I remember back in the day when I drove Austin Minis, there were magazine ads for Marcos Mini Kits and such. They developed into a company offering some serious sports cars, one being the Mantula Spyder with the Rover V8.

Randy Snow from the Ottawa region owns such a car, and he loves the rarity of it!

I had the pleasure to talk with Randy at the Merrickville Classic Car Show on September 25th, 2022 about his Mantuula.

Wikipedia

“In 1992 Marcos left the kit car business, all cars from this point onwards being factory built, and launched the Marcos Mantara which was sold through dealers in limited numbers. The main difference between the Mantara and the Mantula was the adoption of MacPherson strut front suspension in place of the Triumph suspension and associated trunnions. This change resulted in a wider front track, different bonnet, and flared front arches. The rear wheel arches and rear lights were also changed to give the car a more modern appearance. Power steering was also available for the first time. The Mantara was powered as standard by a 3.9-litre fuel-injected Rover V8 or a 4.6-litre Rover V8 as an optional alternative.

The Marcos GTS was a version of the Mantara powered by the 2-litre Rover Tomcat engine, on request of the Italian distributor Martes Spider Cars. The top version was the 200 bhp (149 kW; 203 PS) turbo version. The GTS version of the Mantara had a slightly different bonnet incorporating much smoother lines, flared-in headlamps, and a deeper spoiler, which was used on the later Mantaray model. A handful of late Mantara V8s were produced with the same bonnet as the 2.0 litre GTS.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia