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1969 McLaren Ferrari 312 PB "Marauder GT MKV Ferrari 512M" - SOLD

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Description:

Late last year Randy Berry at Marauder Car & Co contact me. In conversation Mr. Berry told me that 6 aluminium-monocoque cars where ever built. It was far to much work and money to produce those cars. He told me as well that this particular car was sold to Mexico. Body at that time was a carbon Ferrari 312P. Today body is in alu. Randy Berry, owner of Marauder Car and Co. wrote in a sales brochure. “Attention Vintage Car Racers: Marauder and Co will be building a limited number cars for Vintage Racing. Tubes will be built by Mc Laren Racing in England. Inquired to Marauder Cars direct.” Randy Berry at Marauder Car &Co contact me after an article in “Vintage Racecar Journal” where the car was exposed as “Sleuths wanted” -Send here a part of the article as a technical desription For the Mystery Car, we have our friend Peter Bryant to thank for bringing it to our attention. Bryant, of course, built the famous Ti 22 "Titanium Cars" and also the Shadow Mk II/IIIs in the old Can-Am. That makes him a subject matter expert, which is why an owner in Sweden emailed him these pictures and asked if he recognized the car. Confessing he was stumped, Bryant passed the query on to us. The owner is Hans of Malmoe, Sweden. He calls himself a hobbyist race car restorer, though pictures of other cars he's done indicate professional expertise. He has owned this vehicle since 1992, when he purchased it as a burned-out wreck from what he describes as a "Jaguar dump" in Sarasota, Florida. There was no legible identification on the vehicle, nor did the seller know its history, except that it dated from the 1960s, and that it came to the wrecking yard from an insurance company. Mr. Hans says he bought it "as a McLaren," but now doubts that is true. We agree. As restored by Hans, the monocoque chassis does not look like any McLaren's, nor does the suspension. But neither does the car seem to be a Lola, or any of the other well-known sports racers of the late '60s. Complicating the puzzle is the glass fiber nosepiece, the only large piece of bodywork that came with the car. Hans believes it's an actual front end off a Ferrari 312P, the enduro racer of the early 1970s, altered to fit this chassis. Since the original tail section was missing, he's fabricated a new one to match the style of the nose. Not visible in the photos are what Hans describes as curved glass fiber rocker panels that originally covered the chassis sides. He says they were painted in red and white horizontal stripes "just like a GT40." According to Hans's account and his pictures of the chassis, it is a full-length monocoque carrying the engine between rearward extensions. The primary tub material is aluminum, with steel subframes front and rear. Fuel is carried in either side for a total capacity of 26 gallons. Wheelbase is 97.5 inches. Suspension is all-independent, using Carrera springs and Koni shocks. The brakes are Delco Moraine, with an Airhart master cylinder. Wheels are 15-inch Keystones, with 8-inch rims front, 10-inch rear. There was a Holley-carbureted 350 Chevy in the car when Hans got it, but he sees signs of different original mounts for some other powerplant. The transaxle is a 5-speed ZF, though Hans suspects that is not original either. Curiously, because this is unusual in such racers, the driver sits on the left side. Many of these details suggest a machine built in the USA or Canada. Most likely it was built as a racer, rather than a street car, because of the high-grade equipment Hans mentions -- fuel cells, braided hoses, adjustable springs and shocks, brake bias adjuster. And evidently it was built by someone knowledgeable about the state of the art in the latter half of the 1960s. If the inspiration was indeed the Can-Am series, the window is pretty narrow. Lola's T70 of 1965 was the first commonly-seen aluminum monocoque sports car, but by 1968 most competitive Can-Am teams were abandoning small-block power. However, this car's relatively small fuel capacity indicates it wasn't intended to race in the Can-Am, where 50-plus gallons would have been necessary for even a small-engined car to run the typical 200-mile distances non-stop. Also, the brands of transaxle, brake and wheel aren't those we'd expect on top-line Can-Am cars of the era. And LHD steering is odd -- not unheard of, just unusual, because of gear linkage issues. What about that 1972-style body? Is it original to the car? We don't know, but if so, it means construction lasted several years. The project must have been launched by an individual or a small, underfunded group, and been obsolete before it was done. That would imply this car probably doesn't have much of a racing history. On the other hand, if the original brand of engine was changed, the same could well be true of the bodywork. And this car did experience enough adventure to result in a fire. Well, those are the clues we have. How do you read them? This sort of puzzle comes up every often in our world, but it's always enthralling. A car like this is not just a car. It's the tangible record of human inspiration, imagination, ambition, audacity, determination, toil and, no doubt, tears. Someone invested his soul here. We should honor that.
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