Le Mans Mini Marcos: back to square one

Last week I had to make a tough decision and decided to pick up the Mini Marcos shell from the UK. Why? Well... As you know I'd teamed up with Seventies Car Restoration as they were supposed to fully restore and paint the shell. I made a good deal with them and agreed I would give them promotion when I could. What they hadn't thought of was that they were running behind on other projects that had been becoming more and more expensive. There was no time for the Marcos anytime soon, it seemed. When they decided the only solution was to raise the price considerably, and then I really mean considerably, I thought it was better to come over and pick it up. And so, that's what I did. I am disappointed, yes, what's an agreement worth these days? But hey, that's life. And so the car is back in The Netherlands now. I have no idea if the planned visits to Blyton Park and Le Mans Classic will still be achievable. Let's see what happens.

And so I booked a night crossing from Rotterdam to Hull and back on the same ferry the next night. Picking up the car with my trusty old Saab and trailer went superb and with much of the day left I decided to pay Andy Harrison a visit as I was curious to his Acespeed workshop, not too far away from where I was. Andy has been dealing with some cool cars in the past years and he was exited to see the Le Mans car. He also told me of an exiting project car he is currently working on (I couldn't see it and was not allowed to write about it) and he showed me a Midas Gold he'd just picked up. This was a factory-built car with Midas on its registration papers. Andy told me he's had several Midases before, among them the factory demonstrator. 

Oh - the good news is that I did find another top bloke to work on the shell. He is very eager and enthusiastic, too, and has proved to be more than able to carry out this job. Let's see what happens in the next couple of weeks before I start writing about his work. I've had my feet wet now, let's be a little careful. 

On the road (and sea) again. The Le Mans Mini Marcos is now back in The Netherlands

Picture Jeroen Booij

But... while in Yorkshire I visited Andy Harrison in his Shipley workshop

Picture Jeroen Booij

That's Andy himself with the Midas Gold he just found. He was exited about the Marcos

Picture Jeroen Booij

The Midas needs plenty of work. I's a factory-built car with proper Midas registration

Picture Jeroen Booij

And it's not the first Midas he's had

Picture Jeroen Booij

But he, too, has plenty of more projects to work on. Not this, but another exiting Mini is among them

Picture Jeroen Booij