Any Marcos Fans?
Discussion
coppice said:
As a teenager in late 60s I adored them , seeing my first at Harewood Hillclimb - Roger and Judy Andreason's Marcos 1800 (with Volvo engine ) . Saw the 3 litre V6 at the London motor show in 1968 and followed the various iterations with , God, Lawrencetune 1650, Ford V4 (hmm..), Volvo IL 6 , Triumph IL 6 and the the sundry Rover V8 cars and so on up to the bulging (and hideous ) Ford V8 GT racers .
Always torn between the original Ford 1500 (I think ? ) and the Elan for pure sexiness . The verdict goes to the Elan, but it's nearly a dead heat .
Any ...err... Mantis fans ? The orginal . obvs , with the , umm 'courageous' styling ?
Hands up, I admit it, I like the Mantis Coupe, particularly the interior which is just enough to distract your eyes away from the exterior Always torn between the original Ford 1500 (I think ? ) and the Elan for pure sexiness . The verdict goes to the Elan, but it's nearly a dead heat .
Any ...err... Mantis fans ? The orginal . obvs , with the , umm 'courageous' styling ?
Presently stripped down and body off awaiting a full restoration, last one was www.marcosmantula.co.uk
I have owned two 3 litre volvo marcos and regard them as the most fun car I have ever owned. However they are not easy to live with access being one and a low ground height is another. There are 22 speed humps between my house and the main road otherwise I would have another like a shot. After the mantula they started to sprout bumps and wings everywhere and to my eye they look a bit OTT. They appear to be difficult to sell as well.Six months ago a TS500 sold on THE MARKET for £18500 to a dealer who advertised it for £27500 it is now back on sale at The market, interesting to see what it goes for this time. A dealer in Scotland has had a car for sale for at least 5 years-being pink and advertised for £65000 might have something to do with it.
CAA12k , WL44J where are you now? Today I drive a new Mx5 and I have not a clue what the number plate is which sums up the car
CAA12k , WL44J where are you now? Today I drive a new Mx5 and I have not a clue what the number plate is which sums up the car
Not a massive fan of Marcos, but I was lucky enough to bump into Jem Marsh in Clevedon where he retired to. I think this picture is an owners' club visit to honour his 83rd birthday in April 2013 
(I have one or two other pictures of the day - there was a great variety of models which made the pilgrimage & clearly delighted the founder, if members are interested I will add them to this thread).
Feel free to download this picture if you are in it!
(I have one or two other pictures of the day - there was a great variety of models which made the pilgrimage & clearly delighted the founder, if members are interested I will add them to this thread).
Feel free to download this picture if you are in it!
Martyn-123 said:
Presently stripped down and body off awaiting a full restoration, last one was www.marcosmantula.co.uk
P5BNij said:
Hands up, I admit it, I like the Mantis Coupe, particularly the interior which is just enough to distract your eyes away from the exterior
Another Mantis fan here (inside and out!). The interior of the Mantis was very competent, and loads better than any 4-seat Italian exotic of the day, have you seen the mess in an "equivalant" Jarama, Lele, Indy etc?BTW I complemented Jem on the Mantis interior design when we spent a fantastic weekend at his B&B in Bradford on Avon (a couple of years before the pic above when he was in slightly better health). We enjoyed ourselves so much we stayed an extra night just for the natter. So many stories and tall tales were buried with him. His missus was lovely as well, hope she is still well.
Loose_Cannon said:
P5BNij said:
Hands up, I admit it, I like the Mantis Coupe, particularly the interior which is just enough to distract your eyes away from the exterior
Another Mantis fan here (inside and out!). The interior of the Mantis was very competent, and loads better than any 4-seat Italian exotic of the day, have you seen the mess in an "equivalant" Jarama, Lele, Indy etc?BTW I complemented Jem on the Mantis interior design when we spent a fantastic weekend at his B&B in Bradford on Avon (a couple of years before the pic above when he was in slightly better health). We enjoyed ourselves so much we stayed an extra night just for the natter. So many stories and tall tales were buried with him. His missus was lovely as well, hope she is still well.
Another quick Marcos pic.... it's still a stunning piece of design and styling, with echoes of cars which came before and after it, namely the E-Type, Ferrari 275GTB, Bizzarrini 5300GT and the lip at the back is very Alfa TZ1 / TZ2....
dandarez said:
This car is off to Le Mans but never raced. I know what it is, only because I've spent the last 6 months (or much of it) engrossed in this marque!
Apols to the Marcos folks for thread drifting into Gilberns. Love the Marcos.
Huntsman said:
dandarez said:
This car is off to Le Mans but never raced. I know what it is, only because I've spent the last 6 months (or much of it) engrossed in this marque!
Apols to the Marcos folks for thread drifting into Gilberns. Love the Marcos.
GS Cars had more than one Gilbern GT for use as a demonstrator - another later one was EDG 346C which featured in their adverts. This same car is also on the cover of a recent book.
The GT reg 7840 DF of Gray did indeed go on that United Ferries plane to France (I didn't know it was to 'holiday' at Le Mans, but that certainly makes sense now, but rumour had it that there were 3 GTs there at this same time, hence the speculation of race inclusion.
The other known Gilbern there at the same time in France was that of Lyndon Sims, reg MEU 636 -
Sims had won the 1956 RAC in an Aston DB2 - both Gray's and Sims' Gilbern GTs were pictured trackside at Le Mans.
Back on topic and Marcos.
Jem had association in the later days with Gilbern as this 'Echo' newspaper snippet shows.
Moons ago I used to pass the works at Westbury regularly when returning from Sparkford or Frome in Somerset, once pulled in there to have a nose round in my Ginetta - that was fun!
Bob Walklett, Ginetta's MD got on well with Jem Marsh. Both had been friends from the early days and together it was they who set up the British Specialist Sports Cars Manufacturers' Association in 1966.
Later they disbanded it and became members of SMMT.
Both Jem and Bob became members of the Motor Sports Committee, which was then chaired by Marcus Chambers of Rootes' fame.
Meetings were said to have been very lively with Bob and Jem's exchanges, especially as the committee was of course dominated by the 'big boys', not small fry like Marcos and Ginetta.
piper said:
I am 6' 3, I had no problem fitting in. I owned two Mantara's not at the same time though, great cars, I enjoyed them both, took the first one to Le Mans in 2003
Looks like your old car is currently up for sale, seems a bit expensive ?https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1371160#&...
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