The RARE Wood Sports Car That Proved Everyone Wrong - The Marcos GT

In this Rare Cars documentary, we are going over the story of what is quite possibly one of the most fascinating cars you have never heard of - the wooden framed wonder as I like to call it, the Marcos GT, this car is one of the most underrated English sports cars ever produced and it spawned an impressive lineup of future models including the Mantara, Mantula, Mantaray and many more - all stemming from its initial plywood chassis back in the early 60s.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy nearly 20 minutes of detailed history on the Marcos GT and its sister car.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:08 Setting The Stage Post WW2
2:00 Their First Wood Production Race Car
3:30 Redesigning The Race Cars
4:22 The Marcos GT & Specs
7:51 New Exciting Engine Options
9:35 Expansion Brings Disaster For Marcos
10:38 The Bankruptcy & Revival
11:52 The First New Model - The Mantula
13:50 The Marcos Martina
14:25 The Marcos Mantara and LM400/LM500
16:30 The Unraveling Begins

*Note, we are not historians. If you see an error in our research, please mention it in the comments!

Music Used:

Infraction - TV Show 2021
Infraction - Patience
Infraction - Big Sky
Infraction - The Road
Infraction - Beautiful Wonder
Infraction - Story
Infraction - Image
Infraction - Moments Passed

[rarecars]

3 quick things with this video: 1, Let me know if you like the background music or not, it is the first time I have tried it! 2. Technically before the Xylon there was one experimental race car they built beforehand - if you want to hear more about that search up "Marcos Flying Splinter". 3, The English pronounce the name the way I did in the video, most of us Americans pronounce it differently - I don't know who is right lol. Anyway, cheers - enjoy the video!🤘

[richardfalconer]

Frank Costin only worked for de Havilland after the war . During the war he worked for General Aircraft. The fuselage of the Mosquito was a true monocoque comprising a balsa core to plywood skins. The only parts of the Marcos which comprises such a sandwich were the footwell floors but I’m afraid they used fibreboard rather than balsa as a core .The essential item the Marcos had in common with the Mosquito was the use of Aerolite two part waterproof glue. I have rebuilt 6 wooden Marcoses and made the replacement chassis for the US based orange 1600 which pops up on the internet. Peter and Denis Adams never receive enough credit for their contribution.

[grahambell]

Nice to see a history of Marcos. Just a point regarding the engine in the original Marcos. Yes, it did originate from the Ford Anglia 105E, with the 997cc version only making 39bhp in standard form. However, as it was going to be used for racing Marcos knew they needed a tuned version. And they knew just where to get one because Frank Costin of Marcos had a brother called Mike Costin, and along with a bloke called Keith Duckworth, Mike Costin had started a small engine tuning company under the name of Cosworth...

[adamweston]

My grandfather was killed in a mosquito in WW2 six weeks before my father was born, his story is on the Carribbean aircrew WW2 website and his name was PILOT OFFICER H.F. WESTON.

[JerryCalvert-xu]

Funny, I'm currently studying a book from 1913 that is teaching me how to build a car with a wooden chassis. Ash wood to be exact. The techniques back then and the way they describe everything is by far superior to anything I've ever seen in today's world and I've been a mechanic and classic car restorer for about 30 years and come from a long line of mechanics, race car drivers and body men on both sides.

Iron or steels is also used, but the main material is of wood. If done correctly it's very strong, durable and long lasting stuff. Can actually last for hundreds of years and that's a real live fact. It's also cheap, abundant and much easier to shape and fabricate and work with.

Anyway. Cheers!

[judgedread-qt]

Jem Marsh was 6' 4", I saw him back in '88 on the Marcos stand at a car show, yep a tall guy!

[tedecker]

I got a chance to drive a Marcos that belonged to the husband of my mom’s friend. I took one of my friends along, we were both in our early 20s, and we got a flat tire. I’m sure he almost had a heart attack ack when he got a “ hello, this is Ted” phone call. It was all good after he explained how to get the spare out. Don’t remember exactly ( over 50 years ago) but I think you had to put a crank through the rear bulkhead to lower it. Great handling fun car!

[BobGeogeo]

Thanks for the very informative video. One thing about the Mosquito during war time was that wood construction meant people and facilities could make airplanes where they had recently made furniture and the like. So it increased the production base for airplanes instead of fighting for metal work resources with other planes.

[beatglauser]

I am still amazed how many small car companies existed in the UK. Unfortunately they are now nearly all history.
The Marcos may have been among the best.

[larrynile]

In 1964-65, in an after-school job, I worked at High Performance Cars in Waltham MA, a suburb of Boston. As an importer, they had acquired what became the "Refrigerator-White" Road & Track test car.
I got to drive it ~ 150 ft., from in front of the dealership to the back lot.
I peaked way too early!

[kittonsmitton]

My uncle worked for Marcos in the early sixty's, the factory visits were fun, the scent of the Oak frame, also the seats were fixed onto the frame, the pedals could be moved forward or backward on a screw thread.
My favourite was the Mini Marcos, the customer could bring in a Mini, the lads at the factory would supe up the engine, tune the suspension and drop a highly modified shell on to the wooden frame.
These Mini Marcos were super light very fast and highly maneuverable, great fun.

[soonerlon]

FYI - the semi independent rear end set up you were talking about on the 1800GT is called "de Dion" (pronounced day dee-on). It was a great alternative to all wheel independent suspension car Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo has de Dion cars and even Ferrari tried it once on their F-1 cars.

[beaudidlyno]

My dad worked for Marcos during the wooden chassis era. He was in the design department making models. Unfortunately, I've not found a picture of him at Marcos, yet...

[aaronleverton]

You mention them taking 7th in class at Le Mans, but completely skipped over Le Mans 1966. Sure, it was Ford vs Ferrari at the front of the grid, but after 24 hours of racing a privateer French team crossed the finish line in their Mini Marcos in 15th and last place, the only British car that did not DNF that year.

[RipRoaringGarage]

Friend of mine has a 4.6 Modular Ford powered Marcos. When he first brought it to the car show, he would chuckle how nobody knew what it was, and he would say all kinds of silly stories, that its a Ford prototype.

Until I showed up, jaw dropped asking him, if it was a real Marcos. Apparently I was the only one he met that heard of this make. Very cool car in person. Much cooler than photos do it justice.

[mgguyvintagevehicles]

Great video, I love how much detail you get into. Keep up the great work.

[Curtis]

What a beautiful story of automotive history! Thanks for your hard work and effort in creating this.

[John_Mack]

The "good" thing about wood is that it is flexible. The "bad" thing about wood is that it is flexible!

[mrknoklene]

It started out looking E-type ish and ended up looking Viper ish, cool cars

[andrewsimpson]

Mike Costin was also the 'Cos' in Cosworth.