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!🤘
But you could, at least pronounce “Porsche” correctly - it’s PORsha. And why not cover the Mantis a little more thoroughly than mentioning its name. Thanks for the video!
The music is ok as I didn't notice it which is how you want it, don't let it become too loud as that becomes annoying, also de dion suspension is pronounced de deon.
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...
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.
Would it be more accurate to compare the Marcos chassis to the wing mainspar, as a stressed wooden box section? Of course, the Mosquito did not just turn up out of nowhere, DH had been building wooden aircraft from the beginning, some of these included the sandwich construction technique (Albatross). This continued after the war with the (partial) wooden fuselage of the Vampire. The original glue used in Mosquito construction was casein glue (based on a protein found in milk), then urea-formaldehyde, and finally resorcinol-formaldehyde. I have used urea-formaldehyde glues when cold molding double and triple, planked wooden boat hulls, a right royal pain in the a...
@@robertnicholson7733 Very interesting. The problem as always is being prepared to admit what you don’t know. When you consider that one of the most important aspects of the Mosquito was the glued joints it is surprising that none of the books including the Haynes manual make more than a passing mention of the glue , other than ‘Beetle glue ‘. I was unaware of how the two part glues developed. Cascein obviously worked - until it got to the tropics. I always warn Marcos repairers against Cascamite - the engine bay of a Marcos on a wet day makes a tropical climate seem quite balmy... The Mosquito spar is really a cantilevered laminated beam which is not a feature of the Marcos . Dare I suggest that that the Marcos comprises 3 parallel boxes transversed by the dash box at the front and axle/fuel tank boxing at the rear- and the whole lot braced by the fibreglass shell. The closest to it is the E Type which raises a few questions. Even if you disagree it’s a more obvious influence than the Lotus Elite. Anyway back to the tropics. When there were wing failures with the Mosquito in Burma, Geoffrey’s brother Hereward was sent to report on the problem and concluded that the problem was poor workmanship by a subcontractor which has always struck me as odd as de Havilland quality control was outstanding. Presumably the Mosquitos that persisted in the tropics long enough to make The Purple Plain with Gregory Peck and Maurice Denham used Aerolite. Well, ‘ You know how Sir Geoffrey saved the World ‘ !
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.
My grandfather Wilbur Staten who landed in Normandy in the first wave as a bazooka man also wrote for stars and stripes throughout the war and occupation and wrote an in depth article about your grandfather and the mosquitoe aircraft. He survived the war and fathered major general Kenneth E Staten, U.S. airforce who initiated the low observable stealth aircraft program for the United States.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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...
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!
I owned a Marcos with the Volvo B18B engine. The Laycock electric overdrive saved a lot of gas, The car gripped tenaciously, couldn't be rolled, and accelerated great. Genuine knock-off wire wheels added to the good looks. But the car was so low you were afraid you would drive under a semi truck! The ground clearance was 4 inches, the gas tank was immediately behind the driver, so very unsafe. The seats projected below the car, and your butt was seriously endangered if you were't careful to take curb cuts at an angle. The wooden frame meant that there was no central ground, so all the electrical stuff had to be double-wired. Lucas electrics did their worst on this car. For some unknown reason, mine kept chewing up speedometer cables, and the cramped cabin meant it took about an hour to replace one. Crabby and cranky as it was, out of all the cars I've owned in a long life, the Marcos is the one I loved best.
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.
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.
Thank your for the pronunciation correction. Yes I did know Aston had it on some of their cars - I know another car I made a video on used it I just forget the name
The monocoque plywood structure of the Marcos 1800 GT was incredibly stiff -just like the airframe of the DeHavilland Mosquito. The comment about termites - or “white ants” as they’re called in England - was just silly at the time, and silly now. It became a running joke back in the day, but termites were never experienced by any owners. Gem Marsh and Frank Costin weren’t stupid - the monocoque was made of marine plywood and sealed. How many plywood boats - of which there are millions - do you see with a termite problem?
