Only nine Marcos GT Xylons were built using a wooden chassis and gullwing doors, but by far the most famous is the one driven by future three time World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart at the start of his racing career.
Marcos Sportscars was founded in 1959 by racer Jem Marsh and engineer Frank Costin. The latter had experience of building wooden airplanes so it's no wonder why early Marcos race cars ended up having plywood chassis.
Their first car, the Marcos GT Xylon (Xylon being Greek for wood) was designed to compete primarily in 750 Motor Club events and did pretty well thanks to its low weight, since it was originally motivated by an underpowered1137cc Ford pushrod engine. It also came with gull wing doors to accommodate a taller driver.
According to Silverstone Auctions, the rest of the story is bit of a blur:
Legend has it that in 1960 Scottish racing enthusiast, Barry Filer, was having his race cars prepared by the Stewart family garage and invited Jackie to test with him at Oulton Park. As a direct result of this test Barry bought this Xylon for the '61 season which Jackie then drove for him and promptly won four sports car races! Registered in Glasgow - 'G 128' - it's racing career continued successfully through the 1960's under the guidance of Marcos co-founder, Gem Marsh.
When Marcos went bust in the late 1990's, it got tucked away in storage, resulting in a need for total restoration after it goes under the hammer for an estimated $60,000 - $85,000.
Still, just look at the details of this little racer! Is there anything more British than this?
I guess we'll have to ask a certain Scotsman about that...