MIGHTY MARCOS/ MINI COMBO IS FOR REAL

I have just received my latest (August) edition of Diecast Collector and saw a review of the superb Matrix Mini PickUp with Mini Marcos bodyshell on page 16, and thought you would like the story of the actual car. You might be interested to know that there is a Le Mans connection too. William (known as Billy) Dulles was quite a character, with fingers in lots of pies. Sadly, Billy died earlier this year in America, where he had been living for quite a while. This is what Billy had to say about transporting a Mini Marcos shell on the back of his Mini pick-up. “I delivered the shell on the back of my Mini Pickup (pictured in Hyde Park) via Silver City Airlines. They operated Bristol Freighter Aircraft from Lydd in Kent to Le Touquet and, if you made the first flight of the morning, you could get to Paris in time for lunch. Whether you got back to London the same day depended on how long you took over lunch.” The reason why there is a Le Mans connection is because the car Billy took across to France was built up as a race car and competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race way back in 1966. Many years later, a French garage owner recreated the Mini Marcos on the back of a Mini pick-up. He took it to a Classic Le Mans and Matrix has also produced a model of this too. I do hope you find the above interesting and it’s always nice to find out the history of an actual car that a model is based on.

Ian Morton, email

ED Ooh, thanks Ian, that is most awesome. I did wonder, when we saw the model, if it was based on a real vehicle and it is absolutely brilliant, from my point of view, to hear about the Le Mans connection. I also happen to be a bit of a Mini maniac, so, this would make a great article – best I snaffle one of these beauties soon! Thank you so much for taking the time to send this in.