Nice colour Will stripes be added?

Maybe on the sides the early cars had MINI MARCOS GT on the doors as part of the stripe low down. i'll consider once the bright work is on.

I've seen Matty's Marcos up close many times - a beautiful piece of work, but I'm not sure it I would would want to be doing 140mph in one! (He probably would tho' no worries )

I wish I had the $$$ to keep it here in Oz, I think it might be destined for overseas AFAIK, it has been a Read family/Readspeed member of the stable for some time.

cheers,

Jacob

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'72 Clubman Van - 1022cc, 295 head, 731 cam - Daily Driver
'69 Morris 1100 S - Dinged by a bus, in shed under repair
'64 Morris 1100 - Early 1100, long term project

2 of my problems with my Marcos are that (1) it doesn`t look like this atm-->



EDIT--> & really ,,, how good looking is that thing yeah??? Damn i`m totally in love, honestly

but anyways, from most other angles they`re ugly as pus hey?


& sorry to the person who i stole that photo from, i hope you don`t mind me showing your lovely car off, but thanks in advance

& look to be honest for some reason i`d rather want my Marcos to ook like that one & to do it to this car would be sacrilege really,,, & besides the 2nd reason is cause i simply can`t afford it right now

& yes it really is one of the very first 2 to come here to Australia & yes they`re "pretty-well" (but not technically) a MK1 cars,,, both these cars came in with consecutive numbers, ,, this particular car , it is said, allegedly had a mould taken from it`s sleek skin & a spaceframed race beast was apparently born from it,,, but alas , wherever this "alleged" race weapon,,, & it`s womb, the mould, which was taken from same//?,,, well... i`d like to know,,, but yes there`s more storys for another bed time story next week boys & girls

good night possums

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I met a tradesman's instructor (Fitter/turner or Boilermaker) at the Yeronga Tafe many years ago who told me off the cuff about taking moulds from a Marcos GT as it entered Australia. It had been seized by customs and set for either destruction or return (I can't remember which on this point), but either way the Customs guy was convinced to allow them to take moulds off the car first. This was some time ago, but I remember the conversation well.

One of those little mysteries lost to time....

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

a little more info on this car for anyone interested-->

Yes ,,, well,,, it`s been in our family for nearly as long as i can remember, dad got it when i was about 6 or 7 years old i reckon

it was originally a light-ish blue in colour,,, not too far from the Leyland "Am Eye Blue" colour really ( a bit like Rogers car i spose)

here it is here with my old mate charlie -->circa 1969-70ish i`d guess


now that photo was taken when i was about -->this young-->
me with my moulton pushy


Dad had one of his fellas (Mal) paint it with this hodge-podge of colours that dad mixed up with some paint tins of what was left over from the good old days & yeah the babyshi!TT colour it is now is pretty crap hey?

However,,, not long after dad got the car, it a dirty old valiant ute backed into it at the drivers side door,,, not a bad hit really & it was a simple easy fix to the door,,, but the jolt of it craked the screen & dad couldn`t find a replacement to easy back then & a new one from England was stoopid cost & he worried about it being broken in transit,,, so he waited & waited & waited,,, i don`t know what for tho,,, maybe he was waiting for someone to bring him a screen & deliver it for free or something??? either way a screen just didn`t miraculously appear out of the thin air like he`d have liked,,, so ,, over the years of it sitting inside Readspeed workshop & sitting in the carport at our unit at southbank & then back to sitting under the house next door to Readspeed (effectively going no-where & sitting under-cover it`s whole life... doing a whole lot of sitting really hey? ,,, did i mention how long it has been sitting???

anyways,,, somewhere along the way (a few times) I got it running & ready to go & dad said--> "What about a windscreen?",,, & well,,, i,,, er,, arr,,,um,,, didn`t have an answer because after checking out how much a screen cost & the cost to be crated up/wrapped & packed,,, & the cost of freighting it here from England to Australia,,, & the cost of the insurance & etc e5tc etc,,, well i stopped badgering him to get it rego`ed ,,, & apart from the few hunderd power units that actually got built for it & fitted into it over the years ,,, they all ended up being sold for some strange reason (maybe money had something to do with it)

But after buying the car off him a while ago (i took an extension-loan on my house to do it) i started fixing her up again,,, needless to say i still needed a screen & my good friends down south looked after me (you 2 guys know who you are & thank you heaps) & Simon even brought it up with him to the Muster one year for me & i owe you all a big hugs & cuddles & kisses,,, ok maybe not ,,,yuk> !!! (insert major homophobic response here) but seriously thanks guys!!!!!! & now we have the car here ready to be overhauled (again)

