Marcos Maniacs

Thanks Paul
I enjoyed your personal observation about your RHD. I guess my car is pretty
boring. No parts ever fell off, no tell tale smoke escaped from any wiring,
I never had to use the fire extinguisher. The only unexpected incident was
when the starter failed. Other than that, its been less trouble than my XJ6.
Which has had parts fall off, driveshafts and brakes fail while driving,
complete electrical failure under the dash (that explained the CLOUDS of
smoke pouring out the vents), and one time the engine backfires so hard, it
blew the air cleaner apart! 
Keeping the faith
Dave (5006)

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	pauldransfield@... [SMTP:pauldransfield@...]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 22, 2002 8:33 AM
> To:	MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject:	RE: [MarcosManiacs] More historical tidbits - a bit long
> 
> Dave,
> 
> I can tell you from first hand experience that there were more RHD Volvo
> cars than LHD ones, mine included, out of the 120 or so that were built.
> I'm
> also sure that most of the Triumphs were RHD as well. I brought my 3 litre
> Volvo to Canada from England when I emigrated in 1975 and converted it to
> LHD in 1980 because of safety and convenience concerns. Ever try reaching
> for an underground parking ticket from a RHD position. It's hard enough
> from
> the left side. And turning left was always a problem because if oncoming
> traffic was also turning, ones view was blocked.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Paul Dransfield
> 3 litre Volvo
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Skora [mailto:David@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 11:19 AM
> To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [MarcosManiacs] More historical tidbits - a bit long
> 
> 
> Hello Dan
> Thanks for the interesting history. This is almost more than what is
> currently available in print about Marcos cars! Is your car left hand
> drive?
> My car (5006) is LHD. Do you have any idea how many Marcos were left hand
> drive? Were all the Triumph or Volvo 6-cyl. cars also LHD?
> Thanks Dave
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Dan Orie [SMTP:dorie@...]
> > Sent:	Tuesday, January 22, 2002 6:02 AM
> > To:	'MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com'
> > Subject:	[MarcosManiacs] More historical tidbits - a bit long
> > 
> > Hello All;
> >   I had a chance over the weekend to really pour over the documents from
> > my
> > build history ordered from Rory. Some of it may be common knowledge, but
> > it's new to me since I haven't read much of the information available
> > about
> > our cars - I hope it's not boring.
> > 
> > Prestige imports of Los Angeles CA. seemed to be the first authorized
> > dealer
> > of completed cars in the USA. The biggest problem at the time (summer &
> > fall
> > of 1969) was getting the Marcos to comply with smog regulations. They
> > pre-sold over 200 cars, but couldn't sell one due to this fact. They
> were
> > almost in a panic to get the cars certified by the EPA before customs
> sent
> > them back to the UK, and seemed distressed to find out that Volvo
> engines
> > were taking the place of the Fords - maybe they were tied to Ford
> somehow?
> > 
> > My car as I mentioned earlier, was ordered by the President of Ford at
> the
> > time. The car was first delivered to a company called Kar Kraft, who at
> > the
> > time was a performance and tuning specialist working with Ford. Kar
> Kraft
> > was responsible for all of the work in changing regular Mustangs into
> the
> > 'Boss 429 Mustangs'. 'Boss' was how the workers of that project referred
> > to
> > the President of Ford at the time and the name stuck. It is my
> speculation
> > that having Kar Kraft initially work on the Marcos to comply with the
> USA
> > regulations at the time could have been an informal test and first step
> to
> > an eventual selling agreement in the USA by Ford.
> > 
> > There was considerable frustration on the part of the guy from Kar Kraft
> > in
> > charge of getting my Marcos road-worthy. The correspondence between him
> > and
> > a couple of Marcos employees - including Jem Marsh was almost comical at
> > times. Evidently, my car arrived with 'bad engine bearings'. Some
> thought
> > it
> > was due to overheating, but Marcos claimed that it was due to 'oil
> > surging'
> > which was purported to be a problem with almost 20 percent of all of the
> > Essex engines. The Reliants and TVR's along with the Ford's were claimed
> > to
> > be experiencing the same problems. A bigger radiator along with a new
> > engine
> > was ordered for my car.
> > 
> > Also, it seems that someone from Marcos (I'm almost positive is was Jem)
> > was
> > trying to get Kar Kraft to be a Marcos distributor for the central and
> > east
> > regions of the USA. He claimed that they really didn't have any interest
> > in
> > selling the Marcos in the UK, and told them that a new factory was being
> > built and they could produce around 350 cars per year. Kar Kraft claimed
> > that the Marcos attracted considerable interest from the public just
> > sitting
> > on the trailer. Kar Kraft was almost being begged by Prestige imports
> and
> > by
> > Marcos to provide engineering in helping Marcos pass the emissions
> tests.
> > 
> > In summation, I don't know if the President of Ford got to drive my
> Marcos
> > before he was fired in 1970. However, the considerable problems he
> > experienced with the car probably soured him on ever thinking of
> > officially
> > importing the cars as part of Ford - if he were thinking along those
> > lines.
> > The correspondence between Ford USA and Marcos on my cars indicates that
> > there was some confusion as to who was doing what at Marcos.
> > 
> > Dano
> > Essex V6 3M/5463
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
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