Marcos Maniacs

Howdy, I am new to the site and have a few questions. 
       1.) Did the early hoods (bonnets) not have air vents or the
indentation for the insignia?
       2.) Did the de dion rear axles use MGA ring and pinions? Were
the housings related to TVR or a Marcos only aluminum casting?
       3.) When did the mini wheel arches come about?
       4.) What happened to Wooden Wonders and Fiberglass Fanatics in
Sweden?
       5.) Is there anyone in the US or UK that does Marcos wooden
chassis work?
       6.) Is there a go to guy in the US for the 1800 GT's?

                        Any answers greatly appreciated. Thanks. 
                                                                 Charley

Hi Charley,
	I am probably the "go to guy" for 1800 GT's in the USA. As far as I  
know, I am the only person that currently has a 1800 GT that regularly  
drives it on the track and on the street (occasionally). My Marcos is  
a 1966 Marcos 1800 GT chassis number 4079. I have had my car  
completely apart with the exception of the windshield and headliner.  
Some of the parts have been apart more than once, unfortunately.
	It appears that you are in the UK and I have a really good friend  
that lives near York that has a 1800 GT and is very knowledgeable. He  
has reworked the wooden chassis and metal sub frame on the front of  
his car, for example. I don't know how far his knowledge extends to  
the early 1800's. My personal knowledge of the early cars is limited  
to what I have read in magazines/books. Let me know if you want his  
email address.
	I don't know what happened to Wooden Wonders but I was disappointed  
with the one fiberglass part I bought from them. It took forever to  
get the part and the quality was so bad it would have required a lot  
of work to make it usable. The part is currently in the bottom of a  
storage box in the garage. A friend in Virginia had a similar  
experience except he threw the parts away since it would cost too much  
to ship them back and he wasn't confident that he would get his money  
back. So, even if Wooden Wonders is still around, I wouldn't recommend  
them.
Mike Denman

On Aug 24, 2008, at 2:26 PM, ukcharley wrote:

> Howdy, I am new to the site and have a few questions.
> 1.) Did the early hoods (bonnets) not have air vents or the
> indentation for the insignia?
> 2.) Did the de dion rear axles use MGA ring and pinions? Were
> the housings related to TVR or a Marcos only aluminum casting?
> 3.) When did the mini wheel arches come about?
> 4.) What happened to Wooden Wonders and Fiberglass Fanatics in
> Sweden?
> 5.) Is there anyone in the US or UK that does Marcos wooden
> chassis work?
> 6.) Is there a go to guy in the US for the 1800 GT's?
>
> Any answers greatly appreciated. Thanks.
> Charley
>
>
>

Hi Charley,

your questions as far as I know the Marcos History:

1. no air vents on original early bonnets, for race GTŽs they use very often a "long" bonnet and these have air vents.

2. Yes the de Dion used MG ring & pinions. The housings were not related, they are from TVR - very rare in the meantime - and Marcos did rubber down the letters, if you know this, you can normally see the shadows of the TVR letters. But they tried in this time a lot of different rear axles and diffs. and not every Marcos is or was build to standards, it looks that the factory sometimes did only use the parts they had in this moment.

3. ???

4. As far as I know, they still exist and are producing at least wooden chassis and the subframes. We have here in Germany a Marcos owner 4 months ago got the parts to renew his race car. Fiberglas donŽt know, but we have here around our "fiberglass guru" and in the Netherlands as well people with moulds producing lightweight bonnets for the race cars.

5. + 6. This should be answered by the US Marcos Owners.

Hi Mike,

very astonished what did tell us concerning the Fiberglas from Wooden Wonders. I only know people who bought chassisŽs - in total 4 different people - and they all were content concerning price and quality. DonŽt know a person buying fiberglas parts from WW.

One of the Swiss Marcos owners is a ingenieur and he is rebuilding his GT and made a new wooden chassis by himself and did digitalize every wooden piece and has now a complete drawing of the wooden GTŽs. His Marcos is a bit special, because the car had fitted as drivetrain the BMW 2002tii enginge & gearbox, so some smaller changes were made for this engine. Perhaps this drawings will help to rebuild the GT.

It will probably not help you a lot, but here in Germany we have 2 specialists for wooden Marcos, but will be probably too far away from where you are living. But both did rebuild wooden chassis and have a lot of experience with Marcos and fiberglas as well.

CF Mantula

Hi,

Currently, I'm having a 1600GT rebuilt by Wooden Wonders in Sweden.I 
have seen some of their work, including the Marcos 1800GT with the 
B20 engine that ran at the Le Mans trials in 1968 (see Marcos: the 
great British sportscar) and I was very impressed with their building 
standard. Their wooden chassis look excellent, especially in clear 
varnish, as well as their glassfibre components. They do however also 
make Marcos body parts strictly intended for competition, which are a 
lot thinner than usual. My car is scheduled for the end of this year. 

