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Been offered a Marcos. Fuel tank on the drivers rear quarter. Very tired and sat around forever in a barn. Any clues what its worth and what to look for? I have no knowledge of these things and frankly think they are very ugly BUT I can't help myself.
Cheers. Mark

Sorry to tell you but I think you have Anorakamini-itis

Pete

If it's this one I would go for it

...they did manage to put the fire out

Do you know the vintage of the car? Check out the Mini Marcos club forum at http://www.minimarcos.org
Things to watch for include fiberglass (sorry, fibreglass!) delaminating from the steel inserts in the bulkhead and rear wheel arches...fuel tank filler on the right side as they used van/estate fuel tanks.
I've been looking for an early car, so if you pass on it, please send me the details.
Tom

early ones have no rear hatch - less practical, but more desirable.

Interesting to see if it's registered as the donor mini, or as a Marcos.

Just buy it!

If it's ugly it's a Mini marcos not a Marcos. My 3 Litre wood chassis Marcos is the sexiest looking car ever made.
Nick

Ha, defintely the Mini derivative, definitely plug ugly and sorry Nick, but your car sounds like a mobile fire hazard.

The Mini Marcos as I remember it was quite a nice little car to drive, a friend built one back in 1968 with, if I remember correctly a 998 Cooper engine, & it drove very well. From the inside it felt like a real sports racer, you are driving a type of car that actually competed at LeMans, which was a good thing, because if it's enjoyable to drive, you spend your time inside it, which means you don't have to look at the shape of the outside, although I never disliked them, I would say they have immense 'character'. Nevertheless I totally agree with Nick about the Marcos 3- Litre. For those who fear fire hazards, I believe they built a space frame version of it in later years, which was probably heavier & not such a rigid chassis. I would suggest that if you have any friends with experience of fibreglass structures, you take such a person along to look over the car, in the right hands, repair is not impossible, but expert opinion is good bargaining power! As regards price, that's a difficult one, but I recently saw one for sale on the net (not ebay) for under £7000 & it was in running order, 1380cc & it did look the business. Without seeing the one you have been offered, it would be wrong of me to advise you on value, but personally, if it's as I imagine it, I would be looking at £750 - £1000 max.

Good luck to you, I hope you get a deal & get the little Marcos back on the road.

Thanks for the advice. My gut feel said a similar price bracket to yours. Interesting comment re the drivability too. Thanks for that.
As regards Nick car I was only pulling his leg. My Mk 1 has barely more than a baking tray for crash protection when it comes to side impact bars! Cheers. Mark

I can take the jokes ! Although I do carry a hefty fire extinguisher just in case. Mine is a '69, the last year of wooden chassis cars. The steel chassis was cheaper to produce and easy to identify by its sills.
At the risk of hijacking the thread I will try to upload a pic later.
By the way, I have also had 2 Mini Marcos' and a Mini Jem. The Jem had a fixed rear window but somehow had more appeal than the MM's. See page 62 of Peter Filby's book. In the same book Filby says 'The Mini Marcos was the only Marcos of later years not designed by Dennis Adams and it showed !'

nick rogers wrote:If it's ugly it's a Mini marcos not a Marcos. My 3 Litre wood chassis Marcos is the sexiest looking car ever made.
Nick

they are a good looking car, such a unique looking beast

nick rogers wrote:I can take the jokes ! Although I do carry a hefty fire extinguisher just in case. Mine is a '69, the last year of wooden chassis cars. The steel chassis was cheaper to produce and easy to identify by its sills.
At the risk of hijacking the thread I will try to upload a pic later.
By the way, I have also had 2 Mini Marcos' and a Mini Jem. The Jem had a fixed rear window but somehow had more appeal than the MM's. See page 62 of Peter Filby's book. In the same book Filby says 'The Mini Marcos was the only Marcos of later years not designed by Dennis Adams and it showed !'

...beauty is in the eye of the beholder i reckon ?!.. i love all variants of the mini -marcos..esp the le-mans winning cars of that era.. i have toyed with the idea many times of buying a modern body and taking my s apart to build one but then i chicken out !!! the values dont seem to compare to coopers and s types.. as far as all the marcos cars go they are brill also ,.. unique and so different and pricey !!!...never mind the running costs fuel etc.. but as they say if u cant afford it ?! dont bitch....a great marque indeed... foxy52

My eldest bruv with his here,3.0 V6 Ford,steel chassis. This is summer 1971,just before the Suez fuel crisis thingy. It was mentally fast for it's day,I was 5 then and I remember standing on the big transmission tunnel with my head out of the sunroof !! Brilliant fun.
That car is probably the reason for me being such a petrol head today.



My bruv later found out the next owner had an 'incident' on the Thanet way,he was breaking heavily before one of the roundabouts and the engine and gearbox mounts gave up - the whole lot slid forwards and the propshaft detatched from the gearbox and entered the car. He didn't say anymore than that !

Beautiful ! And those are the rare Marcos wheels. Mine is on Revolutions sadly. And mine is yellow. Same sunroof, same huge tunnel. Same sexy lines.

nick rogers wrote:Beautiful ! And those are the rare Marcos wheels. Mine is on Revolutions sadly. And mine is yellow. Same sunroof, same huge tunnel. Same sexy lines.

Come on then Nick let's see it (the Marcos)

LDR209H wrote:

nick rogers wrote:Beautiful ! And those are the rare Marcos wheels. Mine is on Revolutions sadly. And mine is yellow. Same sunroof, same huge tunnel. Same sexy lines.

Come on then Nick let's see it (the Marcos)

I'm going through a massive reality check right now.
I'm looking at fibreglass 60's/70's cars again because 1. I want to and 2. Mini values are ridiculous.
How sexy is this :-

Very, Buy it!

Sexy indeed, is that a Vixen or original Tuscan? I have great memories of the late Gerry Marshall racing a similar car in the 60's, I think that was known as a Griffith but similar in body style.
I agree, Mini prices are making fibreglass classics more & more attractive.

Yes Nick's Marcos is a looker, no doubt about it. Did any celebs own one ? I could just see Jimmy Page in one, not sure why ?!
Talking of celebs, did Peter Sellers own a Unipower, I've a photo of him with one. Surely the sexiest looking plastic Mini ever made and I so wish I 'd bought one when I had the chance.

LDR209H wrote:

LDR209H wrote:

nick rogers wrote:Beautiful ! And those are the rare Marcos wheels. Mine is on Revolutions sadly. And mine is yellow. Same sunroof, same huge tunnel. Same sexy lines.

Come on then Nick let's see it (the Marcos)

I'm going through a massive reality check right now.
I'm looking at fibreglass 60's/70's cars again because 1. I want to and 2. Mini values are ridiculous.
How sexy is this :-

That's a Tvr Vixen isn't it?

Your all giving the mini Marcos a hard time! Haha they share a lot of history right up there in the racing heritage! Try to get a normal mini upto 150mph!
They have certainly have shot up in value in the past 5 years, I'd say a decent project would set you back at least £1800 if it's registered right. I saw what appears to be a genuine auction sale on eBay (never can be 100% sure though) and that sold for £3800. I sold my other one about 5 years ago and that was a well put together car with a good engine and I think I only got about that for it.
Just make sure that there isn't too much crazing in the fibre glass and if there is that you repair it properly by drilling all the cracks out otherwise it will keep coming back.