@@bartonbrown4172 that’s why I said the extremely small chance - the US navy doesn’t like wooden pallets on ships for that reason. Rust would post a greater issue to any car than termites would to this but still - in theory it could happen. I’m sure peoples in period concern about it was overblown
Another awesome video, I liked the background music. It was quiet and far back enough to be pleasant and not over bearing(like a lot of channels). I don't watch a lot of car channels but I never miss one of videos! Looking forward to seeing you at 100-250k subscribers one day, then who knows 🤙
@@philtucker1224 My Marcos had a 3/4 inch thick marine plywood chassis. This was even thicker than the plywood used on PT-109 (Kennedy's PT boat). The other advantage of plywood was that in the event of a crash, the plywood soaked up huge amounts of energy, thereby protecting the driver and / or passenger.
The Marcos, GT6 and early E-types all had those beautiful body lines that are so well cherished now more than 50 years later. (It was really just mainly the U.S safety regulations post Ralph Nader that stopped a lot of sport car production back then)
Very well done that man ! I thoroughly enjoyed that on my Sunday morning 👍 I've been watching your channel for a little while now and I'm not surprised that your subs have gone up to 70K. Keep up the good work. Best wishes from Cornwall !
For a while in the early 2000's, there was a reverse trike built from plans called the Vortex by Steven Pombo. Like the Marcos, it was built with a wooden monocoque chassis, but was powered by a broad selection of motorcycle engines. Traces of the Vortex have seemingly started to vanish from the internet, now that I've started looking for them. The people that built them (not many) laminated the chassis with fiberglass, and I believe one even lined the cockpit with kevlar to act as a "survival cell" like the high end race cars have.
The Marcos was my dream car of my childhood. At my age now, that's what it'll be, a dream. My father in law's brother died returning from a sortie over Norway in a Mosquito shortly before VE day.
The Luton Gullwing looks very similar to the much later and larger Bristol Fighter 3:51 Marco made amazing cars that had many interesting and unique design features.
To fill in a little bit of the history: after leaving DE Haviland, Frank Costin moved to live in the ex slate mining mountain village of Deiniolen and he developed the prototype Xylon in the tiny vilage of Cwm y Glo down in the valley below. This car had a DKW engine. Production of the nine Ford powered Xylons was done in the old stables of the Golden Lion Royal Hotel in Dolgellau where the pictre of Frank Costin with the wooden chassis was taken in 1960. The owner of the hotel was a keen and quite sucsesful local rally driver and Frank probably knew him through competition. The company moved to a converted mill in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire in 1963 and in 1971 to a purpose-built factory at nearby Westbury.
I love the lines of the Marcos GT; for me the later models lacked the Frank Costin influence and looked more 'form over function' and less pure. The plywood chassis was brilliant!
The wooden chassis was ditched for steel because it had no chance of passing the coming MIRA barrier test. At the time, most low volume manufacturers didn't expect to pass the test and accepted the end. Ironically, a couple of years later, the government issued exemptions for these low volume makes so long as numbers stayed below 500/Yr. The Marcos GT looked good but wasn't easy to drive or park. The car that shocked all was the TVR M Series. In 1972, not only did it pass the barrier test but redefined what a pass was.
Without getting myself into a lawsuit, I would like to give praise to his "populating" the US with German Taxicabs back in the late 70's, early 80's. His "gift" of rare and exotic automobiles, seldom seen in the us, also "spured" the Collector market often seen at some of the more prestigious Car Auction Houses today!...As a close friend of the "Morgan Guru" and part time "Bow Maker", along with "Bob", I was tasked with repair/rebuilding a great number of these "early gems" and it truly was one of the more memorable times of my life. Just my little contribution to the "Marque"...👍🗽🇺🇸
30+ years ago I saw one of the early GT's on the road here in the USA. I saw it coming up to pass thinking it was a Jaguar but when it passed that rear end surprised me. It took years till I figured out what it was. I always wanted one but knew I wouldn't fit, I'm 6'2". So, I got a 1971 Corvette instead.
I’m around same height as you and fit well in one, actually I have one . Funny because befor I got it I as about to get a c2 or a c3. Regret not going for it. You did a good choice .
Back in 1939 a British Gent named John Rhodes Cobb built a car took it to the salt flats of Bonneville & went 368 mph.. he wasnt messing around with wood my friend ,..LOL
Hi there If you have meant the green "Fastback" also known as the Breadvan by 4:23. The car is currently in restoration and should be on the road again this year
It’s a nice car but I think Marcos should have dropped the s in the name and concentrated on developing their own engine .. Sad to see it gone though..
