Anyone know anything about Marauder?

[emunandu]

Has anyone had any personal experience with Marauder of Potomac, Il? The owner, Randy (Randall) Berry claims to be trustworthy guy making really good kit cars. He wants to sell me an unfinished kit for a Chevron B16 for what I think is way too much money.

Also, what would you consider a reasonable price for a full fiberglass body for a car like that? (the parts have been laying in the sun for some years...)

Many thanks,

Sebastian

[Alan Vanhollebeke]

When I bought myMcLaren M6 replica, I tried to get some info from him for parts, etc.
Initially I sent him a letter & payment 12 or 14 bucks(I can't even remember it's been soo long) for a price sheet & catalog.

Never heard back. Tried looking up contact info in various places, kit car sites, and the phone numbers didn't work either.

Finally after about a year of waiting, I met a guy at the track, who happened to have some older Marauder brochures, & pricelist.

From the pics I have seen, the bodies look pretty cool, but the chassis are diinosaur's compared to what's available today.
Most of the chassis I saw in the literature used VW bug beam front ends and corvair transaxles! Not exactly what I would want under a race bred body.

In the past two years, I have seen a few Marauder kits on e-bay.
Those which I remember well were a white unfinished Chevron that went for about 5 grand and a Lola T70 body that went for about 4.
I found out about one of them and had 'putor probs before I could bid,,,and the other I just forgot about until it was too late!
I am sure if you are patient, more will eventually come up.
I have seen alot of different finished kits, but never a Maruader in person. I am sure they are out there, but since they were priced so high, they are pretty rare.

[cdsmith]

I also ordered a catalog and never received it. The company does not respond to emails. IMHO, it's a poor way to run a business and it reeks of shadiness.

I was ready to purchase a kit but they will never see a dime of my money at this point.

[Hans_Sweden]

Take a look on this? Marauder?

On www.mclellansautomotive.com you can fine Collectible literature for those cars.

[b]60's Mystery Monocoque RaceCar[b]

Somebody must have ideas. The pictures are available on hyperlink, clik, hang on for some seconds and they will be displayed on your screen by http://hem.passagen.se/hanshallberg/...e/index_3.html

Have you seen it before? It must have been running a lot according to all oil and mud around engine. The car is purchased as a burned-out wreck from a "Jaguar dump" in Sarasota, Florida in late 80's. There was no legible readable 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 in late 70's.

Complicating the puzzle is the glass fiber nosepiece, the only large piece of bodywork that came with the car. I 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 I have fabricated a new one to match the style of the nose.

Visible in the photos are the curved glass fiber rocker panels that originally covered the chassis sides. They were painted in red and white horizontal stripes "just like a GT40."

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. The monocoque is held together with glue and more than 4000 rivets. 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 I got it, but I could sees signs of different original mounts for some other powerplant. The transaxle is a 5-speed ZF. Curiously, because this is unusual in such racers, the driver sits was on the left side. Today on right 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 streetcar, because of the high-grade equipment -- 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.

What about that 1972-style body? Is it original to the car? I 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.

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.

"If you have any information of the car or perhaps a picture of LeGrand's Mk 14 or Mk 16, please email me on [hans.hallberg@swipnet.se].

Thanks / Hans, Malmoe, Sweden

[Alan Vanhollebeke]

When I made my first comments in December of 2002, I was frustrated from not having heard from Randy,,,,,,after I tried to contact him.

I have now had a couple of very informative conversations with him, and am looking forward to meeting with him in person someday.

It seems my timing was not too good, as I tried to contact Randy back when he was going through some tough medical problems.

After speaking to him at length about various chassis designs, etc,,,,,I have come to the conclusion that he has decades of valuable experience with kit/replica/racecars.

He has seen the good the bad and the ugly, yet still has a positive attitude and has some cool projects in the works.

He has traveled all over the world collecting body pices & molds from some original classic racing cars.

Told me why/how he chose to use some of the components he was using, and what has proven to work & what hasn't.

He is now working on a new car, using modern components, and I can't wait to see the finished product.

[petek]

Alain,

Does he still market a T70 Mark III?

[Alan Vanhollebeke]

Pete,
I don't know if he is actively marketing all of the cars he has built in the past, but I do believe he can still produce any of them.

He did inform me that alot of his molds for the vintage racers came directly from original cars (and even the original sources in some cases)


He has some newer, more "modern" cars in development at the moment, and is concentrating on those right now.