 motor and a four-speed MGA gearbox before selling it on to its current owner.

It’s now in stunning condition and complete with FIA papers for historic racing. And because it was entered at Goodwood in period it’s also eligible for the Goodwood Revival – making it a car with unique access to the historic racing events of the world.

This little beauty is a testament to creativity in speed, and with its complete historic papers would be an awesome and unique machine for the historic racer on the go. It’ll head to auction on the second of November, 2014, at Artcurial’s Automobiles sur les Champs 7 sale. Head to their official website here for more details.

Images via Artcurial