Marcos Mantis

The original Marcos Mantis is a sports car produced by the British car company Marcos Engineering. It was formally introduced in 1968, although it appears that production was slow to start.^{[citation needed]}

Marcos Mantis (1968 Model)

Marcos Mantis (1997 Model)

Announced as being officially released for sale in England during October 1970 as a luxurious 2+2 with a top speed of 120 mph (190 km/h) - powered by a Triumph 2.5 PI engine / transmission and built using a fiberglass body placed on a square tube chassis – with coil springs all round and live axle rear suspension with trailing links and a “A” bracket – the Mantis was expected to be priced into the English “young executive market” at a price of A$6,500.^[1][2]

Although it was a larger car having a length of 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m), its height of 3 ft 10 in (1.17 m) made it one of the lowest coupes on the English market at that time.

No production is known to have happened in Australia, though a few early models were reported to have been privately imported into that country.  

In February 1971, Marcos announced that the car could also be purchased in component form, at a domestic market price of £425, compared to the recommended retail price of £3,185 for the built version.^[3] Compared to this, a V8 Rover 3500 with a UK sticker price, including sales taxes, of £2,150 at the time. 32 samples were produced, with production ending in 1971.^[4]

The Mantis /ˈmæn.tɪs/ name has been used subsequently for models bearing little obvious similarity to the original model. Introduced in 1997, the Mantis GT is a higher performance version of the Mantis. The name Mantis is taken from the mantis insect and is intended to signify the performance of the Mantis' engine, a supercharged 4.6 litre V8 producing 506 bhp (377 kW; 513 PS) and 452 lb⋅ft (613 N⋅m) of torque. This allows the Mantis to accelerate from 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 3.7 seconds and to reach a top speed of 179 mph (288 km/h). The car features power-assisted rack and pinion steering as well as AP Vented disc brakes with a diameter of 284 mm (11.2 in) (front) and 240 mm (9.4 in) (rear).

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References

1. "The Age - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
2. "Life in old Australian Papers". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
3. "News and Views: Marcos Mantis". Autocar. Vol. 134 (nbr 3909). 25 February 1971. p. 32.
4. Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars 1945-1970, page 121