Following the end of World War Two, a new generation of enterprising young engineers came onto the motorsport scene. Many of them had either trained or worked in the aviation industry, and the post-war shortage of materials added improvisation to their skill sets. The Cooper Car Company, for example, was enjoying considerable success in the new, low-cost 500cc formula, and John Cooper recalled buying all the Morrison air-raid shelters he could, in order to use the steel in the construction of his rear-engined racing cars. He also sourced parts from a nearby firm that sold secondhand aircraft equipment, such as fuel pumps.
Thousands of miles away in New Zealand, two engineers shared not only Cooper’s talent for recycling but also his eye for aircraft parts. They would even follow him in bucking the prevailing trend by building a rear-engined racer – although their inspiration came not from little 500cc racers but from the pre-war Auto Union Grand Prix cars. Hec Green and Jack Brewer had been aircraft mechanics during the war and became partners in a Christchurch engineering business. They were both keen racers and got hold of a copy of a report that had been written by Cameron Earl for the British
