Here's a little wander down memory lane.
When I started the site I never considered saving my old pages, but since 1996, at least, someone did.
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine lets you see websites how they were and this is the earliest Marcos Homepage they have.
It was hosted on Compuserve then and I've taken the liberty of making the background grey (remember when everything on the web was grey?).
They didn't capture the linked pages or images, so the links are to current page and most of the images are much better quality than back then, but it gives you an idea what websites were like 'Wayback'!
The things I most noticed were :
Mark
to the Marcos Page - Welcome!Find out more about the works and privateer Marcos racing programs.
For 1997, I (with the design skills of Paul Wilson,a professional web page designer) will be revamping this page. Well, we can't let the factory page look better than this one, can we?
If any owners, race fans or affeciandos of the marque have any good photos, let me have them, as I'm planning to add a photo of the month section and my supply will soon run out!
1959 : Jem Marsh and Frank Costin designed and built the first racing Marcos. Like all early Marcos cars the chassis was wooden using techniques employed on the wartime Mosquito bomber.
1961 - 1962 : Revised versions of early race car (gullwing and roadster). Designed by Dennis Adams.
1963 : Earls Court Motor Show - Adams designed GT unveiled. At only 43 inches in height it remains one of the lowest production cars ever built.
Below : Background Gullwing c. 1961. Middle Fastback C.1962 Foreground 1800 GT c. 1965
The basic design of today's cars is essentially the same as the 1963 car.
1966 : Mini Marcos was the only British car to finish at Le Mans.
1969 : Steel replaced wood in the chassis construction and the 3 litre Marcos arrived on the scene.
1970 - 71 : Production problems with the 4 seater Mantis, relocation costs and problems with exporting cars to the US combined to drive Marcos out of business, but Jem Marsh continued to support cars until...
Below : Volvo 3 litre Marcos - The Volvo engine was adopted as the Federal anti-pollution equipment was already fitted.
1976 : Jem Marsh reacquired rights to Marcos name and cars, but waited for the right time to relaunch the marque.
1981 : Marcos V6 coupe relaunched in component form.
1984 : Rover V8 equipped Mantula released.
1986 : Mantula Spyder (convertible) released.
1991 : The Mini Marcos is relaunched in Mk V form.
1992 : Marcos returned as a full scale manufacturer with the release of the Mantara. A type approved car, taking advantage of limited production type approval regulations.
Below : Mantara Spyder c. 1992.
1993 : Marcos unveiled GT Le Mans cars and plans to run the cars in the British GT series and, later, in the Le Mans 24 hour race.
1994 : Marcos LM 500s raced in the BRDC GT series, taking a number of class and outright wins.
1995 : Marcos unveiled the LM 600, which went on to win the BRDC GT championship in the hands of Chris Hodgetts and raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The following is a brief description of the cars produced under the Marcos name to date.
Above : The one and only LM600 road car as seen at Silverstone for the BRDC series opener.
Click here for a calendar of Marcos related events in 1996.
My car is a 3 litre V6 Ford Essex engined, steel chassised Marcos, built at Bradford-Upon-Avon, Wiltshire in 1969 and one of the earliest steel chassised cars.
Many thanks to Konrad Wolosz (now resident in Switzerland) for this shot of CLE 100H just after it was sprayed red. I hope to put the other pictures he sent me here soon.
Compare the technical specs of various models
Marcos Cars : Chris Marsh, Marcos Cars, 153/154 West Wilts Trading Estate, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 4JN : Tel 01373 864097
Club Marcos International : Isobel Chivers, The Spinney, Littleworth Lane, Whitley, Melksham, Wilts SN12 8RE : Tel 01225 707815
Marcos Owners Club : Colin Feyerabend, 51 London Lane, Bromley, Kent, BR1 4HB : Tel 0181 460 3511 or E-mail to Roger Young (MOC Chairman)
Mini Marcos Owners Club : Roger Garland, 28 Meadow Road, Claines, Worcs, WR3 7PP, Tel: 01905 458533 or E-mail to Richard Porter
Canadian Marcos Owners Club : Dave McCubbin, 21 Brock St. N, Dundas, Ontario, Canada.
Swiss Marcos Owners Club : Bruno Meier, Oberdorf 201, CH5444, Kuenten, Switzerland.
Swedish Marcos Owners Club : Per Haegermark, Hovosvagen 5, S430 80 Hovas, Sweden.
Rory MacMath (Marcos spares and parts) : 01225 776354 (Fax 01225 760292)
David Methley, Marcos Heritage Spares, Snayles Lynch Farm, Farnham, Surrey 02152 723999 (Fax 01252 719017)
Steve Forster - Driver of the LM500 in the BRDC championship and original owner of the yellow LM500 Spyder which featured in the press.
Cynthia's Page - A real live Marcos owner!
Ian's Page - A Marcos enthusiast's page.
The semi-official FIA Global GT Endurance Series page - Very good.
Sportscar World - Specialises in covering the British GT series and does so very well!
Scions Of Lucas - Part of Team.Net
A great motoring (and other subjects) links page - Listed by manufacturer
Le Mans 24 Hours race information
TVR Car Club - A similar kind of car
Electronic Chariot - An online bookshop and article source
Want to know more? Check the Book List
Email me at work or on my Compuserve account with comments or for a chat.
