Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Random Europa Sightings => Topic started by: Lou Drozdowski on Saturday,April 02, 2022, 11:40:40 AM
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Caught this today on the Europa FB group...
A little known sprint GT parked along side is a Marcos GT. First introduced in 1964, one of it's unusual characteristics was adopted from the venerable British fighter/bomber. Later designs incorporated various power plants to include the Lotus 1600 Twin cam.
The pictured car has a front hood bulge indicating it has the later 3 liter Ford engine.
https://silodrome.com/marcos-gt-car/
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Very interesting car! The Jay Leno video in the article you linked to was very good too!
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Nice picture! And since Frank Costin was involved in the early days of Lotus, the cars are also connected in some way.
I like the front of the Marcos GT very much, but I don't like the tail, to be honest.
Regards
Raphael
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The Ford Anglia 105E on the left of the photo is the source for the Europa and Elan +2 front bumper.
I have not seen a Marcos (Jem Marsh and Frank Costin and also part of Cosworth) for a very long time.
They were a similar concept to TVR which also had the 1600, 3000 and V8 versions around that time.
TVR evolved into quite a decent brand until taken over by Nikolay Smolensky, (possibly a friend of Mazepin).
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I had a wood chassis Marcos for a few years.
When I got it the DPO had put a Mazzzda rotary drive-train into it.
A truly terrible conversion.
He parked it shortly after when the brakes wore out.
A difficult car to source parts for even with club help.
I eventually found a Kent 1600 and T9 trans for it.
By that time plus finding out what was going to be required for chassis repair, I realized I could restore two or three conventional cars for the same time and expense.
I was fortunate in my timing and actually broke even on it.
Sold to Europe and then back in the UK, probably finished by now and resold several more times.
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I've always liked the Marcos, and would like to drive one. They have a wicked shape, though the wheel arches seem a bit wonky on some. Seeing the photo above, I realise how small they are, comparing favourably with the Europa. I don't recall ever having seen one in person.
I have not seen a Marcos (Jem Marsh and Frank Costin and also part of Cosworth) for a very long time.
I believe the COS in Cosworth was taken from Mike Costin, Frank's brother and a co-founder of Cosworth, along with Keith Duckworth.