Pavlova at Tatton

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So… Back at Tatton Park for the first time in five years. See my Blog entries from back then as to the whole kerfuffle, but CMI aka Club Marcos International are doing both days this weekend so hats off to Debbie M for making that happen. She is far more tolerant (& organised) than me!

What happened to the much sexier sounding “Passion for Power”?

Sadly The Swan in Bucklow Hill has not survived Covid, so meet up at 0915 was at the adjacent BP garage instead. There was some early excitement upon our arrival on-site when some cheeky blighter in an old Jag refused to move from the spot he had pinched in our club plot. There was even some swearing! (You could say the owner was “an F Type”!). Anyway they eventually moved when both Morrison⁩s growled at them.

No Jags allowed!

Alas, in all the manoeuvring to position the LM in the hijacked spot, a mysterious purple bag got run over by Darren ( & not once, but twice). “So what?” I hear you cry… Well it contained one of Debbie’s legendary Pavlovas. Fortunately no harm was done & I avoided the ignominy of having to eat it out of the grass. Jolly nice it was too.

The last minute quick wash seemed to have paid off.

Five Marcos cars today: a couple of Mantaras, Alan’s 1800, D&D’s Purple Beast/LM & of course my Mantis. Then four tomorrow, including the three cars overnighting. The day was pretty cloudy which meant smaller crowds, but there was plenty of interest & lots of photos taken.

Ready for bed.

An ex-IBM colleague & a couple of friends from the MR2 club popped over to say hello, which was nice. To top it all off, the dodgy band in the beer tent were a Stray Cats / Rockabilly cover band & not bad either. A decent return to Tatton Park then. Next stop… Hampton Court Palace!

CMI Rally 2024 Part 3: “The morning after the morning after”

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Sunday morning was glorious weather. The CMI rally agenda meant a trip to the Concorde Museum in Bristol. However, despite a decent night’s sleep (& having bailed too early to earn a hangover) I was still apprehensive about the throttle cable & decided to forego the pleasures of a Marcos convoy to head home – still a three hour plus journey. I have to say the hotel car park was an impressive sight in the morning sunshine. Probably a good thing the hotel was in its own grounds as the peaceful Sunday morning was ‘enhanced’ by the noise of various Marcos starting up. The actual journey back home was uneventful, although it would have been more fun with the two other North West cars along. Another ‘story’ for the Marcos collection, but to be honest I would have preferred a more straightforward weekend for a change. On the other hand it was lovely to see other owners, & I finally got to see the Morrisons LM500, newly roofed & painted. It looked rather good! (For an LM)

CMI Rally 2024 Part 2: “The morning after”

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Overnighting in the car in Sainsbury’s car park could have been a lot worse ie it could have rained, or been cold. (Channeling my inner Bear Grylls however, the hood cover plus several detailing clothes provided a makeshift duvet). Of course, it could have been a lot better ie I could have got some sleep.

Luxury room Airbnb said!
Saturday breakfast from the Sainsbury’s garage at 0615. Yum!

After a liquid breakfast from the supermarket market garage (not that sort!), another call to The AA & about 0830 a very nice chap who was actually from The AA turned up with a low loader.

Having had a ponder as to whether to go on to Redline or go back to Chariots, I decided on the latter as a few WhatsApp messages with Jay suggested he knew how to fix the problem. About 90 minutes later we were back where I had started from 13 hours previously & ‘the fix’ had commenced. I had to chuckle when Jay proceeded to drill out the rivets securing the fuse box in order to access the other end of the throttle cable where it connected to the electronic throttle. Not my idea of roadside repairable at any rate!

“Easy access”… Hmmm

A mere 20 minutes later, & up cycling the throttle cable from an old Jag, I was good to go. It was too late to make the CMI rally morning meet at Redline, & I doubted I would achieve Bradford-upon-Avon in time for lunch at the Five Zeros cafe, so I headed straight for the day’s third event… Meet up at the old Marcos factory on Westbury Trading Estate, Trowbridge. Three hours later I got there at exactly the same time as the main group of owners, & it wasn’t long before we were all listening attentively as Dave Chivers, the ex-Marcos Production Manager, as he talked us through the factory set up. Always something interesting to learn on these occasions, & of course although I had visited a few times while Marcos were operating, it was nice to be back where the car had been put together 27 years ago.

Next stop, the hotel for the CMI Rally dinner. It was nice to grab a beer & start catching up with a few people, & even meet some new owners. As usual, some of the Luxembourg owners had come over – a bloody good effort & I love their passion for the marque. Dinner was great & conversation was sparkling (for a car club) with the exception of my own, as the wine was rather soporific. I even spoke to a few people who read this blog, which was very gratifying. (You know who you are!)

The after dinner entertainment consisted of a birthday surprise for the inimitable Richard Partridge (not one but two birthday cakes, no less) and some more Marcos tales from Dave Chivers. The highlight for me was the inside story of the various shenanigans at Le Mans when Marcos competed there in the 24 Hours race. Every time I hear more about it, there is more chaos, derring do & skullduggery to be had. Great fun! Alas, the lack of sleep was catching up on me & I am afraid Dave closed his session with a (well deserved) quip about needing to finish as I was dropping off. Mea Culpa. I made my apologies & went to bed. It had been an eventful day.

CMI Rally 2024 Part 1: “No plan survives contact with the enemy”.

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So this weekend is the CMI Annual Rally. Hurrah! However, the Mantis is still down at Chariots having passed the world’s most expensive MOT (inside joke) so I have jumped on a train from South Manchester to Lewes & picked the car up. So far so good. I need to be at Redline Sportscars around 1030 Saturday morning for the start of the day’s CMI rally agenda. Redline is a good three hours drive from Clayhill, & as I am only able to pick the car up after 1900, the cunning plan is to drive the car about halfway from Lewes, then get some zeds in a B&B in Shedfield. After an awesome breakfast, it will be back on the road first thing with a view to arriving at Redline in good time.

