1969 Lotus Elan S4 FHC - 'Jochen Rindt'

62 Grand Prix entries, ten Pole Positions, six Grand Prix wins and one World Championship.

As is often the way, the simple facts can look a bit dry but nothing could be further from the truth. In the record books he is notable for being the only posthumous World Champion but, before his untimely demise, Karl Jochen Rindt left a very individual mark on the world of Grand Prix Racing. Few had such an appetite for raw racing and threw themselves into the fray with such determination. His driving style was exuberant, completely at home sliding a lumpy old Cooper-Maserati around Monaco or dancing a nimble F2 Brabham through the chicane at Thruxton. That rough and tumble, extrovert allure continued outside of the car where he was a colourful and amusing character. His distinctive looks, wild hair and stylish dress sense combined with his stunning Finnish wife, Nina, epitomised the Grand Prix paddock’s ‘beautiful people’ of the late sixties.

Rindt’s first win of 1970, indeed the greatest of his short career, came at Monaco in the outdated Lotus 49, the new 72 model not yet being raceworthy. After languishing in fifth place for much of the race, the retirement of others promoted Rindt to runner-up, 15 seconds behind Jack Brabham driving one of his own cars. Scenting a whiff of victory, Rindt then proceeded to reel in the race leader by means of a thrilling, even frightening, charge that mesmerised all who saw it, including Brabham himself. Totally capable of smooth controlled driving, in this case Rindt was on the ragged edge breaking the lap record time after time. For the veteran Brabham, the sight of the wildly oversteering Lotus looming ever closer in his mirrors proved such a distraction that on the last corner of the last lap, he was the one that crashed into the barriers. Later in the season a string of four consecutive victories at the Dutch, French, British and German Grand Prix meant that Jochen now topped the World Championship table.

It was immediately after the German Grand Prix on the 2nd of August that Colin Chapman presented Jochen with this French Blue, left-hand drive Elan S4 FHC for his personal use. His enjoyment of the car was to be short-lived, however, as tragically he was killed as a result of mechanical failure during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza just over a month later. A combination of factors meant that his points total was never beaten and he was awarded the World Championship posthumously.

In common with all the Elans in this fabulous collection, NVG 853H was entrusted to the well respected team of Ken and Neil Myers to commence a full, body-off, long-term restoration to their normal remarkable standards. As always, the brief was to retain as much of the original car as possible including the chassis, body and engine and resplendent in its original French Blue, this immaculate little S4 looks almost ‘showroom fresh’.

The odometer currently indicates 80,652km but given the Myers family's pursuit of perfection during the rebuild, it’s rather academic. This will always be ‘The Jochen Rindt Elan’ and it’s to our vendor’s credit that he has chosen to present this car to this standard as a tribute to one of Grand Prix Racing’s most charismatic characters.

The car is accompanied by an original Elan tool kit, a Certificate of Vehicle Provenance (J Rindt), a Vehicle Inspection Report, Registration Documents, lots of correspondence, dozens of original photos of Rindt, Chapman, the cars and the handover of this Elan to Jochen, period magazines all Jochen-related old programmes, Lotus colour charts, price lists etc., books - Jochen Rindt by Heinz Pruller, Uncrowned King of Formula One by David Tremayne, The Lotus Elan and Europa by John Bolster-and much more.