Cars with side-mounted radiators

[Darren Galpin]

I've had an enquiry about cars with side mounted radiators, and wondered if anyone here could shed any more light on it:

"In 1962, Dr. Gordon Deane of Edmonton, Alberta built a single-seat, open wheel 'Canada Class' racer. It had a Skoda engine in the rear. Rather than follow conventional practice and place the radiator in the front of the car, he split it in two and mounted the halves within ductwork on either side of the body, roughly parallel with the driver's seat. If you have Dick McDonell's book The Speediest Land Traveller, you can see the car on page 76. This all took place some eight years before the Lotus 72 with side-mounted rads and a decade before a McLaren won at Indy with this layout.

My question therefore is, are you aware of any European cars in 1962 or earlier of this pattern? I did put the question out to a British historic racing site a few years ago, and was told of a Formula 3 racer who in 1963 took his Cooper or Lotus - at this point I forget which -- and replaced the standard rad with small ones on either side of the cockpit. It didn't work and within a few weeks he was back to the original configuration. "

Any info would be gratefully received.

[PeterMorley]

The Gemini Mark 4 Formula Junior had side radiators, that was also built in 1962.
And the Aiden Jones modified Cooper Climax for Louise Bryden-Browne's Anglo-American Equipe also had side radiators, again that was built in 1962.
I think both were modified in period to front radiators.

Apparently the 1938 Marchese special that came 7th in the Indy 500 that year had side radiators...