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Marquis of Mystery Part 3

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Marquis Catalogue

By Roy Smith

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Shattered Dreams
Unknown to all parties, Reed was being poorly advised by the men he had recruited to put the “Marquis”, the name they had given to the proposed fiber glass car, into production. A former Chief Design Engineer at Ford who had joined PlastiCar was not up to the mark, and he and his colleagues got off to a bad start. They found it difficult to full appreciate the concept of the rear-engine design which they would have on the Marquis, planned to be a direct copy of the Rédélé “Renault Special” which would be made after the Rogue.

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Marquis of Mystery: Dreams of Glass

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Announcing the Rogue.

In Part 1, Smith described the search for the elusive “Marquis” which resulted in the amazing barn find of the Rédélé Special Number 2 in Pennsylvania. Part 2 deals with an eager American businessman, Zark W. Reed, who had a plan for Jean Rédélé and his car. Above, the Rogue; was this design by French racing driver Louis Rosier really the “Marquis”? And what is the connection to Rédélé? Read on.

By Roy Smith

Dreams of Glass
1953 witnessed the first Chevrolet Corvette to roll off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. The concept of an all-glass-fiber production sports car had just become a reality. Glass fiber had arrived on the scene many years before. In the 1880s a glass maker from Massachusetts by the name of Edward Drummond Libbey had first discovered that glass in fiber “staple” silk-like format could be woven as a fabric – he even had a dress made that was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair in 1893.

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Marquis of Mystery Part 1

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From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2012

A rare barn find in the States leads Roy Smith to Alpine’s Jean Rédélé, French Champion Louis Rosier, the post-war US sports car craze, Porsche champion Bob Holbert, and back to France for Retromobile, all in search of a car that never existed. An incredible story in three parts.

By Roy Smith

“The car belonged to my father, Raymond Buckwalter; he drove it for a while, and then parked it. I soon found out why he parked it when I wanted to drive the car for a few months in 1958. Every time I turned the motor off and left it for a while, the car wouldn’t start again without a push. This kind of thing you remember, believe me! I always parked in the same parking lot and the attendant always saved a spot for me. Five days a week they would push me to get it started. I guess my father figured I couldn’t go shopping unless I could find some kind person to push it a few feet, but as I was a young lady at the time, I always found some kind gentleman to give me a push. It was the battery; something was draining it. Rather than fix it my father liked to challenge me and he would often laugh at how I managed these small challenges. Now the memory of it makes me laugh – I can just imagine me in a parking lot at my age trying to get someone to give my car a push! When I went to get it painted in the late 90s we found traces of blue, so I assumed that was the original color.” —Mary Ann Wood

Photo of the strange French special taken by the Wood family in 2009.

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The Marquis of Mystery Part 3: Shattered Dreams

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By Roy Smith

In Part 1, Barn Find, and Part 2 Glass Dreams Smith described the Rédélé barn find, the relationship to Jean Rédélé, Zark W. Reed, Renault Rosier and the search for the elusive Fiberglas car called “Marquis”. Part 3 explains how everything went badly for Reed and how Porsche-Meister Bob Holbert played a part in this incredible story.
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Marquis of Mystery: Barn Find

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A rare barn find in the States leads Roy Smith to Alpine’s Jean Rédélé, French Champion Louis Rosier, the post-war US sports car craze, Porsche champion Bob Hobert, and back to France for Retromobile, all in search of a car that never existed. An incredible story in three parts.

By Roy Smith

Barn Find

“The car belonged to my father, Raymond Buckwalter; he drove it for a while, and then parked it. I soon found out why he parked it when I wanted to drive the car for a few months in 1958. Every time I turned the motor off and left it for a while, the car wouldn’t start again without a push. This kind of thing you remember, believe me! I always parked in the same parking lot and the attendant always saved a spot for me. Five days a week they would push me to get it started. I guess my father figured I couldn’t go shopping unless I could find some kind person to push it a few feet, but as I was a young lady at the time, I always found some kind gentleman to give me a push. It was the battery; something was draining it. Rather than fix it my father liked to challenge me and he would often laugh at how I managed these small challenges. Now the memory of it makes me laugh – I can just imagine me in a parking lot at my age trying to get someone to give my car a push! When I went to get it painted in the late 90s we found traces of blue, so I assumed that was the original color.” —Mary Ann Wood

Redele Found-in-a-barn

Photo of the strange French special taken by the Wood family in 2009.

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