Est: 1972
Where it All Began- Dollgellau 1959
Frank Costin with the wooden chassis outside the workshop in Dolgellau
In 1959, a small village in North Wales, Dolgelleau, saw the start of a story that has fascinated sports car enthusiasts ever since. Frank Costin and Jem Marsh formed Marcos and started designing and then building the first Marcos prototype. The car was built in an outbuilding belonging to the local hotel, The Golden Lion Royal Hotel. (Now turned into flats)
The naming for the project is believed to have been suggested by Frank's father-in-law during a library visit to Dolgellau and resulted in a brand name that has become famous and synonemous with fast sleek and powerful British Sportscars, MARCOS.
And so the story begins...
... the first car took shape with Frank calling on his extensive knowledge and design skills honed at De Havilland, famous for the 'wooden wonder', the Mosquito.
A mixture of wood, mahogany, spruce and birch marine plywood were used to build the body, chassis and the somewhat 'quirky' gullwing doors. The original car had a Ford 100E engine but this was replaced with the 105E power unit on all production cars. Nine cars were built between 1959 and 1960, and all featured a four piece, aircraft style windscreen and the car was originally fitted with cycle wings.
