The body buck for the original Mark 1 P15 V16, handcrafted in 1949 to help build Britain’s first Formula One car, has been found, and will be used to build Chassis V, the second of three ‘new’ 16-cylinder P15 V16 BRM racing cars.
The body forming jig was created to build the first six BRM cars that were unveiled to the world at RAF Folkingham on December 15th 1949, and ran at Goodwood’s international race meeting in September 1950.
While the cars evolved throughout the early 1950’s to improve cooling, handling, and performance, the very first P15 V16 is the purest form of this iconic car.
When the body shape was altered, George Gray, the man tasked with turning Peter Berthon’s design into reality, stored the jig in the roof of his boat house, where it remained for the next 70 years and was lost to the annals of time.
The whereabouts of the body buck had long been a question of debate, but through a combination of research, luck, diligence, and discussions with historians, journalists, collectors and those with long memories, the BRM Team were able to track down the whereabouts of the body buck with the help of Geoffrey Marsh.
