hmmmmm why is it that when we do a car show ie supercar sunday gaydon it always seems that as a marque :MARCOS is always put right out of the way of other car
manufactures ie %*%, Ultima, and Jaguar etc etc, it may have been down to a specific request on grass parking BUT why do we always end up in the bargain
basement area of any car show? ie next to Caterham it seems (sorry caterham owners but these are mainly Q reg kit cars!!) this is very sole destroying as i am
sure you will agree most of our cars would hold there own against Lambo's %*%'s etc. And the LM600 attracted alot of attention and a %*% Sagaris won
supercar of the show!!! WHY? it was nothing special and i think because the Marcos cars where out of sight out of mind (as usual) we did not get a look in!
cmon guys who organise these stands, ensure we are up there with the most exotic car manufacturers bloody Ferrari etc we are British so sod them lets have the
best places to exhibit our cars! NEC classic will be a good event whatever place we have but i will not bother with any future car shows as it always seems we
are there just too fill a space! I know it seems i am letting off lots of steam etc, BUT i love Marcos and we deserve better treatment!
car shows
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 boycey |
car shows |
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Posts: 237 Tue, 30-Jun-2009 19:13 |
Last Edited By: boycey Tue, 30-Jun-2009 19:23.
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jon brookes |
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Posts: 131 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 06:43 |
Boycey i hope this is just you letting off steam but please don't give up
Let me tell you why. First most people call the Marcos a Kit Car which means unless we get out there with our supercars this will not change and we will not be given a top slot. I have the contacts and experience to change this but will not happen overnight. I have had 2 emails about Sunday, one from HMC Gaydon Quote: My colleague who ran SCS was pleased to see such a good club stand and display of Marcos. A good friend from my days with Porsche Sean who is club chairman said in his email quote: It was good to see you on Sunday and well done for putting a good display together. Something else happened on Sunday which has never, never, never, never, never happened before, talking to Sean and telling him what my plans where for the MOC asked if we would like to join them at some events and would use the Porsche club clout to get us some sponsorship. So if you want to be along side the worlds best supercars I'm going to need you and everyone else to give me support at shows. Boycey the BIG LM was the best Supercar there on Sunday. Not only my opinion. |
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Mike009 Gardner |
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Posts: 341 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 09:53 Junior mechanic |
For what it`s worth I agree with both of you. Firstly with boycey as I too get really pissed of with morons who insist on calling Marcos " kit cars"
, I`m regularly putting them right at shows with the Bears. Jem would have a fit !!
When you consider the accollades that Marcos received in the heady days of the 60`s for their style and performance , it really grates to see mass produced , common as muck cars getting all the attention. On the other hand , we all need to support Jon in his clearly ambitious drive to get our cars the credit they deserve . I think part of the problem is a lot of so called "experts" that run some of these shows know jack !*$+ about Marcos other than damn silly "are they still made of wood ?" questions. I feel like saying yes , and Cuprinol cheeper than waxoyle and paint and the woodworm keeps me company on long journeys 
Will that`s got that off my chest too !
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bmarti |
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Posts: 43 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 11:55 |
Look here chaps,i know how you all feel,but and heres the thing,MARCOS, are exclusive how often do you see one about ,this year is the time to get out there
and SHOW, Ferrari,s are more common, porkys are many and t;;;s are nearly as common, with Boyceys car it should have been on a raised dias, but other than that
,we had a good site if a liitle out of the way, Incidentally i recently had a liitle problem on my car sorted by a chap who worked for Meridian who are the
Ferrari agents in this area and who has now set up on his own ,brilliant chap. He was very impressed by the car when he took it for a five mile test i mean
really impressed, So we need to go and show the cars. Still i and my nephew had a good day at Gaydon,Thanks John.
Last Edited By: bmarti Wed, 1-Jul-2009 12:05.
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Martyn123 |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 133 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 16:43 |
And rest assured when my special is completed I will be out there with you supporting the marque,
Regards, Martyn....... |
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spyder |
Re; Status | #5 | ||
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Posts: 243 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 20:04 |
A glimmer of light from an ex @@$ owner and I quote
"I didnt't realise you owned that Marcos. I have always loved them, its what all @@$ owners secretly aspire too" Nuff said |
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 martineztop |
#6 | |||
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Posts: 1315 Wed, 1-Jul-2009 20:08 Chief mechanic |
I think it's good to air this here, after all the hard work that goes into keeping these rare cars on the road I do feel we get a bum deal.
