The Cooper Car Company is a British car manufacturer founded in December 1947 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper.

Together with John's boyhood friend, Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles's small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England, in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s they reached motor racing's highest levels as their mid-engined, single-seat cars competed in both Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their Mini Cooper dominated rally racing.

Cooper built up to 300 single-and twin-cylinder cars during the 1940s and 1950s, and dominated the F3 category, winning 64 of 78 major races between 1951 and 1954.

After the death of his father, John Cooper sold the Cooper Formula One team to the Chipstead Motor Group in April 1965.

The Cooper name lives on in the Cooper versions of the Mini production cars that are built in England, but is now owned and marketed by BMW.

 

Headquarters  Surbiton, Surrey, United Kingdom

t53 1960

The Cooper T53 is a Formula One car built by British motorsport team Cooper for the 1960 Formula One season. Jack Brabham drove it to his second World Championship that year, and with teammate Bruce McLaren gave Cooper its second Constructors' Championship.

A T53 was purchased by Honda as part of its own F1 development efforts and can be considered the forerunner of Honda F1 machines.

The T53 was lower and slimmer than its predecessor, the Cooper T51. It was equipped with a new tubular steel frame clad in aluminium panels. Suspension was by double wishbones, coil springs and telescopic dampers all round, a change from Cooper's usual transverse leaf spring at the rear. Power came from the latest version of 2.5 litre Climax FPF which developed around 240 bhp and drove the rear wheels through a Cooper five-speed gearbox.

In 1961 Cooper turned to the T55 but the T53 became a big sales success for the Cooper team, with no less than eight teams running it. Most teams ran the car with the 1.5 litre Climax FPF Mk. II to comply with the new F1 regulations, but Scuderia Centro Sud sourced a Maserati engine instead. Although they had some success in non-championship events, the privateers were largely outclassed in the 1961 World Championship.

Cooper T53 1960 (youtube.com)

1947-1971

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