Moreton’s, the company who bought the Tatton Park car shows from the original owners, have reneged on their ‘guarantee’ of a stand at the August ‘Passion for Power’ show. Again, allegedly due to a lack of space (see previous post for the completely empty stand they had in June) & that Marcos only wanted a stand for one of the two days. This was never a problem for the original organisers in over 25 years. It seems Moreton’s aren’t interested in low volume sports cars like Marcos who cannot put out row after row of vehicles. The general consensus amongst the very loyal group of owners who have attended Tatton Park over the years is that we should look elsewhere for a new venue in the Northwest. I also need to be able to trust the show organisers when they make a commitment, which I don’t feel able to do. Unfortunately that looks like the end of the road for Marcos showing at Tatton Park as a club, which we have done almost since it started in the mid 90s.
Happy 60th anniversary!
Finally it is the weekend of the 60th Anniversary celebrations down at Wroxall Abbey (https://maps.app.goo.gl/k7KJdXmUVSB2QG7p6). The weather isn’t quite as nice as during the week (Spanish plume… where are you?! 🙄🤣) but could be worse. Slightly more frustrating perhaps is that the Mantis is dead as a… er… dead thing. Unfortunately my DB Power Li-ion jump starter is also discharged so as I write the battery is trickle charging away. Heigh ho! Hoping to get there in time for the dinner tonight, otherwise tomorrow’s part of the event. (although I am not sure quite what that is).
Tick tock, tick tock! 🙄
Not a fan
Just picked the car up after the cooling fans stopped working again. Unfortunately the contact in the junction block fitted last week by the auto electrician was not a good one, & the resultant power surges melted the Fan relay holder. In the absence of a spare relay holder which fits into the existing modular block, the relay has been wired direct which gets the car back on the road. Something to revisit at a later date however.
It’s been nine weeks since I contacted National Windscreens for a replacement screen as the crack in mine is slowly getting bigger. No outlook on when it may arrive so getting worried it may not be done before the 60th Anniversary at Wroxall in July. The supplier of course could only be Marcos Heritage Spares, so I phoned Rory who explained that Pilkington had moved their manufacturing out to Finland & were having logistics problems. Mine is one of 12 screens he is waiting for from up to four months ago, which is not great! Fingers crossed….
Enlightened
Gave a recommended local auto-electrician a try & he has fixed the cooling fans (corrosion on junction box behind rad & underneath fan belt) & daylight running lights (earth disconnected in wiring by controller). Result! Just need to wait for the rain to stop now! 🤣☔🙄
Rejected!
So having been told by the Tatton Show organisers that they were short of privateer entries for their June show, & to apply in lieu of our usual club stand… I got rejected!
It is with great regret that we have to decline your kind offer to display your 1997, Marcos, Mantis. We have received such an overwhelming response from people who would like to display their vehicle at the show that we are full to capacity and cannot accept any more.
And on my birthday too! 😭🙄😢.
On the bright side… at least four of the other Marcos owners have been accepted so at least there will be a Marcos presence.
FFS
Beautiful weather & not driven the Mantis for a few days so decided to nip over to Stockport this afternoon & the 🤬ing cooling fans aren’t kicking in. Cue 90 minutes in a McDonald’s car park trying to figure out what’s going on. The mega-fuses are all fine & can’t see any loose wires. The ever awesome Torque confirmed the temperature gauge is reporting true. Argh. 🙄😠😡.
Finally let the engine cool down then made it home with the interior fan maxed out. On the bright side nothing boiled over! But… the weather is stunning… I really want to have the car running. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.
D’oh! Putting stuff off…
So, back in October I mentioned that the windscreen had developed a crack in it. As it had stabilised at about 6″ & is obscured by the rear view mirror so not in line of sight, it was a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Or at least, it was until the first car show of 2019 is looming. Yesterday I finally gave the insurance company a call & went through to their supplier, National Windscreens. Had I thought about it I would have realised they don’t carry any stock & lo, they have contacted Marcos Heritage Spares to source one from Rory. This is reassuring as it means it should be kosher… however I had not bargained on a 6-8 week lead time so may not have the new screen before the first Tatton Park show on June 2nd. D’oh! I gather Pilkington make these to order & it is now done outside the UK (gulp! 😮 ). Fingers crossed then, & that National Windscreens can install it without any issues. Not sure how successful the transfer of the treasured windscreen stickers from Windsor Castle, Le Mans & so on will go. Plus the Dashcam will need transferring.
Space at Tatton Park show… again
Not impressed to receive an email from Moreton’s Media Group, who took over the twice-yearly Tatton Park car shows from local owner Stuart (fantastic chap & a real, unbiased car enthusiast), saying that they do not have the space for a Marcos stand on Sunday 2nd June. Given the application form went in in January this is both surprising & disappointing. Having spent many years building up some loyalty to the Tatton Show amongst the Macros owner community, with some people travelling all the way up from the South coast (yes Collin, you!), this loyalty does not seem to be reciprocated. The event organiser did come back to me to say they would review the situation, but subsequently reconfirmed no space. Pretty miffed TBH but we are at least guaranteed a stand on August. In the meantime we are trying to enter the show via individual private entries & then will arrive en masse so at least we are together. No gazebo if it rains though, or guarantee we will be accepted, or co-located. We will see what happens, but may need to start thinking about alternative May shows in the North West such as Capesthorne Hall or the Gawsworth Classic …
Marcos make it to Jay Leno’s Garage
Not a Mantis but a lovely ’71 GT featured in Jay Leno’s Garage. One of the best Marcos video clips I’ve come across with both Jay Leno & the owner, Frazer Douglas, coming across extremely well. Nice to see the marque getting this kind of visibility & they both do the lovely ’71 GT featured justice.
Hot but mysterious
Didn’t quite make it back from the supermarket last Sunday, with the engine temperature shooting up & plenty of steam from underneath the bonnet accompanied by the lovely sound of a burbling brook… Sorry I mean coolant boiling. Fortunately this was at the end of the road from home. After checking both fans were running (they were) whilst admiring the growing pink puddle on the road, I let the engine cool down & topped back up via the expansion bottle/tank/aluminium thingy. Idling by the side of the road it didn’t take long to get up to temperature, see the fans kick in but with the needle continuing to climb until… Same again. And again. And again. Like the bastard son of Nascar & a traction engine!
Got home & left it until Monday evening, on the off-chance it was a one-off. However, able to boil the coolant from idle in a few minutes. Same again Tuesday. With no luck fault finding a quick call to Jay at Chariots to see what I should look at, & we identified that the radiator was cold even though the system was boiling over. So, the water isn’t circulating which suggests either thermostat or water pump. Another quick call, this time to Performance Parts who supplied the engine. As ever their technical support was brilliant & after confirming there were no known issues with the water-pump & that the impeller was metal, I ordered a thermostat. This arrived a few days later &, with the garage too busy to fit me in they very kindly lent me a socket set & I changed the thermostat. Very adventurous of me, though I do say it myself…
This did not seem to fix the problem at first, & I ended up giving it to the garage a few days later. However, they couldn’t reproduce the issue after leaving the car idling for 45 minutes (& stopping before it ran out of juice!). & it has driven well since, so I can only assume that a combination of a new thermostat, and diligent topping up with much massaging of the coolant pipes to remove any airlock, has done the trick.
Another Marcos adventure completed!