Marcos Mantis

Like many small car manufacturers in the early 1970s, Marcos went out of business but was revived in 1981 when founder Jem Marsh made a comeback with updated versions of his sporty coupes. Although the cars started out with four-cylinder engines, by the mid-1980s a Rover V8 was being used. As the Rover went Out of production in the mid-1990s, Marcos turned to Ford for their modular V8 and I lie Mantis was born. The wild glass-fibre bodywork hid a strong, separate tubular .steel backbone, with MacPherson struts up front and wishbones at the rear. The wheels were 17-inch (432mm) up front while the rears were taller and wider. All Mantis cars with seven-spoke alloys ran a Vortech supercharger on the Ford 32-valve modular engine which gave 450bhp (336kW). The massive hood bulge both made room for the motor and extracted hot air via vents.

Marcos Mantis Specifications