Our goal is to deliver something no longer available from large car manufacturers.
To keep things simple. To strip out the unnecessary and unlock visceral driving thrills. To provide a bespoke experience, focused on the driver, at affordable prices. To put a smile on people’s faces.
Why? Because that’s what we’ve been doing since Marcos was founded in 1959 and what makes our brand so special.
The owner of the Marcos brand today is Howard Nash, an engineer-turned-businessman but a racer at heart. The brand made a huge impression on him as a young man turning his hand to race car engineering.
“Marcos was always there when I was racing,” he says. “We were competing with a Hillman Imp. A Mini Marcos turned up one day and wiped the floor with the field. It was phenomenal – It lapped the entire field.”
“Then, while working for Porsche, I was helping run a 911 Turbo. A Marcos LM500 was competing and blew us away.”
“What were these things? I wanted to know more.”
“The answer was that they were incredibly light – the standard Mini Marcos was only 450kg so the racing version had a fantastic power-to-weight ratio. And it had much better handing than a Mini because the chassis was nine inches longer so more it was more stable. The LM500 was not only light but had a powerful V8 engine.”
The LM500 was based on the Mantara, whose roots went back to the Marcos GTs of the 1960s, which always favoured uncompromising handling over ride and creature comforts.
“I quickly realised that Marcos made proper cars with real engineering thinking, not kit cars.” That ethos went back to Frank Costin’s ingenuity and vision. He essentially incorporated his concept for the DeHavilland Mosquito aircraft into a car for a 6’4 racer, his Marcos co-founder Jem Marsh.
“I realised that Marcos made proper cars with real engineering, going back to Frank Costin’s concept for the DeHavilland Mosquito aircraft. That spoke to me.”
Howard Nash – owner, Marcos Motor Company
“So when the opportunity came up to acquire the Marcos business, brand and assets I had to take it.”
“We’re now the guardians of the brand. We want to honour that original ethos while being forward-looking too, giving Marcos a new, younger audience. We want to make cars, not just keep legacy cars on the road. And we want to create new products, and make them affordable. Most of all we want to give Marcos a future.”
