Englishman Brian Lister used the facilities of his father’s Cambridge wrought iron shop, George Lister & Sons, as the basis for a career in race car engineering, which then blossomed into one in sports cars during the early 1950s.

Starting with an MG platform in 1954, Lister soon graduated to two-litre Bristol engines, which he stuffed into low-weight chassis that were packaged with aerodynamic open-nosed bodywork.

Famed racer Archie Scott-Brown drove one of these Lister-Bristols to 5th overall and 1st in class at Silverstone in 1954, where it stunned a field of Jaguar C-Types.

In 1957, customer Norman Hillwood insisted that Lister install a 3.4-litre Jaguar XK engine into his car.

This marked the beginning of the engine-chassis mating that bore Lister his greatest acclaim.

At the British Empire Trophy at Oulton Park on 6 April 1957, Scott-Brown’s Lister-Jaguar roared to a 1st overall finish, notably besting Roy Salvadori’s Aston Martin DBR1.

Lister-Jaguars were well on their way...