Many thanks to John for his hard work in raising our profile, but maybe we need to expand what we do on the stand even more. Perhaps we could have a History Display showing Marcos throughout the past 50 years and educate the masses. We all know about the heritage Marcos has, but most people do think 'ah a kitcar', doesn't bother me as mine is, but the kits were a fill-in when times were hard, Trevors don't get that and that's how they started ! Many thanks to Boysey for bringing the 600 down last sunday, it was the best car there and attracted loads of attention, I also heard them announce how good our stand was over the tannoy system and advised visitors not to miss it. But it's up to us innit, do we resign ouselves to remain obscure or push out our chests and tell it how it is ? and it's good too when magazines like PPC refer to Marcos as 'the thinking mans trevor' We aught to try and see if we can get some TV coverage for Presscot, anyone know anybody in the 'biz' ? |
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steviec |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 4 Thu, 2-Jul-2009 13:53 |
I know it's a long time ago - but quite often opinions and knowledge of marques are passed on. My initial contact with Marcos was through the original(?)
kit car magazine published and edited by Peter Filby in the late 70's. At that time the Marcos club meet was at the Donnington loop and all marques of
kitcars and specials were invited and welcome - at that time I was there with the Piper Club, another small historical marque that gets tarred with the kit car
brush.
Also, at that time trevors and Marcos and others were "home assembled, or finished, as kits to avoid purchase tax. Jem did also sell the Marcos at various times as a kit, al be it that nearly everything was newly provided by Marcos, except the engine and box, and maybe some minor mechanicals and suspension components, and then there was the Martina..... I agree that generally the Marque is a genuine first class sports car, and some models are supercars in comparison to other vehicles of similar age (probably not so my 125BHP 1991 2 litre Mantula) but it's going to be difficult to get away from the history - then again if Trevor has done it -it's possible StevieCee |
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boycey |
shows | #8 | ||
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Posts: 241 Thu, 2-Jul-2009 13:54 |
Jon what you did and what you do is spot on!! no disrespect for what you do, just that Richard P comments kind of brought it home when we attend these shows ie
we always seem to be put with kit cars etc etc and at one point almost blocked us from public view!. Ferrari etc will always get the best positions i know, as
lets face it are more pedigree than Marcos etc, but just to get along side other quality marques and not be always tucked away, another eg le man classic our
display was in a dusty manky car park!. I am pleased eveyone liked the LM600 i do not expect it to be the star attraction of any shows! just when you see dirty
unloved lambos in nice concrete parking areas and then out loved cars shoved out the way does annoy me but keep up the good work Jon!
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Martyn123 |
#9 | |||
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Posts: 134 Thu, 2-Jul-2009 21:04 |
Is it not the traditional British spirit that we always support the underdog and never really expect to win anything, i.e Marcos cars doing LeMans on a
shoestring and our relatively cheap sport cars knocking spots off the competition, Marcos going bump several times over and more comebacks than ever thought
possible.
One of the special appeals of the marque to me is apart from the timeless style of the Mantula is that most people have never heard of them and their uniqueness. If they were more refined such as your Aston/Ferrari/Lambo/Porsche/Lotus etc more "suits" would buy them, they would then be seen daily and then they would loose their wow factor. So perhaps people not knowing the full story and pushing us to the side out of ignorance may not be such a bad thing, Martyn.......... |
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tewitt |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 54 Fri, 3-Jul-2009 10:05 |
Lots of marcos were built from kits, doesn't make them bad cars-lots of ultimas were to. All marcos are made with many plundered parts from major
manufacturers no matter who screwed them together-it's the nature of the beast-accept it. Small manufacturers cannot afford to spend huge amounts of cash
developing parts and it's what they do with them that counts-I own a merlin, it's a kit,I play with it, it's great fun to drive, that's all
it's ment to be- I also have a rochdale olympic, it is a kit-or is it now a classic sixties sports coupe?-I don't care. My martina has cortina
uprights, mantulas have triumph, mantaras have sierra does it matter? Ask yourself this-If I take a factory shell and chassis and build up my own car then buy
a factory built car strip it down totally and then build it up identically to my first car, should one be the scourge of the performance car world and the
other held up on a pedestal? Thing about our marcos is that people who know cars respect the marque and that's enough for me, people who don't know
cars see Boycey's car go wow and ask questions, improving the marques status and profile and he has only got to be praised for it. That's my rant for
the morning(can't you tell I've had a busy night at the firestation!)
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martineztop |
#11 | |||
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Posts: 1321 Fri, 3-Jul-2009 20:45 Chief mechanic |
I don't think any of us are arguing here are we, is it half empty or half full ? but it will do us no harm to raise our profile to that of Classic British
Sportscar, kit built or not.
I'm prepared to put some work into it but don't have all the stuff, so who's got some good photos to donate for a display area on the history of Marcos from the early days up to the last failed attempt ? pm me please with any help rgds, Martin |
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boycey |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 242 Sun, 5-Jul-2009 18:44 |
 well seeing as i started this topic i can email
you some Lm600 pics just pm an email address!
