"Marcos was originally founded in 1959 by BRDC member and racer, Jem Marsh and engineer, Frank Costin. The latter had experience building wooden aeroplanes and he put this knowledge to good use in early Marcos cars with the extensive use of plywood as part of their chassis. Various changes of ownership and physical location took place over the ensuing decades and various models came and went, all known for their combination of simplicity and high performance. In the late 1990's their mainstream product was the 'Mantis' which was offered with a potent Rover V8 engine, similar to the TVR's of the day. This model eventually 'morphed' in to the much improved and prettier 'Mantaray', with the re-styled bonnet from the Mantara GTS and with a new shape rear-end. Mechanically the car was identical to the Mantara. It was offered with 4.0 and 4.6 litre Rover V8 as well as the 2.0 litre, and 2.0 litre turbo Rover Tomcat engines. Only 11 were made with the 4.0 litre, and seven with the 4.6 litre engine. Total factory production was 26, plus one car in chassis/body component form.
Being one of only seven built with the potent 4.6 litre Rover V8 engine, this pretty Mantaray is an incredibly rare car. Owned by the vendor since 2005, the car has been well cared for in his tenure and presents incredibly well. He purchased it from well-known Porsche specialist, Paul Stephens who had been using it as his personal car. The car's history file contains the original order documentation showing the car to be one of the seven 4.6 litre V8 cars as well as including receipts from Marcos Heritage and an original sales brochure. The vendor had the car re-chipped by Power Engineering in Uxbridge with a 'sensible' tune which reportedly produced a potent 250bhp at the wheels! The car was serviced by Marcos Heritage in 2022 where the adjustable wishbones and newly replaced shock absorbers were all set up to factory specifications. A larger fan has been fitted to replace the smaller twin system and in 2022 the car also benefitted from a replacement fuel system. The vendor reports the car to run and drive very well and is only now selling due to lack of use. Supplied with a V5C registration document, original handbook, sales brochure, original order form, various receipts and a spare set of Team Dynamics wheels. An incredibly rare and unique piece of British motoring history that is a far rarer alternative to the more common TVR. This potent vehicle turns heads wherever it goes."