A collection of American open-wheel and Brabham-built racing cars are being sold March 18 by Lloyds Auctions, an Australia-based sales house. The vehicles come from Brian King’s “The Kings Garage” collection.
The Brabhams are a pair of BG21Bs, one powered by a rare Cosworth SCB four-cylinder engine that is believed to be one of only two or three still in existence. The car was built, owned and raced by Jack Brabham’s engine builder Bob Ilich. To propel the car, Ilich was able to obtain an experimental 1.5-liter SCB Cosworth engine.
Brabham also raced the car, at Wanneroo in 1972 with a large rear spoiler mounted.
The other Brabham in the sale is presented in Formula 3 guise and has recently been restored by King. Propulsion is provided by a 1.0-liter Ford-Cosworth MAE powerplant.
Sampson car raced at Indy in 1950Other highlights of the sale include a trio of open-wheeled American race cars, including the 1950 Sampson CC-50 that raced in the Indianapolis 500.
After inheriting his father’s truck manufacturing fortune in 1923, the 21-year-old Alden Sampson II entered racing as the car owner for driver Louis Meyer. They won the Indy race in 1928 with a Miller racer, finished second the following year and fourth in 1930. They split after back-to-back mechanical problems sidelined their car in 1931 and 1933 (Meyer entered his own car and won again in 1933).
Sampson started building his own cars, Chet Gardner driving one to a seventh-place finish in 1935 and Bob Swanson driving another to sixth in 1940. Sampson didn’t enter a car for several years but came back in 1950 with the car being offered at the auction. It was built on a chassis by Jimmy Rae, was powered by an experimental supercharged Offenhauser four-cylinder engine and was driven in the rain-shorted race by Walt Ader.
Sampson was on his way from his home in Van Nuys, California to Indy for the 1951 race when he fell asleep while driving and suffered fatal injuries near Newkirk, New Mexico.
Also on the docket from the King’s Garage are a 1947 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser midget racer and a 1960s-era “El Toro Garage” Volkswagen-powered Edmunds midget.
The auction takes place in Australia but bidding can be done online at the Lloyds’ website.
Brabhams are BT21B not BG21. Also the car wasn’t raced by Jack Brabham at Wanneroo, just driven as a demonstration.