KITS AND PIECES
IN NOVEMBER, PATRICK WROTE ABOUT THE HER ON, A NEW ZEALAND–DESIGNED CAR WITH A FIBRE GLASS MONOCOQUE . THIS MONTH, HE HAS THE PLEASURE OF SEEING A BRITISH-DESIGNED CAR STILL WITH AM ONOCOQUE CHASSIS BUT BUILT WITH A SLIGHTLY OLDER TECHNOLOGY
T he name ‘Marcos’ came from a partnership between Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. Jem wanted a car that was fast on the track, so Frank used skills that he had learned while working on the de Havilland Mosquito — a World War II fighter bomber — to design a car that did just that. In that era, the general ‘go faster’ rule was to add more power and remove weight. Aeroplanes used the same principles, plus one more rule that Frank was very aware of: less drag equals more speed.
Ugly Duckling
Plywood is stronger than steel for its weight, easy to work with, affordable, and readily obtainable. So Frank designed a very light and rigid chassis constructed purely of exterior-grade plywood, with a steel subframe to hold the engine and front suspension. From 1959 to 1961, Jem and Frank produced a handful of racing cars that were very successful on the track, and appreciated by such drivers as Jackie Stewart and Jackie Oliver. The first car produced looked vaguely like a cross between a frog-eye Sprite and an MG,
with a roof that appeared to have been added as an afterthought. Officially known as the ‘Xylon’, it was known by most as the ‘Ugly Duckling’.
Jem was in the business of building cars, and knew that another rule — win on Sunday and sell on Monday — was not going to work with the Ugly Duckling. While its drivers loved the way it helped them to get podium finishes, the public didn’t like its looks at all.
Immediate success
Frank, having done what Jem had asked him, was not interested in making a nice-looking road car that placed more emphasis on form than function, and he left the company in 1961. After his departure, Dennis and Peter Adams were commissioned to simplify the construction technique and improve the car’s looks.
The brothers did quite a bit to improve the Xylon, and created a much nicer variant called the ‘Luton Gullwing’, but it was still difficult to sell. During 1963, they decided to design a totally new car, which was called the ‘Marcos GT’, powered by a Volvo 1800 engine. It became an immediate success when launched at the Earls Court Racing Car Show in October the following year.
The Marcos GT had a very low profile, at 43 inches (1092mm). This made getting in and out of it difficult, but, fortunately, it was designed to accommodate Jem’s 1.93m frame. They achieved this by reclining and fixing the seat in place, as per Formula 1 cars of the day. To cater to people of varying heights, the pedals were adjusted backwards and forwards by turning a knob on the dashboard.
The chassis was made using about 400 different pieces of waterproof plywood of various thicknesses. These pieces were glued together in steel jigs, which were removed after the glue had set. Once the chassis had been released from the jigs, the entire underside was coated in fibreglass to further protect it against water and stone chips, and then bonded to the beautiful fibreglass body. Its looks were, in my opinion, more purposeful than its main competition, the Jaguar E-type, which was more pretty than sporty.
Major revision
The Marcos GT sold very well. However, its plywood construction was labour intensive, and was not really suited for high-volume production. Therefore, in 1969, Jem once again approached the Adams brothers and commissioned them to design a tubular-steel spaceframe chassis. The wooden chassis was discontinued later that year.
During its long production run, the car had a variety of engines and subtle changes to its styling. Most of the GTS were sold in kit form until 1993, with a short break in the 1970s, as Marcos was declared bankrupt! During 1993, it went through a major revision to its styling, and although bits of its 1963 design were still evident, it was soon a very different car.
Marcos ceased production in 2007.
Something different
The car featured belongs to Jeff Fagg. He bought it in 2004, while he was working in the Netherlands as part of his OE. It was a six-year stopover, with Jeff always intending to bring a car back to New Zealand that was different. He knew that he would never be able to afford an E-type or a Ferrari GTO, but he liked the exotic-looking cars of their era. He spent some time on the Auto Trader and ebay websites, and discovered examples of the Marcos and the Ginetta. Of the two, the Marcos was more affordable. Interestingly, when the Marcos was new, it sold for slightly more than the E-type.
Still, finding a good Marcos for sale was like looking for a good needle in a very large haystack. The few
he found online had a questionable service histories. He saw one in the Netherlands that was part way through a restoration, but it still had a long way to go, and as Jeff was not confident in his ability to finish it, he decided to let it pass. Still, after seeing the Marcos GT in the metal, he definitely wanted one.
After about six months of hunting, he found this car on ebay, located in Poole, England. Its owner was moving and did not want to take the car with him. As it appeared to tick all the right boxes, Jeff bought it, hoping that he had not bought a liability. With a little trepidation, Jeff and a friend drove the 700km to Poole with the intention that his friend would drive it back — an excellent test of its reliability.
Jeff would have been happy to have bought any Marcos GT, but was especially excited about this one, as it had the plywood chassis with the Ford Essex 3.0-litre V6 set well back in the engine bay. Only about a 100 cars were produced in this configuration before production switched to the steel chassis.
This 1969 model had most likely originally been sold in kit form. For Marcos, ‘ kit form’ meant anything from a car fully upholstered with all the gauges and wiring in place but minus the wheels and engines — which were delivered in a separate box — to the alternative, which was the builder getting a ground-up kit, with most of the parts required packed individually in different boxes. By selling the cars in kit form, it was possible to avoid some taxes that were added to driveable cars. Interestingly, the gentleman who had paid his £100 deposit on this car asked for his money back, as it had taken too long to build. Car number 3/5356 was subsequently fully assembled by a third party, before being sold to a Mr Pieto Nardini. Coincidentally, this Marcos was manufactured the same year that Jeff was born.
Bound for New Zealand
During its long production run, the car had a variety of engines and subtle changes to its styling. Most of the GTS were sold in kit form until 1993, with a short break in the 1970s, as Marcos was declared bankrupt!
Jeff is the third owner of the car, and, before beginning the journey back to the Netherlands, he took it to Marcos Heritage Engineering for inspection. The team there put the car on a hoist and deemed the wooden chassis to be in excellent condition. Even better, should Jeff seriously damage
the car on the way home, it could provide a completely new chassis. Fortunately, such an eventuality never happened, and the Marcos made it safely back to the Netherlands.
Jeff and his family returned home to the Hutt Valley in 2005, and the Marcos came with them. Even before he’d purchased it, Jeff had been in contact with Land Transport New Zealand to make sure it could be imported into New Zealand. Having gone through a similar process in the Netherlands, he knew that there were bound be some issues getting compliance in New Zealand. Ken Mcadam at the Wellington Compliance Centre in Lower Hutt was given the job of making the car compliant with the New Zealand design rules. The good news is that there was no issue with the plywood chassis, but as Ken was not sure about the strength of the plywood around the seatbelt mounts, a steel bar was put in place for added insurance. The seatbelts that came standard in this Marcos were of the retractable type, an optional extra for the 1969 year. Apart from the bits and pieces that required attention in keeping with a car of this age, the only other major alteration was the fitting of a high-mounted brake light on the back of the car.
Having owned it for 14 years, Jeff knows that a restoration will be needed at some stage in the future, but, for now, it is too much fun to take off the road. He likes the heritage aspects of the car and is still surprised at how many heads it turns when he is out driving it. One of the highlights was on December 13, 2009, when Jeff drove it up to and around Hampton Downs to meet with other Marcos owners for the 50-year celebrations of the Marcos marque.