Greetings and Questions

[Wes]

First off, I want to say that I have really enjoyed reading this forum. The story of the "barn find" Lola was so interesting that I read the whole thing in one sitting. My wife and I were in Atlanta recently to see the Blue Man Group, and we were impressed that Atlanta is such a nice place.

Next, a little background from me. I have been interested kit cars for years. When I was 15 I was in a doctors office reading a Popular Mechanics in the lobby. In the back I saw and ad for the Elite Laser 917 and my adolescent imagination took off. I ordered the brochure and dreamed about that car for years, but never owned one. In the mid 1990's I owned a Kelmark with a Chevy 350/olds trans-axle that was a rolling heap. I owned a couple of Toyota Supra's and loved them, but since 1991 we have always had at least one Toyota 4X4, mostly 4Runners. Now we have Land Cruisers, FZJ 80's to be exact. Three of them. Yeah, we love 'em.

For some reason, probably some kind of mid life crisis I suspect, I have gotten re-interested in kits. So I started looking back into them and discovered that the Laser 917 doesn't look nearly as desirable as it did 25 years ago. Go figure So I looked at the Manta kits, and although there are some rare custom variations of them that are neat, they just don't click. The one kit that I am most interested in is the one that has the least amount of info available on the internet. That kit is the Marauder.

Ok, I know that this forum is a place for purists, and the Marauder is generally held in some measure of disdain by the members here. However, As nice as the GT40's are, I can't afford a car that cost $30k or more. We paid less than for that all of our Land Cruiser combined!

So I was wondering, is there anyone here who could give the good, bad and ugly regarding the Marauder? I am thinking of building something using the GM 3.8 S/C engine, and I just want something fun to drive, but not the same old kind of car, like my son's Integra.

Anyhoo, I appreciate any input, and I have thick skin so don't hold back with criticism regarding the strata of kits I am thinking about. Thanks.

Best regards,
Wes

[Keith Hardy]

Welcome! You won't get any flack here regarding your choice of kit - only wise words from a lot of experienced people.

I believe that this is some stuff already on here regarding the Marauder, not so long ago at that. Try punching that as a keyword into the search function and see what comes up....

I presume you're in the USA, as they're trying to drive us off the road over here in our 4X4's, apparently, we're the ones solely responsible for the global warming thang...

Which bit are you from??

[Wes]

Hi-ya Keith,

I am from Floida, near Pensacola. Not to be political, but I have been reading some alrming trands in the UK that strongly lean Marxist/Socialist/multiculti etc. However, the UK does seem to be chocked full of freedom to built kit cars. Thanks for the tip on the search feature. Gonna try that now.
Cheers,
Wes

[Johan]

Hi,
Do you have a fair amount of mechanical ability ? If you had a body, a frame,
etc. could you build a car from that ?
Or, would you need a "kit" and follow the instructions so to speak ?
I ask because I have enough spare parts to assemble a car if a person could fabricate and machine, etc.

[Mike Dozier]

Wes

Despite a lot of advertising over the years, Marauders didn't sell well and
seldom come up for sale. You probably know they offered a VW
based kit (ick) and a dedicated (V8) tube frame. There was a Marauder Lola
tube frame for sale on E-bay last year....one of the few I've ever seen.

With a $ 30k max budget (or less)...it will be tough to find an authentic
bodied mid engine replica here in the US. The Manta certainly falls within
your price range...but if it doesn't float your boat, then that's out.
What about a Cobra ? You could easily complete one under $ 30k,
have a lot of fun, and they resell fairly quickly.
Good luck

MikeD

[MK -IV J6]

Originally Posted by MikeDD

Wes

Despite a lot of advertising over the years, Marauders didn't sell well and
seldom come up for sale. You probably know they offered a VW
based kit (ick) and a dedicated (V8) tube frame. There was a Marauder Lola
tube frame for sale on E-bay last year....one of the few I've ever seen.

With a $ 30k max budget (or less)...it will be tough to find an authentic
bodied mid engine replica here in the US. The Manta certainly falls within
your price range...but if it doesn't float your boat, then that's out.
What about a Cobra ? You could easily complete one under $ 30k,
have a lot of fun, and they resell fairly quickly.
Good luck

MikeD

Mike is being too kind. Marauder/Randy Berry was a fraud machine. BTW he died years ago and his company no longer exists.

RIH

[Wes]

Hi guys and thanks for the reponces. I have experince repairing and building engines, and some body work experience too. I can work with fiberglass and sheet metal, but it's been some time since I fooled with that stuff. I have the the tools and skills to design and build a basic frame/chassis, and I have some friends with JD tube bender that we are proficient with.
With that said I must admit that owning a real Lola is a little beyond my current station. I would love to see your cars Johan. Atlanta is such a nice place compared to Pensacola. We really enjoyed our trip up there.

