John Crosthwaite

John Crosthwaite (1925–2010) was an English race car designer and engineer, active in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Crosthwaite worked with Cooper Cars, Colin Chapman at Team Lotus and Mickey Thompson as well as drivers Graham Hill, Dan Gurney and Jackie Stewart. He designed and built cars for Formula Junior and the 1962 and 1963 Indianapolis 500. A chassis specialist, he worked at Formula 1 team BRM and later drew up chassis for the Intermeccanica Italia and Reliant Scimitar GTE road cars.

John Crosthwaite was born at Thornaby Hall, Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire on 9 October 1925. He was godson to Harold Macmillan, a family friend and local MP. He had three older sisters and a younger brother. His father, Cedric, was in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I and raced cars and motorcycles. Crosthwaite had a fascination with cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes from an early age. In 1928 his parents separated. He was raised by his mother and his oldest sister Barbara.

During World War II he worked at A.V. Roe & Co (Avro) doing final assembly of Lancaster Bombers. Despite being in a reserved occupation he tried to join the RAF but during the medical discovered he was colour blind. He continued to volunteer for other services until AV Roe finally released him in 1943 to join the Royal Marines. In 1944 he was accepted in the Royal Marine Commandos.

Following the end of the war in the far east he remained in the Royal Marine Commandos until 1947. He left to join the police force for a short period but he could not settle. He was offered a job in Malaya and as an adventure decided to travel overland. Crosthwaite bought a 1944 Canadian Mercury V8 estate ex War Dept. and along with a friend travelled through France, Italy, then steamer to Greece. They encountered bandits, civil war in Greece, fuel shortages, mines and mine holed roads. They found a way across the closed border to Istanbul, Turkey, where they were arrested and interrogated. On release they crossed into Syria through Damascus, then via Baghdad to Basra in Iraq and finally Ahwaz, Iran. Because of the awful state of the roads and despite ongoing repairs, the vehicle finally gave up. His friend joined the Iraq Petroleum Company but Crosthwaite returned home.

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