David's 1967 Marcos

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=90 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="043b85a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Sunday Morning Shady Grove Cruise-In</B><B>    </B><B> |    </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sunday Morning Shady Grove CruiseIn"><B>home</B></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>David's 1967 Marcos</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>David Mensh's 1967 Marcos</B></I><I><B> </B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>   <IMG SRC="3b855000.jpg" border=0 width="341" height="256" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <IMG SRC="3ba55000.jpg" border=0 width="341" height="256" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>      <IMG SRC="3c01d960.jpg" border=0 width="541" height="406" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>MARCOS-The Great British Sports Car! </B></div> <div> <B>The MAR in Marcos is for Jem Marsh, avid sports car racer and woodworker. </B></div> <div> <B>The COS in Marcos is for Frank Costin, famous aeronautical engineer, brother of Mike Costin of Cosworth Race Engine fame, designer of the Lotus 11chassis and body, and most famous for his part in the design of the DeHavaland Mosquito wooden bomber of WWII, considered the 3rd greatest bomber of all time behind the Stealth and B-52. The unusual but unique advantage of the Mosquito was that the structure was made entirely of wood! During WWII, the demand for steel was high but the raw materials and manufacturing facilities could not keep up with this demand. Costin identified this problem and designed a bomber that would be lighter, stronger and faster than anything previously used in the campaign by using an easily obtainable and abundant resource, wood. Component pieces could be farmed out to allied lumber yards and millwork shops all over the world and then sent to England for assembly. The Mosquito was feared by the Germans due to the fact that they could fly at 500 MPH only 10 feet off the ground therefore allowing the British to sneak up on the enemy tank and ground forces before they could react. By the time the Germans did react, the high strength to weight ratio of the Mosquito allowed it to pull up out of trouble at unbelievable G-Forces and out of range at never before heard of speeds. </B></div> <div> <B>Both Jem Marsh and Frank Costin loved sports cars, loved racing and loved wood. As all good British stories go, in 1959 they sealed their partnership to build a top flight race car out of wood, over a tall pint. Their first car was a poorly proportioned gullwing, tall in the cockpit to accommodate Jem Marsh's 6'4" frame, and called the "Ugly Duckling" and for a good reason! The chassis was made entirely of triangulated aviation grade/insect treated plywood from which a Triumph front suspension and a De Dion rear suspension were hung. The body was made of fiberglass and the motor was a Ford 105E. The car was successfully campaigned on race courses around Europe and featured a young Jackie Stewart in his first ride. A total of 6 of these cars were built. </B></div> <div> <B>The Gullwing was refined in 1961-1962 with more pleasing rounded lines and a 1.1 liter engine. All 13 of these cars were successfully raced. The wooden chassis proved to be a super light and super strong combination on the track with no failures due to the chassis. </B></div> <div> <B>In 1963, the chassis, based on a sheet of 4' x 8' plywood with it's 383 pieces of Mahogany/Balsa/Spruce composite held together with Aerolite (earliest Epoxy compound) and staples, would be coupled to a new and timeless fiberglass body design by the famous British car designers, the Adams brothers. This beautifully modern and flowing body design, would stay relatively unchanged from introduction in 1963 until 2001. The early cars were equipped with a B18 inline 4 cylinder Volvo engine and by 1966 the Marcos converted to an English Ford 1500 engine. When the Kent X-Flow 1600 engine appeared, it's flexibility for improvement was immediately identified by Marcos and were installed into the GT with a new Lotus Cortina Rear axel and suspension in late 1967. Fully dressed and gassed, the Marcos tips the scales at 1450 lbs., has 4" of ground clearance and is only 43" tall. The Marcos ride experience, laid against a fixed seat back with butt and legs on the floor of the chassis, is as close to a single seat race car as any car in the world. The driving position is unbelievably comfortable due to the patented Marcos adjustable pedal assembly where a turn of a hand wheel on the dashboard moves the pedal cluster closer or further from the driver. The wooden chassis cars, of which approximately 300 were made and 6 reside in the United Sates, would cease production in 1969 when the cost of the wood became too expensive and the cost of labor to produce one chassis in a 2 week period, was to long of a duration. In it's place, a heavier steel chassis was designed that would fit the existing body