Lister Motor Company

George Lister and sons Beginning in 1954, company manager and racing driver Brian Lister brought out the first in a series of sports cars from a Cambridge iron works. Inspired by Cooper, he used a tubular ladder chassis, de Dion rear axle and inboard drum brakes. Like others, he used a tuned MG engine and stock gearbox. It made its debut at the British Empire Trophy at Oulton Park in 1954, with former MG driver Archie Scott Brown at the wheel. Later, Lister swapped in a Moore-tuned Bristol two-litre engine and knockoff wire wheels in place of the MG's discs to improve performance. For the sports car race supporting the 1954 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Scott Brown won the two-litre class and placed fifth overall behind only works Aston Martins. In 1955, a handful of Lister-Bristols were built with a new body built by an ex-Bristol employee with the aid of a wind tunnel. Lister also attempted single-seater racing with a multi-tube chassis powered by a Coventry-Climax motor and using an MG gearbox, but the car was a failure. Refined again in 1958, the Lister-Jaguar entered international competitions. Brown was killed that season when he crashed the Lister-Jaguar at Spa-Francorchamps. who produced entirely new bodywork built around a new Chevrolet Corvette power plant. However, the front-engine layout of the new Lister-Chevrolet was quickly eclipsed by the rear-engine layout of the new Cooper sports car. By the end of 1959 Lister withdrew from competition although production of sports cars continued for customers. In 1963, Brian Lister was chosen by the Rootes Group to prepare the Sunbeam Tiger for the prototype category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Ford V8-powered Tiger was still in the early stages of development while Lister was constructing the chassis at the Jensen factory. Lister upgraded the suspension and brakes, added an aerodynamic fastback hardtop with a more sloping windscreen and a Kamm tail. The Ford V8 engine was tuned by Carroll Shelby in order to allow it to produce instead of the in standard specification. The car was designed with a top speed of in mind, but were developed in a short time frame and suffered engine failures. Rootes later received a refund for the engines. The two cars and one prototype mule still exist. The failure of the cars and Rootes' bankruptcy led to the demise of Lister's tuning work as well. Pearce ownership The Lister company returned in 1986 as Lister Cars Ltd. based in Leatherhead, Surrey, with engineer Laurence Pearce tuning approximately 90 Jaguar XJSs and improving their top speed to over , with an asking price of over £100,000. Success at this endeavour led the newly formed company to design a new sports car, the Lister Storm. Launched in 1993, it would use the largest displacement V12 engine ever fitted to a production car at that time, a 7.0L unit derived from the Jaguar XJR9. The Storm was later developed for motorsport in various guises, winning the FIA GT Championship in 2000. Lister later developed a bespoke Le Mans Prototype, the Storm LMP in 2003. ==Whittaker ownership==

In 2012, Lawrence Whittaker and his father visited the Lister factory to source parts when restoring a Lister Knobbly, and the opportunity to purchase the Lister Motor Company arose. In 2013, ownership of George Lister Engineering Limited of Cambridge, original intellectual property rights, the plans and drawings for all original Lister cars, as well as the property rights of Pearce's Lister Cars were bought by father and son Andrew and Lawrence Whittaker, who also own car warranty company Warrantywise. The new company, along with its associated partners, was rebranded as the Lister Motor Company Ltd. Ten months later, the Lister Motor Company announced the build and sale of the Lister Knobbly to mark 60 years since the first Lister Racing Car was built. ==Current Products==

60th Anniversary Lister Knobbly The new company started building of the original Lister designs in 2014. To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of The Lister Motor Company, the release of the Lister Knobbly was announced, described as the most successful racing car of the late 1950s. The Lister Knobbly was driven by some of the most notable racing car drivers of the 50s including: Archie Scott Brown, Stirling Moss, Ivor Bueb, Bruce Halford and Innes Ireland amongst many others. Within a matter of weeks half of the 60th Anniversary Lister race cars were sold out. Soon after, the order book was completely full and Lister had orders for £5m. Lister Knobbly Sir Stirling Moss Edition In June 2016, The Lister Motor Company announced the build and sale of the Lister Knobbly Stirling Moss at the Royal Automobile Club in London. The car is built to the exact specification of the 1958 model and is the only magnesium-bodied car in the world and only the second car in history endorsed by legendary racing driver Sir Stirling Moss. Brian Lister invited Sir Stirling Moss to drive for Lister on three separate occasions, at Goodwood in 1954, Silverstone in 1958 and at Sebring in 1959, and to celebrate these races, 10 special edition lightweight Lister Knobbly cars are being built and priced at £1 Million each. The company announced that the cars will be available for both road and race use and Sir Stirling Moss will personally be handing over each car. Lister LFT-666 In January 2018, Lister announced the LFT-666. The car, which is a modified Jaguar F-Type R has a modified variant of the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine as utilised in the Jaguar F-Type SVR, generating at 6,000 rpm and a peak torque of achieved by dual modified supercharger pulleys, a modified intercooler, an improved air intake system and a different ECU. The car is capable of accelerating from in 3.2 seconds and attaining a maximum speed of . The four-wheel drive layout and the 8-speed ZF automatic transmission with torque converter are retained from the F-Type while a Quicksilver titanium exhaust system saves of weight. The car has light weight 21-inch alloy wheels, acid green accents and brake callipers. The car has a Bridge of Weir Nappa leather interior that is available in 36 colour combinations, with the Lister logos stitched into the headrests and seat pattern to match the front grille. The car was unveiled at the Historic Motorsport International show, at London's ExCeL. The LFT-666 will be built in limited numbers, with only 99 cars to be produced in total having a base price of £141,155 while a carbon fibre bonnet adds £14,850 more to the base price. The owners will also receive access to the exclusive Lister driver's club. The Lister Stealth In August 2020, the Lister Motor Company launched Britain's fastest SUV - the Lister Stealth. Based on the Jaguar F-Pace, the Stealth uses a Lister-modified version of the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine found in the factory F-Pace SVR, to achieve a power output of and of torque. The Stealth accelerates from in 3.6 seconds and boasts a top speed of . ==See also==