Marauder MOL629

[SHyslop]

IMG_20240727_145544350.jpg (39.19 KiB) Viewed 7839 times

I'm sure this car will be well known but when I saw it at the Cumbria Steam Gathering on Saturday I thought it was worth a few lines with a little story.
We hadn't been to the CSG for quite a few years and I was really quite surprised at how diminished it was, compared to how it used to be. Anyway, the Marauder was one of three or four rather nice cars there including was a very very nice 2200TC as well from the Rover fold .

Anyway, as well as playing with cars I play the organ at St. Michael's Church in Dumfries and my daily transport in the summer is a 1950 Riley RMA (yes, I have feet in another camp other than just Rovers) and I sometimes park in the car park beside the river not far from the church. One day a few weeks ago I came back to the car after practising for a bit and a chap appeared who had been "waiting" for me. He too had been an RM owner and was on holiday with a motorhome parked nearby and he'd spotted the car. Having gone through the stories of the 000s of miles we had both travelled in RMs of both sizes, it turned out he had owned a Marauder and his wife produced from the motorhome a copy of Classic Cars (I think) with their Marauder on the front cover with him driving it, from a few years ago. Anyway, I can't be certain it was this one although I'm sure it was a blue one and I seem to remember him saying what a great time they'd had with either "Mollie" or "Nollie". I used to have an aunt and uncle lived in Birmingham and when they came to visit with a car registered "DOL" it was engrained in my mind at the age of 4 that DOLs and MOLs were Birmingham registrations.

Unfortunately, my searches so far for that Marauder on the front cover of the magazine haven't produced that issue and I haven't had a reason to move the 20 from in front of the cabinet which has my "library" (haha) of old magazines in it in case I have this issue but I thought it was another series of these chance encounters which brings cars and people together. I found it quite amusing that this couple were on their holidays but carrying three or four old magazines showing cars they had owned on the offchance of meeting some strange person like me.

[Paul Gregory]

I believe the person you met was a friend of mine from the North East. Assuming it was, he will have actually been referring to the Rover P4 Tickford drophead that he used to own - LOK918. He was featured with it in the September 1992 edition of Classic Cars, including being the front cover of the UK edition of the magazine.
To add to the story the current owner of the Tickford is also the owner of MOL629 that you photographed at the steam gathering!

[SHyslop]

Dear Paul,

I'm very grateful to you for this reply. When I met the man who had owned LOKI, as I now recall him saying from what you've written, I was a bit pushed for time and while I should operate the ears and the mouth in the correct proportions, i.e. talk half as much and listen twice as much, unfortunately we had both been through many of the same makes and models. That meant that while conscious of the shortage of time, my attention to detail was not all it should have been.

I shall have a rake through my cupboard of magazines some day and see if that Classic Cars edition is there. It probably should be as I have most of them from that time but now I know the date is within the range of what I have, my search may be worthwhile.