Thursday, October 22, 2009

Radical Marcos

Below is a "normal" Marcos. We actually have a yellow one like this in our club. No, not the "Mens Health" tarmac rally one, another one. Looks like the deep yellow is a popular colour with the "Marcos marque" as well.However, here are a few examples of the racing version. Somehow, Bernie Van Elsen's Nagari doesn't look so outrageous any more.
The difference with Marcos compared to Bolwell is that these cars are all factory racers rather than customers like Docker and Van Elsen creating their own monsters. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Bolwell should have gone motor racing (although the Canon car was a factory race car in a way). Racing programs cost heaps and it's a good way for a small operator to go broke. Marcos began in 1959 and went out of business in 1970, 2000 and 2007 that I know of, each time being ressurected by well off enthusiast investors. I don't recall Bolwell ever going bankrupt despite press reports along the lines of "ADRs send Bolwell to the wall" etc. I wonder what wall they were talking about.

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