Greetings,

Remco Bruins 


--- In MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com, "martin" <martin-bull@...> 
wrote:
>
> this may inspire you a little
> http://marcossportscarenthusiasts.yuku.com/topic/3615
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Baufi-Fey@... 
>   To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 8:07 AM
>   Subject: Re: [MarcosManiacs] early 1800 gt
> 
> 
> 
>   Hi Charley,
> 
>   your questions as far as  I know the Marcos History:
> 
>   1. no air vents on original early bonnets, for race GT´s they use 
very often a "long" bonnet and these have air vents.
> 
>   2. Yes the de Dion used MG ring & pinions. The housings were not 
related, they are from TVR - very rare in the meantime - and Marcos 
did rubber down the letters, if you know this, you can normally see 
the shadows of the TVR letters. But they tried in this time a lot of 
different rear axles and diffs. and not every Marcos is or was build 
to standards, it looks that the factory sometimes did only use the 
parts they had in this moment.
> 
>   3. ???
> 
>   4. As far as I know, they still exist and are producing at least 
wooden chassis and the subframes. We have here in Germany a Marcos 
owner 4 months ago got the parts to renew his race car. Fiberglas  
don´t know, but we have here around our "fiberglass guru" and in the 
Netherlands as well people with moulds producing lightweight bonnets 
for the race cars.
> 
>   5. + 6. This should be answered by the US Marcos Owners.
> 
>   Hi Mike, 
> 
>   very astonished what did tell us concerning the Fiberglas from 
Wooden Wonders. I only know people who bought chassis´s - in total 4 
different people - and they all were content concerning price and 
quality. Don´t know a person buying fiberglas parts from WW.
> 
>   One of the Swiss Marcos owners is a ingenieur and he is 
rebuilding his GT and made a new wooden chassis by himself and did 
digitalize every wooden piece and has now a complete drawing of the 
wooden GT´s. His Marcos is a bit special, because the car had fitted 
as drivetrain the BMW 2002tii enginge & gearbox, so some smaller 
changes were made for this engine. Perhaps this drawings will help to 
rebuild the GT.
> 
>   It will probably not help you a lot, but here in Germany we have 
2 specialists for wooden Marcos, but will be probably too far away 
from where you are living. But both did rebuild wooden chassis and 
have a lot of experience with Marcos and fiberglas as well.
> 
>   CF Mantula
> 
> 
> 
>    
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>         Von: "Mike Denman" <mikedenman@...>
>         Gesendet: 25.08.08 00:36:34
>         An: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
>         Betreff: Re: [MarcosManiacs] early 1800 gt
> 
> 
>         Hi Charley,
> 
>         I am probably the "go to guy" for 1800 GT's in the USA. As 
far as I know, I am the only person that currently has a 1800 GT that 
regularly drives it on the track and on the street (occasionally). My 
Marcos is a 1966 Marcos 1800 GT chassis number 4079. I have had my 
car completely apart with the exception of the windshield and 
headliner. Some of the parts have been apart more than once, 
unfortunately.
>         It appears that you are in the UK and I have a really good 
friend that lives near York that has a 1800 GT and is very 
knowledgeable. He has reworked the wooden chassis and metal sub frame 
on the front of his car, for example. I don't know how far his 
knowledge extends to the early 1800's. My personal knowledge of the 
early cars is limited to what I have read in magazines/books. Let me 
know if you want his email address.
>         I don't know what happened to Wooden Wonders but I was 
disappointed with the one fiberglass part I bought from them. It took 
forever to get the part and the quality was so bad it would have 
required a lot of work to make it usable. The part is currently in 
the bottom of a storage box in the garage. A friend in Virginia had a 
similar experience except he threw the parts away since it would cost 
too much to ship them back and he wasn't confident that he would get 
his money back. So, even if Wooden Wonders is still around, I 
wouldn't recommend them.
>         Mike Denman
> 
> 
>         On Aug 24, 2008, at 2:26 PM, ukcharley wrote:
> 
> 
>           Howdy, I am new to the site and have a few questions. 
>           1.) Did the early hoods (bonnets) not have air vents or 
the
>           indentation for the insignia?
>           2.) Did the de dion rear axles use MGA ring and pinions? 
Were
>           the housings related to TVR or a Marcos only aluminum 
casting?
>           3.) When did the mini wheel arches come about?
>           4.) What happened to Wooden Wonders and Fiberglass 
Fanatics in
>           Sweden?
>           5.) Is there anyone in the US or UK that does Marcos 
wooden

>           chassis work?
>           6.) Is there a go to guy in the US for the 1800 GT's?
> 
>           Any answers greatly appreciated. Thanks. 
>           Charley
>