It had been a decade since Marcoses united for the Euregio Meeting on the continent, but yesterday the event was revived after all these years. A string of Mini Marcoses, a few big Marcoses (Mantara and GTs) and some bonus cars (Pimlicos and Quantums) gathered in Holland's south. It was a gentle awakening of the event, but sunny weather, good location and cheerful spirit turned it into an altogether good revival.
Richard Porter and Keith Rose came over from the UK to represent the British Mini Marcos Owners Club and there were one or two surprises - Aad van Beekum's freshly restored Mk3 Mini Marcos in the first place. Aad has owned the car for 17 years, but only just finished its restoration - a mammoth task he told, as it turned out it had been rolled in a previous life and roof and other body panels were badly crazed. Aad set himself to the task of perfectioning the body and drove it in resplendid silver grey colour for the first time. Another beautifully restored car was the 1600GT with Lotus crossflow head of Remco Bruins. No Mini power here, but no doubt a stunner.
Remarkably, Aad's Mini Marcos is another car imported from the UK, as were 4 out of 5 other Mini Marcoses on Dutch plates attending. In recent times three cars originally sold to The Netherlands moved abroad - one to Germany, one to Finland and one to Belgium. A handful of cars, originally sold to Holland, remain within the borders, so hopefully we will see these at next year's Euregio Meeting.
Frank Morskate's Le Mans replica stands out in between all that orange and red!
Picture Jeroen Booij
More Mini Marcoses line up - remarkably, all of them originate from the UK
Picture Jeroen Booij
No Mini power, but Ed Darwinkel's Midas looks superb in gunmetal with 13" Revos
Picture Jeroen Booij
Frank told me several people have asked him if his (Mk3) Mini Marcos is the real deal!
Picture Jeroen Booij
Surprise of the event was Aad van Beekum's Mk3 - freshly finished after a meticulous restoration
Picture Jeroen Booij
Aad owns the car for 17 years but this was the very first drive he had in it!
Picture Jeroen Booij
Pimlicos were welcome, too. Surprisingly they live just miles apart in Holland's south
Picture Jeroen Booij
Way too beautiful not to include here: Remco Bruins''big' Marcos with 1600 Lotus power
Picture Jeroen Booij
Successful day in The Netherlands. The idea is to do the Euregio Meeting every year now
Picture Jeroen Booij