After watching this video i am surprised to hear this brand for the first time 😮 but what really got me was that it used wood for chassis is scary to think in today's world😨 anyone thank for the video and have a nice day bye now.
Glad I could introduce you to the brand - the cars are very cool and definitely deserve more recognition, especially with that wood chassis! Thanks for watching!
I think the earlier versions were very pure and attractive cars, but the later ones after their 1990s comeback are hideous looking. They shouldve just stucked to their niche, a wooden platform for cylinder or six. A light weight roadster or hard top, mostly stripped down. Beautiful, simple and affordable. Made it a bit more practical. This is what the Miata market became later to fill that void. Miata later made the same mistakes too and the car died. This car had lost its direction and became a business and that's why it failed as a car. It was simply trying too hard and ended up following other brands, playing catch up and copy cat instead of being its unique self. Its as if the original designers had unexpectedly achieved success, but didnt know or understand how or why that had happened.
THINK ABOUT IT.... THINK ABOUT IT. What was the Dunkirk EVAC comprised of ?? 70% small fishing boats !!! THE UK was a nation of cabinet makers, fishing boat makers, musical instrument makers, & various carpenters. Morgan's, Rolls Royces & Bentleys were hand pounded aluminum over a wooden frame. THE MESSERSCHMITT had a 35.7L Daimler V12 compared to the 29L Rolls Royce Merlin of the Spitfire. Fortunately, the UK birds were lighter & were initially used more defensively.
Excellent video, well done. The American version of a French name is a tad irritating though. It's a De Deeon, as in Bee, or Sea. De Dye on has French and English people gritting their teeth. Minor, but...! AND, while I'm at it, "Chassis" is pronounced "Shassee". 😁
Sorry, but your assumption ist wrong. the performance of the Mossie has nothing to do with its (partly) wooden constrution. de Havilland was mor experienced in wooden planes than in all metal ones, though it was a logical choice! In the wartime building of the plane its use of woob enabled a broader use of materials and using the experience of a lot of wood professionals from the furniture industrie. but it didn´t that there where mor planes build, than would otherwise, because the limiting factor in plane building was the number of engines produced.
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!🤘
But you could, at least pronounce “Porsche” correctly - it’s PORsha. And why not cover the Mantis a little more thoroughly than mentioning its name. Thanks for the video!
Your AI voice is getting better, but...
The uncanny valley.
The music is ok as I didn't notice it which is how you want it, don't let it become too loud as that becomes annoying, also de dion suspension is pronounced de deon.
I think you got the volume level spot on, it worked for me anyway.
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...
"Cosworth" - now where have I heard that name before . . . .
Love ❤️ for the *Cozzeh* from a Yank!
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.
Keep saving that “Old Gold!”
Would it be more accurate to compare the Marcos chassis to the wing mainspar, as a stressed wooden box section? Of course, the Mosquito did not just turn up out of nowhere, DH had been building wooden aircraft from the beginning, some of these included the sandwich construction technique (Albatross). This continued after the war with the (partial) wooden fuselage of the Vampire.
The original glue used in Mosquito construction was casein glue (based on a protein found in milk), then urea-formaldehyde, and finally resorcinol-formaldehyde. I have used urea-formaldehyde glues when cold molding double and triple, planked wooden boat hulls, a right royal pain in the a...
@@robertnicholson7733 Very interesting. The problem as always is being prepared to admit what you don’t know. When you consider that one of the most important aspects of the Mosquito was the glued joints it is surprising that none of the books including the Haynes manual make more than a passing mention of the glue , other than ‘Beetle glue ‘. I was unaware of how the two part glues developed. Cascein obviously worked - until it got to the tropics. I always warn Marcos repairers against Cascamite - the engine bay of a Marcos on a wet day makes a tropical climate seem quite balmy... The Mosquito spar is really a cantilevered laminated beam which is not a feature of the Marcos . Dare I suggest that that the Marcos comprises 3 parallel boxes transversed by the dash box at the front and axle/fuel tank boxing at the rear- and the whole lot braced by the fibreglass shell. The closest to it is the E Type which raises a few questions. Even if you disagree it’s a more obvious influence than the Lotus Elite. Anyway back to the tropics. When there were wing failures with the Mosquito in Burma, Geoffrey’s brother Hereward was sent to report on the problem and concluded that the problem was poor workmanship by a subcontractor which has always struck me as odd as de Havilland quality control was outstanding. Presumably the Mosquitos that persisted in the tropics long enough to make The Purple Plain with Gregory Peck and Maurice Denham used Aerolite. Well, ‘ You know how Sir Geoffrey saved the World ‘ !
