Chicagoland MG Club: Driveline

November 2018

The Library Muse

For years Deb and I have carried towing insurance through AAA. Just for the very unlikely event that the MGB would break down on the road. Fortunately that has never happened. The few incidents that we have encountered have been remedied by roadside repairs. That all changed several weeks ago on a fishing trip up to northern Wisconsin. You may want to break out a map for the rest of the story.

My buddy Tom and I were headed north from home with a 14 foot canoe on the roof. No, not in the MGB, but in my Honda Ridgeline. We stopped in Lake Tomahawk at the meat market to pick up some prime steaks for the grill and beef jerky. I use the jerky to bribe Sam and the guys at Don’s Auto Ade where the club has had the Spring Tune-up for the several years. Anyway as we leave the store and get back out to the truck the engine won’t turn over, not even a click. All the idiot lights come on and the headlamps and horn work fine, so it’s not the battery. Open the hood and yes, the engine is still there. All the wiring and the fuse seem to be OK. Having an automatic trans we can’t pull a Victor/Penny routine and push start it. And I don’t want to use a jump wire across the solenoid and risk frying all the electrical systems.

Let’s call AAA. The closest tow is in Rhinelander, about 30 miles away. Deb comes down from Mercer to pick us up. So we have about an hour to kill. As luck would have it, there’s a bar next to the meat market (of course in northern Wisconsin there is a bar next to just about everything) so we were able to pass the time constructively. We get the Honda towed to the repair shop in Manitowish, about another 20 miles, but it’s the closest garage to the cabin in Mercer. All is under control.

When we get to Manitowish the garage is closed for the day. We leave the truck there with a note and call them the next day. Bad news, they don’t work on foreign cars. In this day and age that would severely limit one’s clientele base, but that’s another story. Now the closest place that I can find to do the repair is the Honda store, back in Rhinelander. Call AAA and the truck is towed there and repaired. Needed a new starter, which we knew all along.

Moral of the story, have tow insurance on all your cars, two tows in two days totaling 70 or so miles and no towing charges. And no towing fees leaves more money for an attitude adjustment at the local while awaiting the tow. It’s a win-win situation.

~~ Bill Mennell

DID - U - KNOW
by Facia Nearside

Great Britain has an everlasting love affair with motorsport. This not only led to competition on every imaginable level but to an amazing array of manufacturers. While some never get a car into production others soldier along for many years with successful products but never become face cards in the British deck. Marcos is an example of the latter.

1966 Marcos GT 1800 Coup

Founded in 1959 by Jim Marsh and Frank Costin, Marcos derived the company name from the first three letters of each surname. Having worked in the aircraft industry, Costin was an advocate of using marine plywood to form a rigid lightweight structure, thus Marcos racing cars were constructed in this manner. Within a year Marcos GT cars were achieving considerable success, with some noted drivers like Jackie Stewart behind the wheel.

In 1964 the Marcos GT 1800 road car was launched. It had a Volvo 1800cc engine and a sleek glass fiber body that resembled a Ferrari GTO. A unique feature of the car was the fixed seat but adjustable pedals to suit the driver. In 1965 the Mini Marcos debuted, a kit car based on Mini Cooper mechanicals. Laugh if you want but it was the only British car to finish LeMans in 1966! Then in 1968 the Marcos Mantis M70 arrived using a Triumph TR6 engine for its power.

From there the list of successful models could easily fill a tome. Marcos were experts at securing the services of brilliant engineering minds and borrowing the best mechanicals from throughout the world. As late as 1997 The Autocar tested the new Marcos Mantis and reported: “How a company that builds just 70 cars a year can design, engineer, and produce a car as good as the Mantis is beyond comprehension.” However, that small production number in today’s hi-tech automated world might have finally been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Marcos became insolvent in 2000 but was resurrected by Canadian Tony Stelliga as Marcos Engineering Ltd in 2002. This apparently only forestalled the inevitable. After 48 years Marcos finally wound up production in 2007 and went into voluntary liquidation.

Reprinted from British Boots & Bonnets Chronicle — September 2018 issue.

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