Marcos Maniacs

Dano
Thanks for your reply
Dave

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dan Orie [SMTP:dorie@...]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 22, 2002 8:32 AM
> To:	'MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com'
> Subject:	RE: [MarcosManiacs] More historical tidbits - a bit long
> 
> Hello Dave,
>    Mine is LHD. I don't have any idea about the rest of the cars, and I'm
> really curious myself. All of the cars that were mentioned at the dealer
> in
> LA and a couple of other locations in the history were also LHD. Who knows
> what might have been had my car been trouble-free on arrival...
> Dano
> 
>  -----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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