Memories of Marcos

Sir,

I particularly enjoyed Richard Heseltine’s feature on Marcos cars in your February edition as it brought back happy memories for me.

As a 20-year-old art student at Loughborough Training College I wrote a design study of the Marcos 1800GT which had so impressed me at the 1964 Racing Car Show at Olympia. This successfully combined my interest in the use of wood in car production and my growing interest in high-performance cars.

Jem Marsh was welcoming and helpful and spent almost a whole day in the factory showing me round, explaining the various production processes and allowing me to take many photographs. He also took me for a good thrash around the Wiltshire countryside, sometimes at speeds I had not previously experienced. How quiet country roads were then! I also spent half a day in the drawing office of Dennis Adams, from whom I learned a great deal about the theories of sports car design and construction, and, in particular, handling. A memorable time for me.

Incidentally, the great John Bolster of TV commentary fame was also helpful in providing information concerning timber-frame chassis in racing cars, including his famous ‘Bloody Mary’.

I always wanted a Marcos but my funds would only stretch to a Lotus Super 7, Mk2 Cosworth. Now there’s a story…

Peter Wroot, Coalville, Leics