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.
Rest in peace to your grandad - a brave man I am sure.
@@rarecars3336 thanks for saying that, I appreciate it.
May he Rest in Peace.
Salute to your Grandfather, a member of the greatest generation in history!🎗
My grandfather Wilbur Staten who landed in Normandy in the first wave as a bazooka man also wrote for stars and stripes throughout the war and occupation and wrote an in depth article about your grandfather and the mosquitoe aircraft. He survived the war and fathered major general Kenneth E Staten, U.S. airforce who initiated the low observable stealth aircraft program for the United States.
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!
Thanks for keeping alive the memory of times when ingenuity and quality were at the core of every design.
It seems You "beat me to the punch" concerning Mike Costin & Cosworth. lol CHEERS !
natures carbon fiber.
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.
That is true with material rationing that did make them more viable from a production standpoint for the backbone of the plane!
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.
Right? Its gotta be one of the coolest subcultures of automobile history
Jem Marsh was 6' 4", I saw him back in '88 on the Marcos stand at a car show, yep a tall guy!
Yeah for the 60s especially 6'4' is huge
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.
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!
That is awesome that you got a chance to drive one - what year was this in?
@@rarecars3336 72/73
@@rarecars3336 I remember I’d just gone to work for IBM repairing Selectric typewriters.
thanks for sharing this, very cool memory
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.
That car was missing for decades but has recently been found and is currently being restoredddd to origional 1966 LeMans spec.
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...
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!
I remember that write-up. They opined, correctly, that the Marcos heater felt like a mouse breathing on your foot.
I owned a Marcos with the Volvo B18B engine. The Laycock electric overdrive saved a lot of gas, The car gripped tenaciously, couldn't be rolled, and accelerated great. Genuine knock-off wire wheels added to the good looks. But the car was so low you were afraid you would drive under a semi truck! The ground clearance was 4 inches, the gas tank was immediately behind the driver, so very unsafe. The seats projected below the car, and your butt was seriously endangered if you were't careful to take curb cuts at an angle. The wooden frame meant that there was no central ground, so all the electrical stuff had to be double-wired. Lucas electrics did their worst on this car. For some unknown reason, mine kept chewing up speedometer cables, and the cramped cabin meant it took about an hour to replace one.
Crabby and cranky as it was, out of all the cars I've owned in a long life, the Marcos is the one I loved best.
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.
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.
Thank your for the pronunciation correction. Yes I did know Aston had it on some of their cars - I know another car I made a video on used it I just forget the name
Didn't the Rover 2000 (P6) also have one?
Corvette as well I think.
The "good" thing about wood is that it is flexible. The "bad" thing about wood is that it is flexible!
Truth lol - and the fact that termites would actually be a serious problem in the extremely small chance they got to the car
The monocoque plywood structure of the Marcos 1800 GT was incredibly stiff -just like the airframe of the DeHavilland Mosquito. The comment about termites - or “white ants” as they’re called in England - was just silly at the time, and silly now. It became a running joke back in the day, but termites were never experienced by any owners. Gem Marsh and Frank Costin weren’t stupid - the monocoque was made of marine plywood and sealed. How many plywood boats - of which there are millions - do you see with a termite problem?
@@bartonbrown4172 that’s why I said the extremely small chance - the US navy doesn’t like wooden pallets on ships for that reason. Rust would post a greater issue to any car than termites would to this but still - in theory it could happen. I’m sure peoples in period concern about it was overblown
The worst thing about wooden structures is, in a hard collision it literally explodes, into millions of sharp splinters. Don't get into an accident! 😮
@@rarecars3336 Rust verses termites.. lol
Great video, I love how much detail you get into. Keep up the great work.
Thank you I appreciate that! Thank you so much for watching!
Mike Costin was also the 'Cos' in Cosworth.
What a beautiful story of automotive history! Thanks for your hard work and effort in creating this.
Thank you so much for that - I am very glad you enjoyed it! Comments like this are why I make these videos!
