1958 Lister-Chevrolet

One of the great personalities of American racing is Jim Hall. He made his debut as a driver in 1954 and is still a team owner in IndyCar racing. His Chaparral sports cars of the 1960s were the first cars to race successfully with wings, and the first to win races with an automatic transmission. Hall pioneered ground effect technology, although his method utilized fans powered by a two-stroke engine. He also underwrote the sports car business of fellow-Texan, Carroll Shelby, raced in Formula One in the 1960s and gave John Barnard his first big break as a designer when he commissioned an IndyCar from him for 1979. As a driver, designer and team manager, Jim Hall has been exceptionally successful and this Lister-Chevrolet was the car which set him on his way as an engineer.

Jim Hall inherited a fortune while still in his teens and he was aged just nineteen when he started racing an Austin Healey. He didn’t let being under-aged by SCCA rules hinder his...