[FRPGUY]

Wes, I sent you a PM. If you don't get it, you can email me at MSN.com

[jerryweichers]

J6 , I hate to ''pile'' on a dead guy but once again I have to say your right. I will never forget Randy upon hearing that I had several original Lolas both T70 and T160 series offered to build me an authentic T70 Mk3B GT under license from Lola....... Ya Uhuh.....

[Wes]

Since Randy has passed on, I wonder if the estate has been settled, and who owns the moulds and other company assets now. I ran across a picture somewhere that was posted to the web by a guy Sweden that looked like Marauder company literature. One of them showed a large shop with several cars in various states of build. From what I have gathered Randy built bodies but not tubs. Nevertheless, there may be an opportunity to acquire various moulds and parts from the estate. Has anyone looked up Mr Berry's survivors? Also, has anyone seen the Chevron that he was supposed to be producing?

FRPGUY, go it and replied. Thanks!

Best regards,
Wes

[FRPGUY]

Wes, The story of Randy Berry's estate settlement is turning out to be as colorful as his life. I saw the Chevron B16 moulds at Fran Hall's shop in MI, now I think they are in the hands of Rodney Bender. The last I heard, Rand's son wants them back. They are for sale for 17K. The door moulds looked like they were in a fire. Fran Hall would know about them I bet.
I have a Randy Berry Lola T70 MKIIIB Coupe chassis sitting beside my shop, belonging to a forum member; Brian Kissel. That chassis must weigh a thousand pounds! Some of it fell apart on the trip to my shop. Brian has been to Rand's shop and saw first hand what Randy was all about. I wonder what happened to all the "New in the box" ZF transaxles Randy had???

[Fran Hall RCR]

The Chevron moulds were at the shop for inspection but they, along with everything else that I saw from the Marauder barn stash was quite beyond ever being any use for production.....there had been a fire in the barn in previous years and everything had damage..some far more serious than others.

If someone is interested I can them intouch with the guy that currently has access to the remains.......although the Son has ultimate control and that is a whole different story.

In reality there is nothing that I would even contemplate paying any money for......

The New ZF boxes have been sold on Ebay since Berry's death two years ago....I think our own "Oliver" bought a couple of them....

[Mike Dozier]

Wes

Next time you're in the Jacksonville area you might want to call on Mac McClendon. Mac's a bit of a recluse.....but his shop is Lola heavan.

MikeD

[Fran Hall RCR]

Mac is a great guy and a wealth of knowledge
but no 30k cars with him.....

[Mesa]

I visited Randy some four plus years ago, his shop was full of half finished projects, a M6BGT frame, a Testarossa body on a Fiero. In general a semi cluttered shop that had the look of long standing inactivity.

A B16 replica was sitting in a 75% state, looked like it had been there for years.

In typical 'barn find' fashion we drove down the road to a .... uh, BARN..... It was chock full of all kinds of molds, I think the McLaren was in there, a Corvette GTP was the one I seem to remember the most for some reason.

Anyway Randy seemed to be a genuine enthusiast, he was full of knowlwdge on all aspects of the cars we love here on this forum. I must say I came away feeling it was an afternoon well spent with a fellow gearhead. In the end I would not have spent any money there as it was obvious Randy had not build anything in a long, long time and was not in a place to gear up for a build anytime soon.

I too spent time over the years drooling over Marauder catalogs (in fact I still have some). When I was younger Randy seemed the first guy to offer roadrace guys some decent option over the horrid 917VW and the ever so slightly better Kelmark crap.

So maybe even with his apparent many faults (I have no data points beyond this one visit) Randy helped bring us out of the dark ages, maybe he kept those of us without the funds (or age) for a real Mclaren dreaming long enough about what could be - rather than the awful that was. Maybe like myself he kept us hanging on for something better, something like we enjoy today. Today we have some fantastic choices - CAVs - RCRs and GT reproductions.

While I spent my youth roadracing motorcycles I never forgot how much I wanted a hot, trick, fully capable mid-engine roadrace car for the street. I see all these muscle car roadracer watabees (pro street? is that what hot rod calls them?) and I just chuckle, if they only knew what Fran Hall and the others that manufacture todays awesome 'kit' cars are starting to unleash on them.

I was sorry to hear that Randy had passed. Now there may be good reason he was not eveyones cup of tea, I certainly did not know him well enough to have an opinion. But, if nothing else he was, I can attest a fellow enthusiast who's life clearly revolved around the cars we love.

Thanks Randy for the dream, the catalog that kept the dream alive and for spending a few hours of your life with me.

[Olf59]

hi i mail from germany , i build a lola t 70mk3b and have som ask.i need images from door hinges ,door lock and door balancer and can buy this.
greeting meinolf

[Johan]

Check here for a lot of info on T70 MK III doors.

Lola Heritage :: View topic - T70 MK III doors.