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Better to stay silent and let them wonder, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Never try to teach a pig to sing, it's a waste of time and you run the risk of offending the pig.
Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and win with experience.

Looks kinda like a Jaguar....

right country, wrong company

Mr. P

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Better to stay silent and let them wonder, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Never try to teach a pig to sing, it's a waste of time and you run the risk of offending the pig.
Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and win with experience.

A Marcos? A volvo....

Looks like some kind of Ginetta 12? Or some kind of Ginetta.

LS

I've got no clue what it is...so I cheated, and found it. I won't spoil it for the rest of you though. I still don't really know what it is, and I've never heard of it before.

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Chris M.
SF Bay Area, CA
'06 Nissan Frontier 4.0 crew cab
'98 Explorer 5.0
No more Slow Nova

Is it some kind of opel?

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"Ain't capitalism grand?"

2010 Pontiac G5 sedan
1977 Malibu Classic 2dr., 'Rhiannon' R.I.P. (still out there somewhere)
1986 GMC 1/2-ton, 'Gus' -for sale

it's British....maybe a Thatcher Penis Pumper???

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Out of the darkness the zombie did crawl,
True pain and suffering he brought to them all,
Away were the children to hide in their beds,
for fear the devil would chop off their heads...

Quote: Originally Posted by No Rice Allowed A Marcos? A volvo....

Actually, the Mar-cos comment is half right. It's not a Marcos though. Marcos is an acronym created from two last names. One of those names is the builder/manufacturer of this car.

Mr. P

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.







Better to stay silent and let them wonder, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Never try to teach a pig to sing, it's a waste of time and you run the risk of offending the pig.
Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and win with experience.

The Car is a Costin Amigo of which only 8 were built, the one below is also a Costin designed car, called the Nathan of which 30 or so were built.


http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/large/547-1.jpg



One of the household names in British post-War motorracing is Costin. The two brothers Frank and Mike Costin have had a lasting impact on the design of race cars and engines. Frank worked for Lotus for a long time and was responsible for the slippery shapes of some of Lotus' finest sportscars. After his Lotus years he formed Marcos and leant part of his name to it, just like Mike did when he started Cosworth, one of the sport's best known engine builders.

After his stint at Marcos, Frank Costin teamed up with Roger Nathan in 1965 to construct a new prototype racer. In the early 1960s Nathan had made a name for himself racing Lotus Elites very successfully. He then started a tuning company for Hillman Imps and his main input in the project would be the engine for the new sportscar. Costin was to design the chassis and body.

Although the end-result looked little like anything he had designed before, Costin did incorporate many of the same ingredients found on his Marcos design. Most notable was his use of plywood for the centre section of the chassis. On both ends a tubular subframe was mounted to support the suspension and mid-mounted engine. One of the main reasons for the extensive use of wood was that it offered a strong, lightweight construction at the fraction of the cost of a similar aluminum chassis.

Nathan supplied a highly tuned version of the 1 litre Imp engine. Many of the internal parts were strengthened and two twin-choke Weber carburetors fitted to finish off the job. The endresult was quite impressive, with an output of 97 bhp the engine produced almost 100 bhp per litre. The small engine and lightweight chassis meant that the Costin-Nathan Imp weighed in at less than 400 kg, giving the car a power to weight ratio of almost 250 bhp per ton.

At its first appearance in 1966 at Brands Hatch a very low spyder body was fitted. Despite being brand new the Costin-Nathan was not plagued by the teething problems most new cars have to face in their first few outings. It was raced sixth times in 1966 by Nathan, which resulted in five class victories. To be able to take the car to LeMans in 1967 a new coupe body was constructed and the Costin-Nathan GT was born.

Despite the big successes Nathan had with the Costin-Nathan in the UK, the French track with its long straights was not quite suited to the nimble racer. Before he dropped out with failing electronics in the fourth hour, the Costin-Nathan was running in a solid last spot. Put down by this poor result and the failure to homologate the car for the Group 4 class, Costin pulled out of the project, effectively killing the development.

Nathan continued running the now dubbed Nathan GTs or Astras with a lot of success in the UK up until 1968. Before Costin pulled out 6 open and 6 closed Costin-Nathans were built, Nathan built another 18 GTs and Astras. Some privateers fitted a less high sprung 2-litre engine in the Costin-Nathan chassis in the hopes of making it more competitive. The pictured example is one of those. It is seen here back at LeMans for the first LeMans Classic, 35 years after the Costin-Nathan's first appearance.

Despite its very short career, the Costin-Nathan proved to be a very capable racer, but it failed to impress potential clients and left the scene almost as quickly as it burst onto it. The remaining examples still showcase Costin's unique talent for designing lightweight and very aerodynamic racers.

The Costin-Nathan was based on the design of the Costin Sports Racer, campaigned in California in 1965/66 by Norbert McNamara in SCCA events. The first Costin-Nathan was finished in 1966 as an open sports racer. The car was raced by Roger Nathan achieving class wins and lap records in it's first 6 races. In Paris for example, in October, Roger won the Coup'e de Vitesse having left the field far behind - including works Abarths. The Costin-Nathan GT Coupe, was initiated at the request of Roger Nathan, and Costin liked the idea because it would provide the opportunity to reduce aerodynamic drag even further than the open car. Most of the GT's were fitted with bored out 1 litre versions of the Hilman Imp engine, but some were also fitted with standard 850cc engines and some with 2 litre BMW engines. Roger Nathan in a 1 litre GT Coupe, captured 14 new lap records in 1967 and 1968 on his way to winning both the Motoring News and Total National GT championships. In 1967, Roger Nathan took over design and manufacturing of the Costin-Nathan and promptly re-named it the Nathan GT. Subsequently it was re-named again to Astra. Total production of Costin-Nathan's, Nathan GT's and Astra's was about 30 cars. Costin was responsible for about 6 open racers and 6 GT Coupe's. Costin later went on to design and build the Costin Protos and the Costin Amigo of which I have 3 of 8 built. During his career Frank Costin was involved in designs for Lotus, Maserati, Vanwall, TVR, Vauxhall and March not to mention the neumerous cars that he designed and built as ""Costins"". Regards Jonathon Till

(I'm real happy for ya, Jon................Mr. P)

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Better to stay silent and let them wonder, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
Never try to teach a pig to sing, it's a waste of time and you run the risk of offending the pig.
Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and win with experience.

It looks like the ambigously gay duo car