1958 Lister Knobbly, BHL 115 ex-Stan Hallinan, Preservation Class

The most original Lister in existence
Famously preserved for a lifetime in the Stan Hallinan collection
Corvette Chevrolet V8, Rochester fuel injection, exquisite patination
Brian Lister’s verdict: “absolutely the most amazing time warp car I’ve ever seen”

Unquestionably the most original Lister in existence, preserved unrestored in single ownership for fifty years, this is an exceptional survivor linking our time and the heroic age of British-built 1950s sports racing cars - and a superlative symbol of the Cambridge engineering firm that often humbled the works racing teams of the world.

First earmarked for Marguerite Clark Boden IV, a racehorse and motor racing sponsor, the contract for Lister BHL 115 was ripped up after a ruction with a patronizing salesman about lightweight brake callipers. The Du Pont heiress brought a car from Carroll Shelby instead, altering this Lister’s destiny and saving it for posterity. The customer is always right!

Unsold into the 1960s and remaining at Lister’s East Coast distributor BHL 115 was visited by J. Stanton (Stan) Hallinan of Concord, New Hampshire, a young twenty-something with a dream. Already a partner in a dealership specializing in English cars, Hallinan secured the Lister for the princely sum of $5,000 in 1962, beginning 50 years of continuous ownership and total preservation.

Hallinan was an accomplished local racer who held track records at Mount Ascutney, Vermont and Norridgewock, Maine, and who would become an indelible part of BHL 115’s history. A “car guy” par excellence, he was a life member of the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire, remembered for a love of jazz and for saying “you always have time for what you do first.”

Small wonder Hallinan fell in love with the Lister. The 1958 Knobbly was designer Brian Lister’s masterpiece – a lithe and lightweight chassis, with its exceptionally low shrink-wrapped body and bulging haunches exemplifying speed. Alongside works cars like VPP 9 and MVE 303, a limited number were sold to privateers with XK Jaguar or American V8 power. BHL 115 was equipped with a 283 cubic inch (4.6L) Chevrolet V-8 with Rochester Ramjet fuel injection, sourced from Momo apparently having been spare for Briggs Cunningham’s Corvette effort at Le Mans in 1960.

After just a handful of minor club outings and the occasional night-time blasts along New England roads, BHL 115 was mostly laid up but preserved in good order. Present at the Lister reunion of 1992 held at Lime Rock, an astounded Brian Lister was photographed in BHL 115, judging it to be “absolutely the most amazing time warp car I’ve ever seen.”

After many refusals to part with her, with Stan’s passing the Lister was finally sold via a major auction house to an appreciative new owner in 2013. Following a further decade of careful conservation, including attention from specialists CKL Developments, BHL 115 is offered for sale from a private collection, being effectively only its second owner.

BHL 115 will be an exceptional ambassador and important emblem of Lister’s heroic place in 1950s racing. Many claim originality loosely, but this Lister is well and truly the last word. As appreciation for genuine preservation-class cars rises to a crescendo, this Lister will be suitable for the most discerning collections, and certain to draw appreciative crowds at the most selective motoring events.

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