Marcos Engineering was a British

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem ''Mar''sh and Frank ''Cos''tin.

History

Marcos was founded in

Dolgellau Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) ...

, North Wales, in 1959, by

Speedex Speedex Castings and Accessories Ltd. was a company manufacturing sports car bodies between 1958 and 1962 in Luton, Bedfordshire. It was set up by Jem Marsh who left Firestone Tyres in 1958 to manage the Luton-based ''Sporting Motorists Agency'' ...

cars' Jem Marsh with aerodynamicist

Frank Costin Francis Albert Costin (8 June 1920 – 5 February 1995) was a British automotive engineer who advanced monocoque chassis design and was instrumental in adapting aircraft aerodynamic knowledge for automobile use. Career Costin was an engineer ...

. Costin had earlier worked on the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...

fighter-bombers and from there he got the idea to use plywood for the chassis. The company moved to a converted mill in

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

, Wiltshire, in 1963; in 1971 they relocated to a £125,000 purpose-built factory at nearby Westbury. Problems with exporting cars to the US and the move to the expensive new premises led to financial troubles, and in 1971 Marcos went out