It started out looking E-type ish and ended up looking Viper ish, cool cars
A Marcos has been one of my favorite marks since 1972. One day....
Get one while you still can!
Another awesome video, I liked the background music. It was quiet and far back enough to be pleasant and not over bearing(like a lot of channels). I don't watch a lot of car channels but I never miss one of videos! Looking forward to seeing you at 100-250k subscribers one day, then who knows 🤙
Thank you - that means a lot! I am so glad you enjoy the content I make. Thanks for always tuning in!
Fantastic information, editing and video production.
Thank you Jake!
So the marcos has a plywood chassis?!
Something tells me itll probably last longer than the toyota chassis ive dealt with 😂...
Actually it was ASH.
@@philtucker1224 My Marcos had a 3/4 inch thick marine plywood chassis. This was even thicker than the plywood used on PT-109 (Kennedy's PT boat). The other advantage of plywood was that in the event of a crash, the plywood soaked up huge amounts of energy, thereby protecting the driver and / or passenger.
@@EricHatch-fm8dl nice. Good material that worked well on the WW2 MTBs as well…👌
My shop boss in the early 1970s was also a Marcos trader so I was lucky enough to get a few breath taking rides back in the day 🙏
The Marcos, GT6 and early E-types all had those beautiful body lines that are so well cherished now more than 50 years later. (It was really just mainly the U.S safety regulations post Ralph Nader that stopped a lot of sport car production back then)
Interesting cars! Stuff like this makes me wish I were a Jay Leno, he probably has one.
Well, he featured one on his show, but it's not his own ruclips.net/video/gJvF8o93WWk/видео.html
Very well done that man !
I thoroughly enjoyed that on my Sunday morning 👍
I've been watching your channel for a little while now and I'm not surprised that your subs have gone up to 70K.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes from Cornwall !
Thank you - glad you enjoyed it and thanks for always supporting the channel!
Beautiful cars, it’s a shame they’re gone for now.
Agreed - would love to see them make a comeback
For a while in the early 2000's, there was a reverse trike built from plans called the Vortex by Steven Pombo. Like the Marcos, it was built with a wooden monocoque chassis, but was powered by a broad selection of motorcycle engines. Traces of the Vortex have seemingly started to vanish from the internet, now that I've started looking for them. The people that built them (not many) laminated the chassis with fiberglass, and I believe one even lined the cockpit with kevlar to act as a "survival cell" like the high end race cars have.
The Marcos was my dream car of my childhood. At my age now, that's what it'll be, a dream. My father in law's brother died returning from a sortie over Norway in a Mosquito shortly before VE day.
The Luton Gullwing looks very similar to the much later and larger Bristol Fighter 3:51 Marco made amazing cars that had many interesting and unique design features.
INTERESTING FACT. I RACE A MARCOS FLY SLOT CAR. IT IS THE FASTEST ON TRACK OF MY SPORTS CARS.
I saw Jackie Stewards last race at Watkins Glen , that was a long time ago.
Wow that is crazy - what a historic moment
Fantastic story. Someone ought to pick it up again. Boutique cars are in vogue. The price wouldn’t be a problem.
Thank you for the deep dives... Love the videos...
Thank YOU for watching!
Frank Costin wasn't the only one in his family to get involved with Motor Cars. His brother Mike is the "COS" in COSWORTH Engines
Great video. Marcos is one the quirker race cars brands to exist. Loved them from the moment I learned about them. ❤
They are super quirky but they definitely do deserve more recognition than they get
To fill in a little bit of the history: after leaving DE Haviland, Frank Costin moved to live in the ex slate mining mountain village of Deiniolen and he developed the prototype Xylon in the tiny vilage of Cwm y Glo down in the valley below. This car had a DKW engine. Production of the nine Ford powered Xylons was done in the old stables of the Golden Lion Royal Hotel in Dolgellau where the pictre of Frank Costin with the wooden chassis was taken in 1960. The owner of the hotel was a keen and quite sucsesful local rally driver and Frank probably knew him through competition.
The company moved to a converted mill in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire in 1963 and in 1971 to a purpose-built factory at nearby Westbury.
Excellent 👍 i enjoy all your vids, but this is an especially great breakdown of this fascinating brand!
Beautiful cars unknown to me before
Glad you got something out of the video - I agree these are such underrated cars
Still quite a few on the road, look up the U.K. Marcos owners club.
