Hugh Goodson, the individual behind the 1958 Challenge for the America's Cup, was himself the owner of a classic 12-metre yacht, Flica II. Designed by Laurent Giles and built by William Fife & Sons at Fairlie, Ayrshire, in 1939, Flica II was a 12-metre sloop which had virtually no racing career due to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. Registered at 23.09 tons gross (22.77 net & 34 Thames), she measured 67 feet in length with a 12 foot beam and would have made an ideal challenger had she not been converted for cruising sometime after the War. Although built for Hugh Goodson to replace his existing Flica, he had sold her to Charles Gardner by 1948 and the latter owner was responsible for her conversion. Subsequently bought back by Goodson, he had not returned her to racing trim even though this idea was considered later by Tony Boyden in advance of his 1964 attempt to recover the trophy.
In his book "The America's Cup, an Illustrated History", Ian Dear notes that a model of Flica II had been tank-tested at the Stevens Institute in the U.S.A. before the search even began for the 1958 challenger (see notes to previous lot); it therefore seems likely that the model offered here is that same one and both it and the preceding model of Sceptre were originally owned by Hugh Goodson.