Among the rarest and most fascinating American performance cars of the 1950s, the 1959 Bocar XP-7R stands apart as a product of raw engineering creativity and racing ambition. Hand-built in Lakewood, Colorado, by racing driver and fabricator Bob Carnes, the XP-7R was the pinnacle of Bocar’s short but intense run of bespoke sports cars designed to take on the European greats.
Only three supercharged XP-7R models were ever built, each packing a heavily modified Corvette V8 producing around 400 horsepower—an extraordinary figure for its time. The engine used a Potvin-mounted GMC 4-71 supercharger and Rochester fuel injection, both advanced technologies in the late 1950s. Combined with a tubular chromoly frame and lightweight fiberglass body, the result was a machine capable of rivaling Ferrari and Jaguar on both power and agility.
Chassis number 003, the example recently shown in Scottsdale, Arizona, represents one of the finest surviving Bocars. Restored in the 1990s by McCabe Automotive Restoration, it went on to participate in the Colorado Grand rally three times and has since undergone further refinements, including updated fiberglass work, a rebuilt fuel-injection system, and fresh red paint. The car’s striking presentation—with blue brake calipers, Borrani wire wheels, and Dunlop Racing tires—makes it as visually captivating as it is historically important.
Inside, the two-seat cockpit features red leather with blue bolsters, yellow embroidery, and period-correct Stewart-Warner gauges, reflecting the attention to detail that defined Carnes’s hand-built racers. Every inch of the XP-7R reflects its dual identity as both a competition machine and a design statement from an era when American ingenuity rivaled Europe’s finest.
Offered with extensive documentation, this XP-7R stands as one of the last surviving examples of Carnes’s vision—a bold and innovative attempt to prove that a small Colorado workshop could build a world-class race car. For collectors, it represents more than rarity or performance; it’s a living chapter in the story of America’s postwar racing spirit.