How many cabrio's have been made?

[mike woodley]

Hi,
Have just been reading through Steve Hole's A-Z of KIT CARS (a christmas present) and it states that there were only approx 50 made. Is this correct? It does not sound enough. Just out of interest does anyone know how many have been made. Mike.

[tim hawkesworth]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Hi Mike,
You are correct in your thoughts and the present Cabrio Rep / Mem Sec will be able to confirm this. As previous Mem Sec I held details of some 80 Cabrios and 20 Hunters belonging to members and that figure does not include kits/cars belonging to non members nor kits not completed. I have one such kit which I should like to sell
Regards,
Tim Hawkesworth

[Mike]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Hi,
Have just been reading through Steve Hole's A-Z of KIT CARS (a christmas present) and it states that there were only approx 50 made. Is this correct? It does not sound enough. Just out of interest does anyone know how many have been made. Mike.

Hi Mike

I do not know how many Cabrios/Hunters were made by Marlin, but I believe my Cabrio was the last one made and sold as a Marlin: they made at least one more BMW based Cabrio for Dave Kitson which was marketed as a Javelin.
My chassis number is T4297.
I remember someone posting a thread stating they had the original Paul Moorhouse Cabrio - what chassis number is on that?
Maybe this would then give us a clue as to how many were made?

Mine must be one of the few yet to be completed - but hopefully this year!
Mike

[tim hawkesworth]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

The last Cabrio/Hunter that I know of is Chassis No T 4299. This is Granada/ Scorpio based but with a BMW engine. It was factory built and sold to a MOC member in Devon, who joined us late in 2007 shortly after purchasing the car direct from Marlin. The car was issued with an "06" registration.
I do not know if the Javelin car had a chassis no. in the same sequence; but there are some cars with chassis numbers that are not within the ""T400" sequence. Chassis numbers for Sportsters are also not in sequence. There is a factory built V8 with the same chassis number as my car!
As for the original Car ? As I recall there were 2 vehicles on the membership database that I held claiming to be Cabrio No 1. Derek Jones may be able to clarify the situation. Tim H.

[dcunn]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

FWIW checking my Cabrio/Hunter photo collection I can see 98 different different cars, some of which I show with more than one registration........though of course some others of these 98 may also be duplicated/re-registered.

[danny_nelson]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

The old saying (A little knowledge is ---------) but never mind. No confusion about the first Cabrio. Paul Moorhouse had this car on the Marlin stand at Stoneleigh in a part built state. This car later became Q 708 JOD. a 3500cc v8 machine which Paul enjoyed for some time. I know because I was in it with Paul at Castle coombe , and in later years I owned the car for some years. The car is now owned by a club member I can give Derek his name for the chassis no to be checked. This car was called model T4 by Paul as I remember and the MOC were asked to come up with a model name for this new model. This is where Cabrio came from. During the same period the late Peter Hare then the MOC treasurer bought what I think may have been the first Cabrio kit, and he and Paul swapped notes as Peter developed the car further. The opening boot lid was designed by Peter and plans were produced for like minded builders. Dave I have photos and dates which I can dig out for you. Terry Matthews will have all sales records for the Cabrio except details of the first early kits that were produced by Paul. As a matter of interest Terry told me that many more lwb models have been produced than swb.

[djj_engineer]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Mike
The last T4 car I have is 299, but the 1st is 021. Before this threre seems to have been 23 cars which had sequential Marlin numbers.
However I don't have a complete set of records. I would prefer not to write what I have if you wish to contact me, my number or email address are quoted in the Pitstop mag.

[paul]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Hello,
My Cabrio chassis No is 4-021 V8 which was supplies in April 92 with the major parts and with a trickle of other parts over the next 4 months which slowed the build. The Cabrio was on the road in Oct 1992.
It was also reviewed by Paul Moorehouse before he sold the business to the present owners.

[chris_cussen]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Not sure if it makes any sense but my chassis number is T4235KRKRLC1002CC. Suppied in summer 2002. Finished 2009

[gouldsborough7]

Re: How many cabrio's have been made?

Interesting thread! I've often wondered how many Hunters were made by the factory. Mine was built for a lady in 1998, for which I have all of the Marlin build invoices, totalling approx £21k (including new engine & gearbox). To confirm its provenance, it has a small brass plaque on the dash, confirming that they built it for her.

The chassis number is T4163J and engine is the 2 litre DOHC 8 valve Scorpio. When I took over the ownership in 2009, it had only done just less than 9,000 miles in its first 11 years. I've added another 4,500 miles since then.

Somebody told me that the factory did a run of 80 assembled Hunters, but Marlin in 2009 strangely had no knowledge of it, having been taken over by a married couple (?) Can't remember their names - very unhelpful they were!

Can anyone give me any more info on my car?
Cheers
Mike