Is this the most important car in Lister’s history?

When Brian Lister first started designing his own cars in 1954, they were powered by MG and Bristol engines and driven to promising results by his star driver, Scott Brown. The two met at the Cambridge University Auto Club, where Scott Brown refused to let his passion for motorsport be restricted by the fact he was missing the fingers on his right hand.  

Scott Brown and Lister Cars became intertwined in the racing community, but Lister knew he needed to keep developing in order for his driver to stay competitive. By 1955, he was seeking a replacement for the Bristol engine and opted for one of the best of the day. Lister and Scott Brown had been impressed by Roy Salvadori’s performances in the Maserati A6GCS, so Lister adapted an existing MG-engined chassis, designated BHL 1, to make room for a new Maserati 2.0-litre straight-six.

It was mated to a Maserati four-speed gearbox and was much smaller than the MG motor it replaced, which meant the whole front end could be lowered by 20 per cent. Housed by an aluminium body, which helped to reduce weight, the car much sleeker in its design and led to more agile handling which perfectly complimented Scott Brown’s driving style.

“Archie loved that car,” said Christian Jenny, owner of the Lister-Maserati who shared its history with us at the 2026 Goodwood Revival presented by Dunlop. “It was a car that was made for him and he drove it very well.”

Initial testing at Snetterton in the autumn of 1955 highlighted some reliability issues, but Lister ironed them out and Scott Brown dominated the 1956 2.0-litre category in British Sports Car races. Come the spring he won his class at the International Trophy Meeting at Silverstone, took overall victory at the WECC Snetterton Handicap a day before a second place finish at the Brands Hatch Formula Libre Handicap, and came first in class at the BARC Aintree 100.

Amidst these strong results were a sprinkling of retirements. Scott Brown was forced to pull off the road at Silverstone during a support race for the 1956 British Grand Prix and suffered two DNFs at Goodwood, but late summer delivered another overall win at Brands Hatch and a first in class at the Oulton Park International.

“When the engine held, it was first rank or sometimes second, but nothing less,” said Jenny. “Those who observed this said, ‘My God, Lister has made a top car, too bad for him that Maserati let him down’.”

Maserati had a distant relationship with the Lister chassis that carried its engine, according to Jenny, who has the exchange of communication between the two brands among his detailed records of his car. “One has the feeling they didn’t care, once the engine was there, they didn't care about the quality.”

Messages included reports that the engine broke down because the camshafts weren’t sufficiently hardened. “I mean, everybody in the world since the first engines were built knows that camshafts have to be hardened. But Maserati didn't care. They always had to apologise, but that didn't help Brian Lister nor Archie Scott Brown.”

While we celebrated Maserati’s racing legacy at the 2026 Revival, it’s safe to say then that the lone Lister it powers was not a key focus of the team’s heritage, despite its rareness.

“Maserati is quite quiet about it. They recognise, ‘Yes, it was our engine’; Maserati books list all the engines and for this one they say: ‘Delivered to Mr. Brian Lister for his Lister-Maserati.’ So yes, they recognise it, but that's about as much as they say.”

According to Jenny, the feeling of the time was always that if Brian Lister had a “very, very reliable engine, he could make a really top car, and that’s what he did.”

Scott Brown’s performances in the Lister-Maserati set him up for domination in the Jaguar-powered Lister ‘Knobbly’, which he enjoyed throughout 1957, but his life was tragically cut short a year later after he suffered a fatal injury racing a ‘Knobbly’ at Spa against his good friend and rival Masten Gregory.  

Today, the Lister-Maserati is the only works car raced by Scott Brown still in existence. It has passed through multiple owners since the late 1950s; at the end of the decade it was entered into contests by the Curtis Smith Racing Team and Bryn Williams but failed to attend. Subsequent owners saw the car travel from the UK to France, and by the 1990s to the United States, where it was campaigned extensively by its second American owner John ‘Chip’ Fudge.

By 2017, the car had returned to the UK for a part restoration in time for its first appearance at the Goodwood Revival with driver Nick Riley, who then himself purchased the Lister-Maserati. After Riley passed away in 2019 the car was put up for auction with Bonhams at the 78^th Members’ Meeting Sale, where it then came under Jenny’s stewardship and was imported to Switzerland in 2021.

“This car means a lot to me. Every car [Jenny owns] has either a very interesting identity, substance, or a very interesting history. And so this fits in with it, having a unique identity — namely that it is the car that made Lister.”

Jenny described the current condition of the car as “not quite, but almost original. We want to race the car, we want a reliable engine, and we have a very, very reliable Maserati-like engine.” That is an A6GCS engine rebuilt by Crosthwait & Gardiner, though the original was sold with the car and has a home in Jenny’s garage.

At the 2026 Revival Jenny’s expectations for his Lister-Maserati was for it “to be what it is supposed to be, and that is a car of a unique position in history. It’s of course a pleasure to come here and have people understand what it's supposed to be.

“My favourite thing is that it drives the way it says it drives, it is what it says it is. That to me is the most important thing. It’s very honest. When they say Archie Scott Brown loved the car, the young chap that drives it now, he loves the car.”

“So truly, what history says about the car is true, and that I like. I want cars that don't lie.”

The Lister-Maserati is a special car that played a pivotal role in shaping the career of a special driver. It was a pleasure to host it at the Goodwood Revival, and to explore a different side to Maserati’s legacy.

Goodwood photography by Joe Harding, Jordan Butters and Charlie Brenninkmeijer.

The 2027 Goodwood Revival will take place on 17^th-19^th September 2027. Sign up for ticket alerts to make sure you don’t miss out.

If you’re not already part of the GRRC, you can sign up to the Fellowship today to save ten per cent on your 2027 tickets and grandstand passes, as well as enjoying a whole host of other on-event perks.