Description:

1959 SADLER MARK III

Bill Sadler (1931-2022) was a Canadian race car and aviation genius without peer. His greatest strength was chassis design and weight saving. Bill’s first race car (1953) was based on a 1949 Hillman Minx convertible in which he installed a Ford V8-60 flathead. In 1954 he scratch built his Mark I, originally with a Jowett Javelin engine, later powered by a TR 2 engine and lastly a Chevrolet V8. In 1956-57 Bill worked in the John Tojeiro shop in the UK, where he built a new race car, the Chevrolet V8 powered Mark II.

Bill was back in Canada in 1958, where he secured sponsorship from North American KLG importer Earl Nisonger to construct a more sophisticated (smaller, lower, lighter) version of the Mark II. The new Mark III started competing in 1959. It was competitive, but it faced very strong competition from the Scarabs, Lister Chevys, Birdcage Maseratis, etc., leading Bill to  design and build a Mark IV for the 1960 season and mid engine Mark V for the 1961 season — a CanAm type car before there was a CanAm series. In September, 1961, Bill’s driver Danny Shaw had a bad accident in the Mark V, and Bill decided to withdraw from racing.

Bill had sold the rights to the Mark IV design before the Mark V accident (the Mark IV by then called the Dailu), but Bill had retained the Mark III and permitted friends to race it. The last race for the Mark III was in September,1963, after which the car was stored in covered storage adjacent to Bill’s shop. The Mark III was eventually stolen and disassembled. The disassembled car was later recovered, but numerous parts were missing. Bill stored the chassis until 1997 when he decided to rebuild the car for vintage racing. Bill made one change -- lowered the engine three inches. Because of this change, Bill labeled the resurrected car "Mark III #002" — so the car is actually both #001 and #002.

Dean Butler bought the car from Bill after the 2003 Historic Watkins Glen event and brought it to the UK in 2004. Driver Martin Walford performed so well in the car’s UK debut, that Julian Majzub wanted one — so Bill traveled to the UK and built another 'replica' car in 2005, along with a spare chassis, which was sold to Lloyd Allard. The only difference between the resurrected Mark III and the Majzub car is that the original has a chrome-molybdenum chassis, while the 2005 chassis are mild steel.

This car is powered by a proper period 283 Chevrolet bored and stroked to 327 cubic inches, as Bill did in period. The car is currently carbureted (Holly 4bbl). Bill originally ran the car with Hilborn fuel injection and later switched to a Holly. Transmission is a T-10 four speed, and the differential is period Corvette, also as originally run by Bill. The engine is a fresh full race ca. 400 bhp unit from John Harden (Oklahoma City). Brakes, suspension joints, etc are all freshly rebuilt. Wheels and race race tyres are new. The car has been sympathetically restored recently by Allard Motor Co. (England).

Bill was living in Arizona when he rebuilt the car, and it is currently road registered in Arizona. Accompanying the car are Bill’s build notes, a letter describing the 1958 rebuild from recovered chassis and parts and numerous other documentation.

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