and interior components, but a single man could build one in a few days. </B></div> <div> <B>After an article on Marcos in Playboy Magazine in 1967, there was a flood of inquiries to the factory about importing cars to the US. Importation of Marcos into Canada would prove an easier task than entering the U.S. due to the lack of DOT and EPA regulations in Canada. Between 1970-1971, Marcos started fitting Volvo 1800 in-line 6 cylinder engines into the cars. As these Volvo engines were already U.S. EPA compliant, Jem Marsh set up East and West Coast brokers to import the cars for sale. </B></div> <div> <B>In 1971, Marcos introduced it's first 2+2 model called the Mantis. Although only a handful of were ever made, the Mantis 2+2 was famous for its' cameo appearance as the space age car the villains drove in the classic movie "A Clockwork Orange". </B></div> <div> <B>By 1972, the Government had delayed and often derailed importation of the Marcos to the U.S. and eventually this hardship, along with escalating production costs, put Marcos into receivership. It took until 1984 until Jem Marsh could muster the backing to revive the manqué. Jem decided to fit the Marcos with the all aluminum Rover V8 engine and creature comforts such as air-conditioning, power steering and brakes, power windows, power sunroof and convertible tops. The 1990's saw Ford powered V6 and V8 engines up to 300 hp and in 2000, Marcos was bought out by the mega Dutch engineering and racing firm, Eurotech. The total cars built from 1992 through 2001 was 239. Eurotech produced a limited number of production chassis, engines and bodies that were shipped to England for assembly and sales. Eurotech produced the LM 500 and LM 600 GT race cars with 600 hp 5.7 liter V8 Corvette engines that dominated GT circuits then and now, in Europe and North America. In 2002, a U.S. "dotcomer" named Tony Stelliga bought Marcos with the grand plan to create the supercar of the millennium, the TSO, that could meet low production specifications and be imported to the U.S. The Adams brothers classic body style was used as a basis of design, but ultimately placed on steroids to emulate a brave new world (Check out the "Top Gear" video of the Marcos TSO at </B><B>www.topgear.com/us/videos/more/marcos-tso</B><B>). By the time the TSO went into production in 2004 for expected deliveries to the States, the cost of the final product had increased from $80,000 to a whopping $160,000. All orders for the car were canceled and Tony decided to stop the bleeding and close the factory in 2007 with a mere 32 cars complete...all of which were auctioned off by the bank. </B></div> <div> <B>Today, Jem Marsh now in his 80's, is once again trying to rescue Marcos by putting together investors to buy back the name rights. As this is the 50th Anniversary of Marcos, it would super to bring back "The Great British Sports Car". </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My particular car: </B></div> <div> <B>1967 Marcos 1600 GT Wooden Chassis </B></div> <div> <B>Color - 2007 Daytona Blue Pearl Metallic (Nissan 350Z) with 2 black stripes </B></div> <div> <B>Kent Formula Ford Crossflow 1.6 liter, Mild road/rally Kent 234 Camshaft, 123 HP on the engine dyno, leaded gas additive </B></div> <div> <B>5 Speed Borg Warner T-9 transmission </B></div> <div> <B>10 gallon gas tank and 50 MPG </B></div> <div> <B>Walnut Burl interior with blue/black seats and door trim </B></div> <div> <B>Lucus electronics and pertronic electronic ignition. </B></div> <div> <B>Front suspension and brakes Triumph GT6 hung on steel cage subframe attached to wood chassis. </B></div> <div> <B>Daytona Chrome 13" x 5.5" 72 spoke wire wheels with 2 ear chrome knock-off nuts </B></div> <div> <B>Lotus Cortina Rear end and brakes. </B></div> <div> <B>Unequal length adjustable rear radius rods with panhard rod. </B></div> <div> <B>Wabasto Sunroof, perspex rear screen and hand sliding side windows </B></div> <div> <B>Started life as a right hand drive car in England on September 1, 1967 </B></div> <div> <B>Imported to Sweden in 1991 where it was converted to left hand drive. </B></div> <div> <B>I am the 4th owner from new and purchased the car in pieces and ready for restoration in Orebro Sweden in 2006. </B></div> <div> <B>I purchased all new front suspension and brake components in Sweden and had the rolling chassis and body assembled for the boat ride to the port of Baltimore. When I received the car, it looked as if it had been under water the entire trip here as everything was soaked inside and out! Wood chassis' don't like water or ants! </B></div> <div> <B>I completed the restoration of the Marcos in May of 2009 and now spend my time re-restoring all the little details and performing component upgrades to make the car a reliable touring vehicle to enjoy on weekends. </B></div> <div> <B>One of 8 Marcos on the East Coast, 22 Marcos in North America and 6 wooden chassis cars in the US</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>   </B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>