Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Roof Down.
 

This is my car, the
Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder.
It has a 4 litre Rover V8 engine rated at 220 BHP with the sports pack mod.  It can accelerate to 60Mph in just over 5 seconds and has a top speed of more then 140Mph (according to the user manual).

 
Brakes:  26.9cm Disc.
Battery:  12v 65AH.
Max Torque:  227lb/ft (308 Nm) at 3599rpm.
Fuel system:  Lucas `L` electronic fuel injection.
Ignition:  Lucas breakerless electronic.
Cylinder bore/stroke:  94mm/71.1mm.
Wheels:  7"x15" Aluminium alloy.		 Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Front view. Drive:  Rear
Transmission: 5 speed synchromesh manual.
Independent rear suspension:  Unequal length wishbones.  Constant velocity drive shafts including adjustable coilspring damper units.
Front suspension:  Adjustable McPherson Strut.
Fuel type: 95-98 octane, lead free.
 

I have owned this car since the end of August 2001.

It was one of the first Mantaras made and used as the 1993 factory show car.  Its first owner was Jem Marsh - one of the two founder members of the Marcos car company in 1959.

These pictures were taken during the first weekend that I had the car so the rain spoiled them a little.

 
Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Front quarter - Low angle. Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Side view. Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Front quarter.
 

I had to shoot a video for the guys that I work with, they wanted to hear the sound of that rumbling V8 engine and to see what exactly a Marcos Mantara was, most of them had not heard of it.

The images below are taken from that video footage.  Unfortunately I can't upload the movie, its nearly 30Mb and Geocities has a limit of 1Mb for any file on a free site so these stills will have to do for now.

 
Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Badge. Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Big man, small car. Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Driving position Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Interior view. Marcos Mantara 400 Spyder. Rear view.
The bonnet, sporting the Marcos badge. This is me getting into my car, I`m a big lad and its a small car! The classic sports car driveing position, its kind of like sitting on the floor. The dash is made from Elm veneer, the dials are the same as the XJ6 I used to own. The rear, twin exhausts and a boot mounted spoiler.

The Mantara was built with fixed seat positions so Marcos took the unique steps of making the pedals adjustable, there is a switch under the dash that operates the pedal box, moving it nearer the driving seat or further away.  The first thing that I had to do when I bought the car was to move the pedals as far away as possible - I am 6` tall and just about fit.

The roof is removable, one of the options when the car was new, but there is nowhere on the car to store it so you have to make the decision to leave it behind before you set off on your tour.  The folding hood is manual so you need to stop in the event of a downpour!

For the History of Marcos Cars, click here.
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