So it`s got an overhauled front subframe with hi-los newish donuts & lovely top arms & pins & bearings all done,,, reco aussie rack with new -long rod-ends fitted,,, it did have some disc brakes & adjustable arms for it ready to go on but i be-snavelled them for my Monaco fastback, so it`s sitting on drummys & std arms atm & std steel mini wheels will come with it,,, not the globes shown in the pics i`m sorry

It has all "S" rear end & was all new when i fitted it all up back about 20 years ago

I wish i could find the mould & skin that was taken from this car,,, & i`d even more love ("More-Love"??? ) I`d even love it more if i could find the spaceframe that was supposedly made to suit that skin,,, cause then i`d make that a phat race car & be happy to save this one as per std resto ,,, that`d be great,,, but i just can`t afford much at all right now,,, illness es , heart attacks & strokes & crap & work (or lack therof) is making it a bit hard for me with all my docs appointments & not real fit to do what i normally do,,, it must go,,, so does the Kombi ute really,,, & a pile of other cars that are just sitting here taking up space making me stress

I know the owner of the 2nd (consecutive chassis numbered car) that this car came into the country with ,,, & i know of 3 more Marcos`s here in Aust,,, but i can tell you that this one would have to be one of the oldest in existance because Altho it`s basically a MK1, it was actually sold as a MK3 simply because the Marcos factory were all ready making Mk3`s at the time the order for these first 2x came in,,, they decided to sell the pair of MK1 bodys to Aust because they had them sitting there as spares & no one in England wanted the early version,,, they all wanted the latest & greatest,,, little did they realise just how rare the MK1s have now become,,, they all rotted away or were smashed while being raced somewhere

imagin 140mph back in the early 60s,,, how wild is that!!!??? just think what a late model "decent" power-unit would take the top speed to these days???

maybe even a bike engine package yeah?>?? oh i do have a terrible imagination hey???

Stewy & i have been toying with the idea (for about the last 20 years) of a spaceframe Lightweight Marcos with turbo injected bike engine ,,, Oh yeah!!!!!!

ah well,,, never fear ,,, this particular car is quite a rare one & i don`t want to wreck it by making it into a race car,,, all i`ve ever wanted to do was save it & make it live again

sorry for dribbling on
cheers

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Great read Matt! Thanks for that... geez if only... I'd love to take it off your hands if I could, have always had a soft spot for Marcos

Hope it stays in Australia

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

When did it loose it's nose Matt

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

Some classic pictures there , love the P plates and ive got to say i havent seen ape hangers on a pushbike for years , reminds me of my youth riding the Dragster everywhere with the huge sissy bar on the back lol , i manned up and at least i didnt have the flag or the playing cards clipped on my spokes with a peg lol.

Its amazing what memories old photos back specially when there someone else's photo's like yours , i love it.Maybe we need a thread of shame were we all post old photo;s of ourselves lol " hell some of mine are black and white ".

Oh i forgot this thread is about your old car and if i read this post correctly " who knows with all my meds lol " this beast is a customised mini ?

Cheers:
Bill

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Project Pickles is ALIVE!!!!! Click Here!
Success is so much sweeter after the struggle

hey kenno, if you`re talking about the panel that fits over the slot in the front, Like in the pic of the green Marcos yeah??? then it`s a removable panel for cold climates & i`ve still got it.

I think it`s sold now ,,, just waiting for fiddly details & payment so maybe it really is the end of an era for us with this car

anyways,,, thanks everyone for looking & chatting & sharing, it`s all good

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

A well overdue update -
After purchasing Matt's Marcos as a rolling shell back in December 2012, it has been totally stripped back and rebuilt over the last 21 months. All the work came to fruition today when it received its new Victorian Club Permit plates and took to the roads again. There's still a few small jobs pending, but the priority now is to get a some miles on the engine before running it at this year's Geelong Revival historic sprints in November.

It may not be identical to the green Marcos Matt posted a shot of earlier in the thread, but I hope he's pleased with the result.

Progress and details of the build can be found on the website: http://www.mm7056.wordpress.com

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Curly
'64 Cooper 'S' (Group Nb spec)
'67 Mini Marcos GT www.mm7056.wordpress.com

That looks lovely!

Absolutely stunning well done!

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SPO41 Mk2 Cooper S very original
1993 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR

Wonder what happened to this "gem"

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"Show me the Mini!"

That's above and beyond most Marcos builds. Stunning workmanship and that dash looks stunning. Congrats Curly.