The Lotus 39 was a single seat racing car produced by Team Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

. It was originally intended for use in Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

, to be powered by the Coventry Climax

Coventry Climax

Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, and speciality engine manufacturer.-History:The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry, and renamed to Coventry-Simplex by H...

 1.5 litre flat-16 engine. But the engine never eventuated, so the chassis was modified by Maurice Philippe

Maurice Philippe

Maurice Philippe, also known as Maurice Phillippe, was a British aircraft and Formula One car designer.Philippe designed his first car in 1955, called the MPS , while employed developing the Comet 4 aircraft for De Havilland....

 to accept a 2495 cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, which produced about 230 bhp, and was used for the 1966 Tasman Series

Tasman Series

The Tasman Series was a motor racing series held from 1964 to 1975, in Australia and New Zealand, and named after the Tasman Sea between the two countries...

 races in Australia and New Zealand. In the hands of Jim Clark

Jim Clark

James "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....

, the 39 scored 1 win, 5 second places and 1 third place and Clark finished second in the series behind Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart

Sir John Young Stewart, OBE , better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scotsman, is a Scottish former racing driver and team owner. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am...

.

The car was then purchased by Leo Geoghegan

Leo Geoghegan

Leo Geoghegan is a retired Australian racing driver.Geoghegan is the elder of two sons of New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, who went on to become two of the dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s...

 who raced it in Australia and New Zealand from 1966 to 1970, replacing the Climax engine with a Repco

Repco

Repco is an Australian automotive engineering company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and it is best known for spare parts and motor accessories....

V8 in 1967 . Geoghegan also used it in Repco-powered form to win the 1969 Grand Prix of Japan. The car was then sold to Brian Power who put a 1.5 litre Ford engine in the car. It was later rescued and restored to Climax specification by John Dawson-Damer. It will be shortly offered for sale as part of Dawson-Damer's estate sell off of his Lotus collection.