Where are Marcos' made?
Discussion
Rich...With all the debate about TVR going abroad or whatever... I was just curious to know if Kenilworth is just an assembly line with actual fabrication of chassis/bodies etc. taking place overseas (like Noble) or if there is some engineering and construction occuring with a proper factory.
The bodies are made in England, ironically oop North somewhere (just goes to prove... oh, I won't get started...!). I can't remember the technical term for the process used but the bodies are of exceptional quality. They pretty much pop out of the mold and go straight to paint shop without hours of filling/sanding. The panel fit is amazing.
The chassis are designed AND MANUFACTURED by Prodrive. The bodies are made in England. The drivetrain comes from The General in the US of A. The whole shebang is screwed together at the Prodrive campus in Marcos' workshops.
Edited to add: just remembered a titbit about the Marcos bodies... the "Screamer" (grey T50 GT car) was relatively lardy (by new Marcos standards) with its various hand-made prototype bits and modifications. The new bodies (that all production cars will have) save a load of weight and are more rigid by a factor.
The chassis are designed AND MANUFACTURED by Prodrive. The bodies are made in England. The drivetrain comes from The General in the US of A. The whole shebang is screwed together at the Prodrive campus in Marcos' workshops.
Edited to add: just remembered a titbit about the Marcos bodies... the "Screamer" (grey T50 GT car) was relatively lardy (by new Marcos standards) with its various hand-made prototype bits and modifications. The new bodies (that all production cars will have) save a load of weight and are more rigid by a factor.
Edited by BossCerbera on Sunday 22 October 17:52
Noble get their bodies made abroad, IIRC.
Everything on the Marcos (except for the 5.7l V8 (GM) and gearbox (Monaro), is made in good old Blighty. Only, as Phil said, the panels go pretty much straight to paint. After some of the comments regarding body panel fit on the prototype, the panels on the production cars are well up to, and are better than in some cases, metal-shelled cars.
The quilted interior panels on some of the cars aren't to my taste either, but, if that's what the customer wants (and don't forget that most of the cars photographed so far are Customer cars), that's what they'll get. IMHO Alcantara would be a better option, (I wouldn't want my car to look like an Anorak inside ;o)), but I generally like the interior. I'm still of the opinion that angling the central instruments towards the driver would (a la Wiessmann) give an air of "classic" styling to the dash, as well as removing the most common complaint by people that haven't driven the car. Those of us that have, it really is no big deal, don't forget the Mini (both old and new) have a centrally mounted speedo, and there's a fair bet that most people have driven one of them at one time or another.
As far as I can gather, even the electrics are UK sourced and produced (please, no Joe Lucas, Prince of Darkness jokes), so with the possible exception of Morgan, I think you'd be hard pressed to pick a production performance car with more "Made in Britain" in it.
Also, don't forget that the chassis was designed and are built by Prodrive, and I don't hear too many Subaru WRC drivers complaining about their cars not handling. And what with their venture into F1 next year, I think the race feedback can only be good for future models. I hope so, because I really want to see the Convertible when it makes the light of day.
Of course, if you're really interested, Rich, gve Marcos a call (or Phil at Champ Cars, or your local dealer) and I'm sure they'll be able to enlighten you even more.
maggit
Everything on the Marcos (except for the 5.7l V8 (GM) and gearbox (Monaro), is made in good old Blighty. Only, as Phil said, the panels go pretty much straight to paint. After some of the comments regarding body panel fit on the prototype, the panels on the production cars are well up to, and are better than in some cases, metal-shelled cars.
The quilted interior panels on some of the cars aren't to my taste either, but, if that's what the customer wants (and don't forget that most of the cars photographed so far are Customer cars), that's what they'll get. IMHO Alcantara would be a better option, (I wouldn't want my car to look like an Anorak inside ;o)), but I generally like the interior. I'm still of the opinion that angling the central instruments towards the driver would (a la Wiessmann) give an air of "classic" styling to the dash, as well as removing the most common complaint by people that haven't driven the car. Those of us that have, it really is no big deal, don't forget the Mini (both old and new) have a centrally mounted speedo, and there's a fair bet that most people have driven one of them at one time or another.
As far as I can gather, even the electrics are UK sourced and produced (please, no Joe Lucas, Prince of Darkness jokes), so with the possible exception of Morgan, I think you'd be hard pressed to pick a production performance car with more "Made in Britain" in it.
Also, don't forget that the chassis was designed and are built by Prodrive, and I don't hear too many Subaru WRC drivers complaining about their cars not handling. And what with their venture into F1 next year, I think the race feedback can only be good for future models. I hope so, because I really want to see the Convertible when it makes the light of day.
Of course, if you're really interested, Rich, gve Marcos a call (or Phil at Champ Cars, or your local dealer) and I'm sure they'll be able to enlighten you even more.
maggit
BossCerbera said:
4WD said:
I didn't realise prodrive designed the chassis. It must have class leading handling!?
It's very good.
Knocks the socks of any TVR in my opinion for realy world driving. I keep banging on about it, but to pick up a car and in 10 minutes by going through country lanes a good bit faster than I could afterwards in my Red Rose Cerb that I'd owned for 18 months says something about the usability.
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