Registered and complete, found and for sale - Mini Marcos
Interesting old ads show more cool Marcoses for sale
Ever seen a Biota from below?
Showing posts with label Autocars Marcos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autocars Marcos. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
Now in Maximum Mini Newsletter #40
Will the real Kingfisher prototype please stand up?
Mini Marcos sold - in memory of Aad
New 'bomb release test' picture of Autocars Marcos
Monday, 6 February 2017
Crash testing Mini derivatives
The news that Europe's car crash club Euro NCAP is 20 years old, made me wonder how many Mini based cars ever made it to an official block of concrete. The facilities at MIRA in the UK are much older and there must have been at least some of them over there? The Midas Gold is often claimed to be the first composite car to pass MIRA's ECE30 crash barrier test to ensure TUV approval, to sell these cars overseas. But there had been others. The Autocars Marcos estate, for example, had been crash tested here as early as june or july 1970. And then there was the fiberglass bodied Peel Mini that went there perhaps even as early as 1966, when it was conceived (update: according to Bill Bell it was 1968). But there were other facilities, too. The McCoy was tested at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where a crash test was carried out, too. I'd love to learn a bit more about all of these, or perhaps others? Let me know when you know more.
UPDATE 17 February: A reader has the full and confidential report of the Midas at MIRA unearthed… Click here to see for yourself.
The first composite car to pass MIRA's ECE30 crash test: the Midas Gold
Courtesy Midas Owners club
But this composite car made it way earlier to the concrete block of MIRA: the Peel Mini
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
June or july 1970: the Autocars estate, built and developed by Marcos Cars is crash tested at MIRA
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
This is not the McCoy, but its forebear the Clan Crusader at MIRA. The Mini-based McCoy
was crash tested at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh
Picture courtesy Clan Crusader Owners Club
UPDATE 17 February: A reader has the full and confidential report of the Midas at MIRA unearthed… Click here to see for yourself.
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
Is this really the only Autocars Marcos survivor?
Autocars, the Israel based motor manufacturer built Standard Triumphs under a license, but planned to broaden their range with a model of their own in the late 1960s. In order to do this Autocars co-founder Yitzhak Shubinski teamed up with the late Jem Marsh to design and build a fiberglass bodied but Mini based car. Marsh flew to Israel in late 1969 were he found the works “A shambles with apparent little concern for work or production targets”, but never the less signed a contract. Back in Westbury, he started work on building three or four prototypes with estate bodies, while another two saloons followed in 1970. The estates were called W90 and were yellow, blue and red according to Marcos Heritage-man Rory McMath; the saloons were called W95. Unfortunately it all lead to nothing and both models never made it to the (Israelean) market.
But I wonder what happened to these prototypes. One of the estates was crash tested at MIRA, while another was used by Jem's wife Judith as a practical utility for years before being restored in 1992 by the Marcos Owner's Club. After the restoration it was sold to the Maruyama collection where it remains to this day. Another estate is said to have been languishing in an orchard not far from the old Marcos factory in Westbury, but there is no evidence. Fact is that one of the saloons ended up as a toy car in a Tel Aviv kindergarten! It was there photographed by Yohay Shinar in the 1990s, but disappeared soon after. And so the Maruyama-car is the only one I have ever seen. Is there anyone out here who knows more about the others?
But I wonder what happened to these prototypes. One of the estates was crash tested at MIRA, while another was used by Jem's wife Judith as a practical utility for years before being restored in 1992 by the Marcos Owner's Club. After the restoration it was sold to the Maruyama collection where it remains to this day. Another estate is said to have been languishing in an orchard not far from the old Marcos factory in Westbury, but there is no evidence. Fact is that one of the saloons ended up as a toy car in a Tel Aviv kindergarten! It was there photographed by Yohay Shinar in the 1990s, but disappeared soon after. And so the Maruyama-car is the only one I have ever seen. Is there anyone out here who knows more about the others?
The W90 estate just after the restoration in 1992 - is it the only Autocars Marcos surviving?
Picture Jeroen Booij archive
As I saw the car in 2008 - it's stored outside which hasn't done it too much good
Picture Jeroen Booij
The interior is a match of things old and new, with an interesting dashboard
Picture Jeroen Booij
The engine is believed to be a 998 Cooper. According to Kazuo Maruyama it's fast, too
Picture Jeroen Booij
This is the W95 saloon as seen in a Tel Aviv kindergarten by Yohay Shinar years ago
Picture Yohah Shinar
Sloping roof and different back end for the saloon. Bodies were of excellent quality
Picture Yohah Shinar
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Rare pics of ultra rare Marcos
Look at these. They are tiny pictures that were sent over to me years ago. Because they are so small, I have put them together. But they show a super rare Mini derivative that I'd want to share with you never the less.
In fact, I believe it could be the only vehicle of its kind left in the world. It's the Autocars estate, based on a Mini and built by Jem Marsh of Marcos fame. So in a way it is a Mini Marcos, but not as we know it. Marcos built six prototypes for the motor manufacturer Autocars in Haifa, Israel. Four were estates, the other two fastback saloons. And according to Rory McMath who worked at Marcos at the time, they came in red, yellow, blue and green. At least one of the estates was used for crash testing at MIRA and three (two estates, one saloon) were shipped over to Israel. But production of the cars never came off the ground (an unlikely story - read it in my book, it's illustrated with nine more lovely shots, both historic and current).
What happened to the other cars is mostly shrouded in mystery. The saloon that made it to Israel ended in a kindergarten as a kiddies toy, but according to Yohay Shinar, who sent me pictures of it, it is gone there now. One of the estates, red in colour, is said to have been used by Jem Marsh's wife Judith for years and was spotted by Rory McMath some 10 years ago for the last time. The yellow estate car that can be seen here survived and was restored in the early 1990s after which it was exported to Japan. These snap shots were taken just after it arrived there, but it hasn't seen much use since. I saw the car twice while in Tokyo and unfortunately have to say it is a a considerably worse state now. That's, too, why I like these pictures. Anybody out here who ever saw one of the other five cars built?
In fact, I believe it could be the only vehicle of its kind left in the world. It's the Autocars estate, based on a Mini and built by Jem Marsh of Marcos fame. So in a way it is a Mini Marcos, but not as we know it. Marcos built six prototypes for the motor manufacturer Autocars in Haifa, Israel. Four were estates, the other two fastback saloons. And according to Rory McMath who worked at Marcos at the time, they came in red, yellow, blue and green. At least one of the estates was used for crash testing at MIRA and three (two estates, one saloon) were shipped over to Israel. But production of the cars never came off the ground (an unlikely story - read it in my book, it's illustrated with nine more lovely shots, both historic and current).
What happened to the other cars is mostly shrouded in mystery. The saloon that made it to Israel ended in a kindergarten as a kiddies toy, but according to Yohay Shinar, who sent me pictures of it, it is gone there now. One of the estates, red in colour, is said to have been used by Jem Marsh's wife Judith for years and was spotted by Rory McMath some 10 years ago for the last time. The yellow estate car that can be seen here survived and was restored in the early 1990s after which it was exported to Japan. These snap shots were taken just after it arrived there, but it hasn't seen much use since. I saw the car twice while in Tokyo and unfortunately have to say it is a a considerably worse state now. That's, too, why I like these pictures. Anybody out here who ever saw one of the other five cars built?
Autocars Marcos estate that's in Japan could be the only survivor of its kind
(click up for bigger image)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)