Very interesting and well done! Those carburetors at 5:17 appear to be SU carbs.
5:17 - these look very much like SU carbs. - Volvos generally used SU carbs
I love the lines of the Marcos GT; for me the later models lacked the Frank Costin influence and looked more 'form over function' and less pure.
The plywood chassis was brilliant!
Hmm. No mention of the Mini Marcos? Otherwise, excellent video, and the music was unobtrusive and pleasant.
I just wanted to cover the GT in this video - I figured the mini Marcos was cool enough for its own video! Glad you liked it!
The wooden chassis was ditched for steel because it had no chance of passing the coming MIRA barrier test.
At the time, most low volume manufacturers didn't expect to pass the test and accepted the end.
Ironically, a couple of years later, the government issued exemptions for these low volume makes so long as numbers stayed below 500/Yr.
The Marcos GT looked good but wasn't easy to drive or park.
The car that shocked all was the TVR M Series. In 1972, not only did it pass the barrier test but redefined what a pass was.
As a teenager in the late 60's I drooled to have one of these.
I've heard the phrase in the 60s about a car crashing and nothing left but splinters. This must be the culprit, although the 500 had potential
Without getting myself into a lawsuit, I would like to give praise to his "populating" the US with German Taxicabs back in the late 70's, early 80's. His "gift" of rare and exotic automobiles, seldom seen in the us, also "spured" the Collector market often seen at some of the more prestigious Car Auction Houses today!...As a close friend of the "Morgan Guru" and part time "Bow Maker", along with "Bob", I was tasked with repair/rebuilding a great number of these "early gems" and it truly was one of the more memorable times of my life. Just my little contribution to the "Marque"...👍🗽🇺🇸
Excellent presentation!
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Well, I’ve been pronouncing Marcos wrong for almost 50 years… 🤦♂️
On topgear they say it this way - I always said it the way you probably did to lol
Mark O's. Not Markaas
Lol, same
Used to be a multicolored Mantis that SCCA race at Memphis,Tn back in the day.
When I first heard of this car, in my ignorance, I had assumed it may be a Spaniard creation as Marcos is a given name in Spanish.
It always comes back to the Rover V8. Seems like half of all British cars from 1960 to 2010 used some variant or other of it.
It was lighter than the V6 Essex lump.
That was excellent, good work
Thank you so much - I appreciate you tuning in!
There is an orange one still on the road in perth western Australia...its gorgeous..
Wow, never heard of this car before.
It NEEDS more attention!
30+ years ago I saw one of the early GT's on the road here in the USA. I saw it coming up to pass thinking it was a Jaguar but when it passed that rear end surprised me. It took years till I figured out what it was.
I always wanted one but knew I wouldn't fit, I'm 6'2". So, I got a 1971 Corvette instead.
I’m around same height as you and fit well in one, actually I have one . Funny because befor I got it I as about to get a c2 or a c3. Regret not going for it. You did a good choice .
Finally! Thank you! Well done!
Back in 1939 a British Gent named John Rhodes Cobb built a car took it to the salt flats of Bonneville & went 368 mph.. he wasnt messing around with wood my friend ,..LOL
Maybe i am brain damaged, but I don't think this is the ugliest var ever to enter my eyesight. I think it is actually quite awesome 😁
I loved the Mantis XP
The marcos gt was a must have gran turismo car.
Task And Purpose, Is that you? lol
The Brits used that Buick 215 in absolutely everything.
0:35 “de Havilland” with an “e”
the model shown at 4.23 looks amazing
Hi there
If you have meant the green "Fastback" also known as the Breadvan by 4:23. The car is currently in restoration and should be on the road again this year
Frank Costin was the equivalent to Adrian Newey in those days
I'm watching this amongst August
FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOTTA HAVE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quite possible. Enquire through the Marcos Owners club.
❤❤❤❤❤❤very interesting video and car thanks
If I could ever afford one I’d want one soooo bad
I have to ask.
Was the actual chassis wooden or was it a wooden framed body on a metal chassis like the Morgan?
It’s a nice car but I think Marcos should have dropped the s in the name and concentrated on developing their own engine ..
Sad to see it gone though..
Did the wooden cars have onboard sprinkler systems? LMAO!
Thank you for the Ft Lbs.
