Numerous privateer racing drivers got it in their minds to build their own car in the 1950s, but Brian Lister actually had the money and the engineering know-how.

His first racing car, built in the mid-1950s with the able assistance of Don Moore and Archie Scott-Brown, was an incredible success, collecting a 1st- or 2nd-place finish wherever it roamed.

Its success was such that Lister soon had a deal with Jaguar to supply engines, and the Lister-Jaguar became a world beater.

It was eventually developed into the now-legendary “Knobbly,” nicknamed for its curvaceous but rather bumpy bodywork.

Eventually a U.S.–built engine was dropped into the British-built sports car, and the result was the Lister-Chevrolet—more than competitive, it was, in fact, “the car to beat.” The Listers swept the SCCA Championships in 1958 and 1959.

Unfortunately, with the success of the Lister-Chevrolet, the “ultimate” Lister came at the end of the company’s life, as production wound down in 1959 after fewe...