"This stunning sports car was the brainchild of Major Russ Hopf. Born in Antigo, Wisconsin during 1910, the future American Air Force officer spent his teenage years tuning and modifying a series of Ford Model Ts. Stationed at the March Air Force Base near Riverside, California after World War Two, he struck-up a friendship with importer / dealer Al Pernett from whom he purchased a MG TC and Jaguar XK120 amongst others. Joining forces to acquire a MG K3 that the airman had located in England, the duo made a series of trips across the Atlantic during which they hatched a plan to go fifty-fifty on building their own sports car. The project gained significant momentum when Hopf was posted to the UK during the mid 1950s. After a series of dead ends, the American was introduced to John Tojeiro by John Gordon (of Gordon-Keeble fame). Working from premises on Ernie Bailey's farm near Royston at the time - the man who had helped him secure the AC Ace chassis design contract a few years earlier - the legendary designer had already completed several spaceframe cars including the highly successful Tojeiro-Jaguar commissioned by John Ogier. Unperturbed by Hopf's idea of a limited production run, Tojeiro set about creating a state of the art sports car. The resultant machine - chassis number TCM4 - became one of a small group of Climax-engined Tojeiros built but differed from its siblings by being intended primarily for road rather than competition use. Thus, it featured a coil-sprung 'live' back axle and four-wheel disc brakes, while the other Tojeiro-Climax cars typically utilised a De Dion set-up and single disc brake to the rear (the latter mounted to the side of the differential). Boasting more than a few sports racer 'genes', the Hopf-Tojeiro's spaceframe chassis was equipped with unequal-length double-wishbone front suspension and rack and pinion steering. Initially fed by twin SU carburettors, its four-cylinder Coventry-Climax 1100cc FWA-series engine was allied to a MG A four-speed manual gearbox (mirroring contemporary Lotus Elite practice). Entrusted to Williams & Pritchard but penned by Hopf himself, the two-seater's super sleek aluminium bodywork began to take shape during late 1957. The American Air Force officer cited the BMW 507 as his principal inspiration but it is not difficult to see echoes of Ferrari 250 GT to the nose or Chevrolet Corvette to the tail. A special order from Dunlop, the car's wire wheels reputedly took some eight months to arrive and its Smiths instruments were affected by a similar delay. Such unexpected hiatuses meant that the project had not long been completed when Hopf was transferred back to the March Air Force Base in 1960. Put on display at Pernett's showroom, the Tojeiro-Climax - which the airman intended to call the 'Spitfire' had it gone into series production - attracted plenty of admirers but no takers. A further career move from California to Texas prompted Hopf to sell his share in the unique two-seater and later that same year Pernett advertised it for sale in Road & Track magazine with an asking price of $5,900 (some $2,000 more than a contemporary 'Vette). Subsequently bought by one of Pernett's mechanics, chassis TCM4 then passed to an Alfa Romeo dealer in Riverside who fitted it with a Ford V6 engine. Hopf asked the car's new custodian for first refusal should it be put to market again but by the time he next visited Riverside the dealership was closed and his creation gone. Resurfacing in a 1985 issue of Hemmings Motor News."
