- Alternative meaning 1: Ferdinand Marcos (President of the Philippines)
- Alternative meaning 2: Subcomandante Marcos (Zapatista spokesman)
Marcos was a sports car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1959 by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. Frank Costin had earlier worked on the De Havilland Mosquito figher-bombers and from there he got the idea to use plywood for the chassis.
In 1961 the brothers Dennis Adams and Peter Adams started working with Marcos and they introduced a number of changes to the original design and in 1963 they first displayed the Marcos GT. Originally it used the same Ford Taunus V4 engine as the Saab 96, but in the late 1960s the GT chassis was changed from plywood to a more conventional steel chassis. This shortened the production time and also made it possible to use the more powerful Ford Essex V6 engine (UK). In the early 1970s the exhaust regulations in the USA became tighter and Marcos chose a Volvo engine to pass the emissions limits.
In 1966 came the Mini Marcos. The Mini was significantly shorter than the usual Marcos cars, but it was the only British car to finish Le Mans that year.
In 1968 came the Mantis. It was a pure racing car, a single seater powered by a mid-mounted BRM-Repco V8. Later a 2+2 Mantis was also produced, but the design was not well received and few were sold.
Poor sales in the USA led to financial troubles in the 1970s and by 1971 they were out of business.
Jem Marsh stayed in the auto business and in 1976 he bought the rights to the Marcos name and in 1981 the Marcos was relaunched with the Marcos V6 Coupe that was sold in kit form. In 1984 the Marcos Mantula appeared, powered by a Rover V8. In 1986 came the convertible Marcos Spyder with a design similar to the GT.
The Marcos Martina was the body of the Mantula, but with flared front arches and with Ford Cortina mechanicals.
In 1991 the Mini Marcos was relaunched.
In 1992 Marcos left the kit car business and launched the Marcos Mantara that was sold through dealers in limited numbers. The Mantara was powered by a 3.9 litre Rover V8. The Mantara was also produced in Le Mans versions for racing. Several version were made such as the LM400 (with a Rover 3.9 litre engine), LM500 (Rover 5 litre) and LM600 (with 6 litre Chevy small block V8).
In 1997 the Mantis name was reused on a road car powered by a Ford Cobra V8. It was a design based on the LM cars. Only 70 were made.
The Marcos GTS was a version of the new Mantis, but powered by 2 litre Rover engines. The top version was the 200 bhp (150 kW) turbo version. The GTS evolved into the Marcos Mantaray, but now with 4.6 Rover V8 as well as the 2 litre Rovers.
Marcos' top-of-the-line car is currently the Marcos Mantis GT with a supercharger that boosts the power output up to 500 bhp (320 kW). The race car production is located in The Netherlands while the road cars are made in the United Kingdom.
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