Le Mans Mini Marcos: back to square one

Last week I had to make a tough decision and decided to pick up the Mini Marcos shell from the UK. Why? Well... As you know I'd teamed up with Seventies Car Restoration as they were supposed to fully restore and paint the shell. I made a very good deal with them as I couldn't afford to pay the full price. They agreed as this car meant a lot to them and would gain plenty of promotion. What they hadn't thought of was that they were running behind on other (budgeted) projects that had been becoming more and more expensive. There was no time for the Marcos anywhere soon, and it was becoming more and more of a burden to them. When they decided the only solution was to raise the price to normal standards, I thought it was better to come over and pick it up. And so, that's what I did. I am disappointed, yes, as I still think they would have been the perfect party to do it, but, hey, that's life. And so the car is back in The Netherlands now. I have no idea if the planned visits to Blyton Park and Le Mans Classic will still be achievable. Let's see what happens.

And so I booked a night crossing from Rotterdam to Hull and back on the same ferry the next night. Picking up the car with my trusty old Saab and trailer went superb and with much of the day left I decided to pay Andy 'Ace' Harrison a visit as I was curious to his Acespeed workshop, not too far away from where I was. Andy is a great guy whose been dealing with some great cars in the past years and he was ever so exited to see the Le Mans car. He also told me of an exiting project car he is currently working on (I couldn't see it and was not allowed to write about it but it will be revealed this Summer) and he showed me a Midas Gold he'd just picked up. This was a rare factory-built car with Midas on its registration papers rather then the Q-plate Metro reg that the majority of these cars use. Andy told me he's had several Midases before, among them the factory demonstrator. Thanks for the warm welcome mate!

Oh - the good news is that I did find another top bloke to work on the shell. He is very eager and enthusiastic, too, and has proved to be more than able to carry out this job. Let's see what happens in the next couple of weeks before I start writing about his work. I've had my feet wet now, let's be a little careful. 

On the road (and sea) again. The Le Mans Mini Marcos is now back in The Netherlands

But... while in Yorkshire I visited Andy 'Ace' Harrison in his Shipley workshop

That's Andy himself with the Midas Gold he just found. He was exited about the Marcos!

The Midas needs plenty of work. I's a factory-built car with proper Midas registration

And it's not the first Midas he's had. He said he would be ever so keen to work on the Marcos, too...

But he, too, has plenty of more projects to work on. Not this, but another exiting Mini is among them