From: rap@nnsgs50.lon40.nt.com (Richard Porter)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.antique,rec.autos
Subject: Re: Marcos??
Date: 17 Dec 1992 14:38:45 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Limited
NNTP-Posting-Host: nnsgs50.lon40.nt.com

In article <1992Dec16.185650.15476@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>
dje@mail.bellcore.com (Don Eilenberger) writes:

>Does anyone remember the english car the "Marcos" from about
>the late '60s, early '70s?

>I had a great lust for this car back then, but somehow never
>managed to get my act together (still haven't) and chase one
>down.

Remember them? The firm is doing very nicely down at Westbury - I was
at the factory a couple of months ago. They are making three versions
of the classic Marcos coupe - the Martina (Ford Cortina based), the
Mantula (Rover V8 engined) and the brand new Mantara (4.2 Rover engine,
being built as a complete car with limited type approval under the new EC
rules which come into force on 1st January 1993). All these models are
available in closed (copue) and convertible (Spyder) versions.

And of course they relaunched the famous Mini Marcos last year, 25 years
after the original launch in 1966, when a Mini Marcos was the only British
car to finish the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Marcos will build any of their models as complete cars for export, and many
are going to the far east. The Japanese are mad about the Mini Marcos!
One at least has gone or will be going down under - to actor Christian
Schmid of the Australian soap "Neighbours".

>The facts as I remember:

>Was a small English car manaufacturer (sorta a garage operation) making
>the cars from bits and pieces of other cars. The body was fiberglass
>over plywood (later models may have had steel subframes), along the
>lines of TVR's.

The very early Marcos GTs actually used marine plywood for the bodywork.
The ex-Jackie Stewart "Ugly Duckling" Marcos GT is currently raced by Jem
Marsh (the "Mar" in Marcos - the other half was Frank Costin) in Historic
Sportscar races. Nowadays the coupes are made in GRP on tubular steel
chassis. The Mini Marcos is a GRP monocoque which accepts standard Mini
subframes front and rear.

The Marcos factory isn't so much a garage, more a collection of large
Nissen huts on an industrial estate.

>I know for quite a while, they came with Volvo P1800 running gear
>(engine, transmission).. the 1.8L engine with the 4sp/overdrive
>tranny. I believe at one point they went to the Volvo 164 driveline..
>a 3L in-line pushrod 6, with the same transmission.

They have used a variety of engines including Ford 1500, 1600, 2 litre
and 3 litre V6 units and more recently the Rover 3.5, 3.9 and 4.2 litre
V8s. The Volvo engined cars are particularly popular in Sweden where
there is a plentiful supply of spares and performance equipment.

>Any info anyone has on them would be appreciated.. especially if you
>happen to know of any for sale at a reasonable price. I don't think
>they'll rate as one of the great collectables.. but it would be fun
>to satisfy a youthful lust (isn't this what the group is REALLY about?)!

Write to Marcos Sales Limited, West Wilts Industrial Estate, Westbury,
Wiltshire, UK. I haven't got the post code or phone number with me but
if I remember I'll post them tomorrow along with details of the Club
Marcos representative in the US. If you do write to Marcos please
mention my name!

Richard Porter,
Mini Marcos Owners Club

>Don Eilenberger [with an empty space in the garage, and a wallet to
>match] {dje@mail.bellcore.com}

Go on, spoil yourself!
Xref: sparky rec.autos.antique:333 alt.autos.antique:2403