A pictorial celebration of 50 years of Marcos cars by Jem MarshSYNOPSIS
This book, with over 300 photographs, most of them previously unseen, provides a colourful journey through adversity, excitement and ingenuity in a business world normally dominated by large corporations.It is the story of a unique car and the personalities who created it. Chief amongst these is Jem Marsh, whose skill, vision and determination - not to mention a fair amount of sheer bloody-mindedness - produced a series of elegant, innovative and distinctive sportscars that turned heads around the world.
Jem takes us from his early Austin 7 Specials right through to international racing success at Le Mans. This is a very personal and candid tour, in Jem's own words, of a lifetime spent creating stunning cars that always stood out from the crowd.
It is a tale of how a marque was born, manufactured, owned and raced over 50 years and when the chips were down, how it was kept alive by the determination of one man's instinct to survive.
The Marcos has become a legend amongst sportscars and, after reading this book, you might well want to go out and buy one, race one or just admire one and celebrate the enduring mark it made on the motoring world.
REVIEWS
"Like most British sports car makers, Marcos owes its existence to the vision and tenacity of a very small number of people. Jem Marsh dedicated an entire lifetime to the marque, along with the first three letters of his surname, when he founded the brand in 1959.
So there is no one better qualified to document the turbulent history of Marcos, a company founded on Marsh's passion for motorsport and one that turned its success on the track into dramatic and memorable road cars.
Marsh's insights feature throughout, but it is the extraordinary photos that reveal the charm and endeavour at the heart of one of Britain's most idiosyncratic car makers."
Autocar 16th September 2009
"I got to see a copy of this book yesterday and was mightily impressed. It's more a 'coffee table' book than the earlier book, with a landscape format and most pages being predominantly photos with text overlayed (most appropriately, anecdotes and memories related to the images from Jem) but there are dozens of photographs in it that I have never seen (and I've seen a lot!) related to the Marcos marque.
If you are interested in the history of Marcos you owe it to yourself to get a copy of this book. I will be."
Mark Saxby, Fleet.
August 2009
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