That was the plan. And it was a good plan. Splendid even. What actually happened however was that less than an hour in, the throttle cable snapped whilst the car was in the overtaking lane of the M27. After a few seconds wondering where the pedal had gone, realisation dawned & I managed to coast onto the hard shoulder. After registering the breakdown on The AA app, a local garage turned up to recover the car to Sainsbury’s car park which is where I am writing this at 0215 in the morning. Unbelievable. And as of 15 minutes ago, they are advising that they can’t get a recovery vehicle to me until between 0800 & 1000 later this morning (Saturday). That’s about 12 hours after I broke down.

The AA, you suck!!!

Corrosion on the throttle cable, leading it to snap.

Getting my chariot MOTd

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Well, more accurately, getting the Mantis MOT’d by Chariots. Up at 0500 today to drive down to drop the car off with Jay Sherwin at Chariots. 200 miles & five uneventful hours later, I had arrived. Rather earlier than expected actually, as I had factored in ‘Marcos time’ (this consists of waiting for The AA, or ‘phoning a friend’) but it wasn’t needed. Yay! Cue a discussion with Jay around what needs doing (MOT but also LSD front seal, chassis protection, bushes, suspension check blah blah).

The car park was (very) full!

Then dropped off to Lewes Station for the five hour journey home. Fingers crossed no expensive findings & I am back to collect the car in the next few weeks.

Gawsworth… Not

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Well, that didn’t go as planned! Raining when I left for Gawsworth Hall Youngtimers show this morning, but hood down & indeed the rain stopped a few minutes later. Having got the other side of Hale Barns I realised I had forgotten my entrance tickets & went home to pick them up.

Unused. Grrr…

Half a mile into the second journey the coolant boiled over & dumped onto the A538 with the engine going into “Protected Mode”. Really rather disappointing given how good the car has been recently. Anyway, six litres of water later (courtesy of a very nice, patient householder on Hale Road!) & some engine checks using the Torque ODB2 app I limped back home again.

My trusty ODB2 sender. I might not have a clue what’s going on with the engine, but it does!

No idea what happened or why, but decided against trying for Gawsworth a third time. A shame as, apart from catching up with other owners, I was really looking forward to seeing the Morrison’s LM following the conversion from a Spyder to a Coupe & the respray. Knowing Debbie & Darren it will be immaculate. And very purple!

Blog V3.0

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So, after the first generation ‘diary’ of owning a Mantis, hosted as basic Web pages on thequiffster.com site way back in 2000, then moving to the second generation WordPress site at blog.thequiffster.com, we are now at the third generation of this record of owning a Marcos Mantis sports car, hosted on the newly acquired marcos-mantis.blog domain. Hopefully this will improve the search engine rankings & drive a few more visitors here. Whilst it can be very therapeutic to post, I do like to think some bugger is actually reading this every now & then. 🤔🤣

Chumly with my chums

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A pleasant Sunday Lunch at the Cholmondeley Arms in Malpas with some fellow Marcos owners today. The pub have a Sunday Car Club, so got there about half eleven to see a few other motors. A few TVRs, several Morgans, a couple of MGs & a beautiful Porsche Speedster. All very nice. However, it seems I needed to get there about 1000 to get the free bacon butty!

I am known for my pointy nose…
Blue sky over Malpas ️. A nice little car park, with some lovely interesting classics when I arrived. (Was it something I said?)

The Mantis ran beautifully there & back. It didn’t rain. The Psychobilly playlist hit Prince of Darkness at just the right part of the drive. I was the only one in a Marcos for various reasons, but with all the work being done by the other owners, we should see a good turn out across the summer.

The gang. Many of us full of Jam Rolly Polly & custard. Living our best lives… 藍
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Hang ’em high

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After a little negotiation & some saving, I have now purchased the picture of my Mantis that adourned the MOC stand at this year’s Classic Car Show at the NEC. It’s an interesting combination of a photograph & arty ‘touching up’. The detail is very good close up, with the wheels coming out particularly well. Not too bad given the pictures were taken on a very grey, drizzly day.

Christmas Blast for 23

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Not having been in the Mantis for a few weeks, the fantastic clear blue skies of Boxing Day 2023 were too good an opportunity to miss, so after press-ganging my daughter into coming along for the ride, it was off out into the Cheshire lanes for a very pleasant drive out.

A good few things still needing to be done on the car, with future funding sources unclear, but for the time being it was just nice to get out. Given how infrequently I am now driving the car, with negligible commuting & other demands on the old bank balance, I really must try & get a dash cam sorted for 2024 so I can get some driving footage. An aide memoire for the car when the grey cells start failing might be rather handy!

What else for next year then? Well the chatter at the Marcos Christmas Dinner was that we might go to the Youngtimers event at Gawsworth Hall on the second May bank holiday as a group, rather than a independent owners. Other than last year, this was not something I have been previously available for as I am normally at the Hay (Book) Festival with my son, however sadly he has grown up & looks to be elsewhere from now on. We will probably continue to gather on the Sunday of the Oulton Park Gold Cup as our NW race-based meet. The big news perhaps is that we may consider going back to Tatton Park, which we attended for over 25 years before falling out with the new owners, Morton Events, over their ill-informed & ill-advised insistence that we attend on two days across the show weekends. Hopefully after five years running the Tatton Parks shows they now understand that owners clubs of low volume, rare sportscars can’t necessarily get the vehicle numbers to cover more than one day. We will see….