Blast off! An LCC Rocket really is for sale

It’s been a busy summer for Gordon Murray. Not long after having the central feature at Festival of Speed dedicated to his career, Monterey Car Week played host to the launch of the new GMSV bespoke division. Every year it gets harder and harder to stand out in California during August, but the S1 LM arguably stole the show – as a five-unit homage to the F1 LM was always likely to. 

It was the obvious choice, as unarguably the most famous of Murray’s creations. But with scope, by the sounds of it, to resurrect all manner of previous projects, how about something less predictable next time around? What if Gordon Murray Special Vehicles tried again at the Light Car Company Rocket? 

Apparently, Murray said this was “the car I’ve always wanted to build”, at least according to the LCC website. The Rocket was a collaborative effort between Murray and racer Chris Craft, inspired by classic Grand Prix cars and – you’ve guessed it – an obsessive approach to weight loss. At launch in 1991, this was a 385kg car, a number without compare. Even at a time when superminis were well under a tonne and Caterhams a lot less, this was truly extreme. A luge on wheels with a Yamaha motorbike engine providing the power, there had never been anything like the Rocket before. Hasn’t really been since, either…

It’s about as Gordon Murray a car as you’re ever likely to find, stripped of anything but the bare necessities and with an unwavering focus on driving exhilaration. So it’s easy to overlook the slightly odd styling. Interestingly, the chassis of the Rocket was steel, rather than anything more exotic, and the engine served as a fully stressed member of it. There really was space for two people as well, somehow, the Rocket like the F1 in offering up one more chair than expected. At launch (just before the McLaren, incidentally) the LCC was the fastest accelerating car in the world. There can’t have been much between the two – how’s that a YouTube drag race that hasn’t happened yet?

Believe it or not, Rockets were made for 20 years from 1991 to 2011, when it was deemed a bit too daft for public consumption. The fact that so few sold likely contributed to its demise as well, with less than 50 finding customers over two decades. So this looks like an amazing opportunity; the red Rocket is a 2006-built example that first lived its life in Japan (imagine how cool it would have looked on their numberplates), before being imported by the seller for its only UK owner in 2022. In that time, it’s covered just 4,500km, or less than 3,000 miles. 

So it’s perfect, basically, as crazy to look at as it was on your nan’s telly or in a supercars annual (remember those?) 30 years ago. A superbike-engined cigar tube with no ounce of excess (check out the picture with the body panels removed) the Light Car Company Rocket remains an incredible representation of what can be achieved when a singular vision is realised with no concessions or compromises. It’s awesome. Quite what a car like this is now actually worth – we’re guessing rather more than the £38,000 asked in the early ’90s – isn’t clear, though it seems very unlikely that a Rocket will become any less desirable in the years to come. Especially if someone commissions GMSV to build what we’re all hoping it might…