Lister

Lister - TheArsenale

Lister Cars belongs to that class of unfortunate small motor companies which have been forgotten as the years went by and the international racing environment changed. The story of this company begins in 1954 when it was founded by Brian Lister, english entrepreneur and racing driver, and is inseparably tied to another, much more famous, automotive firm: Jaguar.

In 1957, Lister, specialized in tubular frame cars mounting Bristol engines, adopted the D-Type straight-6 achieving sensational victories at the British Empire Trophy and at the Goodwood Sussex Trophy.

Fell to misfortune during the unstoppable coming of rear-engined cars, in the ‘80s the company was acquired by engineer Laurence Pearce, who restarted tuning a limited series of XJS Jags. He then decided to get back in the racing track with a motorsport developed version of the Lister Storm, a Jag XJR9 7.0L V12 engined, road legal car, winning the FIA GT Championship in 2000.

In 2012, Lawrence Whittaker, owner of a car warranty company, purchased the Lister Motor Company and started building fast, angry, jaguar derived, road legal cars again. Main current products are F-Type and F-Pace derived models, but the star of the show is the 60th anniversary Knobbly.

The Knobbly is not just a legit replica car as its look would suggest. It’s not a classic shape on top of modern mechanicals. Beneath its hand-beaten aluminium body is a six-cylinder Jaguar 3.8L engine and a four-speed gearbox, which is almost identical to the D-Type power plants fitted in the 1950s. Engines are built using all-new remanufactured parts around original Jaguar blocks; the tubular frame is made from seamless engineering tube using the original jigs.

The ten lucky buyers who achieved to purchase this unique car, will exactly feel like they are at the starting grid fronting ‘50s racing legends as Archie Scott Brown or Stirling Moss, to whom is entitled a one-off model of the Knobbly, flaunting the classic green and yellow Lister livery.