2000 Marcos Mantis

The British sports car manufacturer Marcos was founded in 1959 by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. The name of their company was derived from the first three letters of their last names. The company was based in Luton, in Bedfordshire, England.

In 1968, Marcos introduced two different cars but both were called the Mantis. One was called the Marcos Mantis XP and it was a pure racing car with a very aggressive appearance. Powering the car was a mid-mounted BRM-Repco V8 and only one example was ever made. Other Mantis was a 2+2 Mantis M70 and it was powered by a 2.5-liter Triumph TR6 six-cylinder injected engine. The curved, sharp-nosed design was not well received, and just 32 examples were sold.

In 1997, the Mantis name reappeared on a 2-seater coupe or convertible based on the LM series. Powering the car was a Ford Cobra V8 that gave the car a top speed of 170 mph and 370 horsepower. In 1999, a 500-horsepower supercharged example was announced, which gave it an astonishing zero-to-sixty mph time of just 3.7 seconds. In total, 18 road-going cars were produced.

In 2000, the company entered bankruptcy but was saved by a wealthy Canadian, Tony Stelliga. Production was revived in 2002. Production was relocated to the Netherlands, while road car production moved to Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. The company survived for a few more years but entered voluntary liquidation on October 9th, 2007.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2011