Marauder

Picture Courtesy of John Wheater

In August 2000 Ian Glass arranged a Marauder trip to Switzerland and a renuion at Badesly Clinton i the Midlands, UK, with great success. All the rolling European Marauders turned up for the Swiss trip, and to Badesly Clinton the non rolling cars were trailered. All in all 11 cars turned up which is all surviving - apart from the one in the USA.
At Badesly Clinton the Rover Special also showed up. Owned by Frank Lockhart it is still raced competitively.

At about 1950 a couple of Rover employees left Rover aiming to build a sportscar called the "Marauder". The Marauder was not an official Rover but they used a lot of Rover parts, e.g the chassis.
The car was saluted with very good reviews and high expectations at introduction, but due to high taxes during the Korean War the whole project was ended, and the employees returned to Rover.
Between 1950 and 1952 altogether 15 Marauders were built, and 12 of them are known to have survived.
One of them is in the USA, one is in Austria, one at The Heritage Museum at Gaydon, and the rest somewhere in the UK.
Presumably 9 or 10 of the cars are complete and could be used, but probably only four or five of them are actually used on the road regularly.
George Mackie sold the rights to the Marauder name to Ford back in the early fifties. Still, the original is still the best.

I thank Nick Long and Rohan C Smith for this information.

Year of Manufacture: 1951
Engine : 2.6 litre straight six
Chassis Number: 3


Only 15 Marauders were ever built. They were the product of Wilks, Mackie and Co, later called the Marauder Car Company. They were based on the then new Rover 75 chassis, with the unofficial blessing and assistance of the Rover company.
I bought BSN 823 in 1987 in Glasgow, where it had lain hardly used for twenty years. The interior had dry rot and has had to be mostly dicarded. The paint was badly cracking and the car had to be stripped back to bare metal. Complete restoration will happen eventually, but by spring 1988 I had the car in a useable condition and I have been using it ever since.
Of the 15 built, 12 survive but not all are currently roadworthy. One is restored and on display in the Heritage Museum at Gaydon. This is one of the 3 that are in regular use.
In May 1996 I drove BSN 823 to the far side of Germany for the 750th anniversary celebrations of Wincanton's twin town Geraberg and back. The most severe mechanical trouble experienced was the dipswitch cover falling off.

Nick Long
Wincanton

The first production Marauder is beeing put together again by George Hamill.

This is the first production Marauder. George Hamill bought it in bits and pieces in April 2000 and got the chassis rolling before August the same year. In August 2001 George has the aim to have the car running under its own power again.
When the car is painted George will do it in the original yellow with dark blue seats and hood.
This is one of the 100BHP spec cars with the original 2103cc engine bored out to 2400cc and a triple carb SU head fitted. All parts of the engine originate from the P3.

Ian Glass and his Marauder at the Tim Healey Pass in South West Ireland during the Circuit of Ireland Retrospective rally in 1994.

Ian Glass of Llandyrnog, Denbighshire in North Wales, has a Marauder and often participate in classic car rallies

The Marauder Coupé in France September 1999.

This fixed-head Marauder Coupé was built to special order. Today it belongs to Rover-enthusiast George Hamill.