Fiber reinforced plastics are just a replacement for wood
I used to own Luton coupé GT nr 2 😊
Narrator is confusing "chassis" with "body". 😮
I never once said the car had a wood body
The only Marcos that isn't an eyesore is the Mantis XP. :)
There was only one XP, nice looking car agreed but how can you call the Marcos GT an Eyesore!!
How can you have this much to say about this special car with the wooden frame without once showing the frame it's famous for?
I did early in the video with one of the pictures that was animated on the screen
After watching this video i am surprised to hear this brand for the first time 😮 but what really got me was that it used wood for chassis is scary to think in today's world😨 anyone thank for the video and have a nice day bye now.
Glad I could introduce you to the brand - the cars are very cool and definitely deserve more recognition, especially with that wood chassis! Thanks for watching!
@rarecars3336 you too dude.
Just be mindful that practically ALL vehicle chassis were wooden up to just over a century ago!
The great british sports car Marcos…!
I think I see where the Dodge Viper got its styling...
SO! Mystery solved! We now know where BMW got the inspiration for The Shoe. :-)
If they had stayed with building kit cars, they would probably still be in business today
Very possible - building production cars has to be the biggest headache ever
Not if you actually look at the state of the British kit car industry these days.
I made a wooden car... butt it wooden go !!!😅😂
Some of those models remind me of vipers
The retro lines of the viper were partly based on the best of these classic 60s GTs
5:15 those are SU carbs not Strombergs.
And then the termites moved in and it crumpled like a Lancia in a light mist.
“I’m afraid your car has failed its MOT” the reason? Oh, WOODWORM! 😂🤣
5:14: those carbs are NOT strombergs they are SU
I think the earlier versions were very pure and attractive cars, but the later ones after their 1990s comeback are hideous looking.
They shouldve just stucked to their niche, a wooden platform for cylinder or six. A light weight roadster or hard top, mostly stripped down. Beautiful, simple and affordable. Made it a bit more practical. This is what the Miata market became later to fill that void. Miata later made the same mistakes too and the car died.
This car had lost its direction and became a business and that's why it failed as a car. It was simply trying too hard and ended up following other brands, playing catch up and copy cat instead of being its unique self. Its as if the original designers had unexpectedly achieved success, but didnt know or understand how or why that had happened.
No mention (& only 1 piccy) of the MiniMarcos?
Not in this video I am going to do a full separate video on the Mini Marcos as I think that warrants it - but i could have at least mentioned it
Great British Pounds?...Seriously?
The proper terms are British Pounds or Pounds Sterling. Thankfully at least, it is not a RoboVoice!
Pound sterling, whatever you wanna call it. I pronounced Marcos the way the English do at least give me that LOL
3:40 min mark: 'goldwing' doors??
THINK ABOUT IT.... THINK ABOUT IT. What was the Dunkirk EVAC comprised of ?? 70% small fishing boats !!! THE UK was a nation of cabinet makers, fishing boat makers, musical instrument makers, & various carpenters. Morgan's, Rolls Royces & Bentleys were hand pounded aluminum over a wooden frame. THE MESSERSCHMITT had a 35.7L Daimler V12 compared to the 29L Rolls Royce Merlin of the Spitfire. Fortunately, the UK birds were lighter & were initially used more defensively.
Beyond belief is so sad.
Excellent video, well done. The American version of a French name is a tad irritating though. It's a De Deeon, as in Bee, or Sea. De Dye on has French and English people gritting their teeth. Minor, but...! AND, while I'm at it, "Chassis" is pronounced "Shassee". 😁
£1300-£1700 for the car, with free headlight cover fogging
At least incandescent headlights got hot enough to get rid of the condensation, which is a bigger problem with led headlights.
Sorry, but your assumption ist wrong. the performance of the Mossie has nothing to do with its (partly) wooden constrution. de Havilland was mor experienced in wooden planes than in all metal ones, though it was a logical choice! In the wartime building of the plane its use of woob enabled a broader use of materials and using the experience of a lot of wood professionals from the furniture industrie. but it didn´t that there where mor planes build, than would otherwise, because the limiting factor in plane building was the number of engines produced.
Not a cousin as much as a step brother on the v8
That probably is a more apt way of saying it
Hey genius...It's called the GULL Wing.... NOT the GOLD Wing! LOL and you even made your error full-screen!