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Mike009 Gardner |
#13 | |||
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Posts: 343 Mon, 6-Jul-2009 12:10 Junior mechanic |
Now chap`s , this really has set the emotions on fire hasn`t it ? It`s not the component sharing that gives the stigma ( if it is one) , just about every car
maker does it and has done since the earliest days. Is a big Healy not a proper sports car because it`s got a 3 litre Austin truck engine in it ? NO . Is an
Aston Martin not a proper car because it`s got Ford switchgear ? NO or built on an old XJS floor pan as per the gourgeous DB7 ? NO . Shall I go on ?
So a Marcos is a proper sports car no matter how many bitsa cars are in it. Just wish the ill informed would give it more credibility and it`s significance as an early 60`s design and performance icon . It will never be common place as not enough made and never will be so the plebs won`t get one which is fine by me as the exclusivity and `total difference` from anything else is half the appeal to me. Don`t we all just love the admiring glances and comments from Joe public ? It`s just the show and magazine media types that seem to miss the point . Case in point - Week before last we were on holiday in Poole in Dorset. They have a great "themed" classic car night every Friday during the summer when they shut off the quayside road and fill it with cars. A great scene on a summers night if your down that way with all the pubs and bistros in full swing, live music, posh yachts in harbour et al. It was really for pre 1983 British Classics that night but on the basis that the Marcos is a British Classic and the Mantara isn`t much different to a pre 80`s car in design , I blagged my way in despite a marshall asking " is it a replica" ? moron ! Guess who got all the looks as we cruised along the quay to park up , and drew a crowd with cameras as soon as we stopped ? Tee Hee ! |
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tewitt |
#14 | |||
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Posts: 56 Wed, 8-Jul-2009 21:20 |
 When I became interested in cars(mid 70's) there
were some shocking kits about, dangerous and ugly,which is sad after some excellent late fifties and sixties cars. Lot of rubbish in the eighties to-I
won't go into details and examples as there are plenty of articles on the subject-but there have been some fantastic kits built by some very talented
engineers at home, real hard workers who enjoy the act of building the car as much as, if not more than, the admiring glances whilst pulling into the pub car
park on a summers afternoon. It's a bit of a irritation to me when people turn there noses up at kits or the more common classics at car shows just
because they were built or restored by someone at home- often these people with negative comments know nothing of the effort put into the cars ( they soon move
on if you ask then about their car!). Let's not turn into the $*@ owners club- there are many chimaera owners feeling rejection because they don't have
the latest, fastest car- the marcos owners I've met are one of the reasons I chose my car. ps isn't she a beauty(it's a ferrari replica!!)!
Last Edited By: tewitt Wed, 8-Jul-2009 21:24.
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martineztop |
#15 | |||
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Posts: 1332 Thu, 9-Jul-2009 10:01 Chief mechanic |
not going to argue with you matey, I've seen some shocking kits around and they are mainly responsible for all the bad press in the first place.
I've had a few owners of factory built Marcos' who say that the work done by individual builders was often far superior to some of the Friday afternoon jobs produced by the factory, lets face it, it really should be if you know what you are doing and take your time to do it right. The original Mantara/Martina molds weren't that good I recently saw a Martina V8 from Scotland and couldn't fault it, the workmanship was excellent, but going back to the original point of this topic, we do seem to get shoved up the corner, whereas we should be up front with the best, and the fact that it was built at home or at the factory is irrelevant, if it's a good car then it;s a good car and if it's a Marcos it's a great car. What gets me is when someone asks if it's a kit because they think it must be a copy of something exotic. |
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boycey |
#16 | |||
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Posts: 247 Fri, 10-Jul-2009 14:03 |
Martin .................... spot on!
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MarcosGazza |
#17 | |||
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Posts: 184 Tue, 14-Jul-2009 18:32 |
The Martina V8 In question? the one with the digital gauges on it in Blue at stoneleigh by any chance? That was top notch indeed! got loads of piccies at the
show and trying to get in touch with the gentleman to invite him into the fold! I did send an email.
Gazza
Come & Visit the Facebook site! 'Marcos Cars' currently with over 50 members worldwide! an exclusive group for the exclusive marque!
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martineztop |
#18 | |||
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Posts: 1343 Tue, 14-Jul-2009 20:04 Chief mechanic |
I think he's from north of the border
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tewitt |
#19 | |||
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Posts: 57 Wed, 15-Jul-2009 09:31 |
andybrennan?
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martineztop |
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Posts: 1346 Wed, 15-Jul-2009 21:22 Chief mechanic |
it could be, he's been building one for a few years now, missed him when I went to look at it
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