History of the Marauder

Here is a brief history (as I can piece together) of the Marauder. If you have any extra (or correct) information please email me at vanders@paulsweb.info.

The Marauder was a VW based kit car originally produced by DRB Sportscars in Melbourne. The owner and manufacturer was Denis R Bedford (hence DRB). It was one of a number of such kits, others being the Sabre, Aztec and Magnum. DRB commenced manufacture about 1981 before they moved to Southport in Queensland about 1988. It seems that the Marauder didn't go with them, and the Marauder moulds were sold off about 1984. Only a small number of Marauders were built by DRB (5 or 6) with the Sabre Mk II being the more popular kit.

DRB Sportscars still exist and make a number of kit cars, but Denis does not have any association with the company any more.

One of the moulds was sold to a company named Marauder Cars of Melbourne, also referred to as Exotic Automobile Manuafacturers (EAM)

The first advert appeared in the August/September edition of Aussie Sports Car World magazine. Vic rego CCA 658. Interesting the options of 4 or 5 speed gearbox.

Thanks to Rick at Life in Old Australia for the information

The last ad shows the business up for sale in early 1986. It's unknown if the business was bought but it seems that production in Melbourne ceased. The mould turned up in Bendigo several years ago. See the The Moulds.

That mould is now owned by Dirty Dog Outlaws in Cowes on Phillip Island, Victoria. They're planning on producing at least five new bodies from the mould as of time of writing in February 2024.

Production of the Marauder also moved to Adelaide about 1984 to a company aptly named Marauder Sports Cars run by Martin Cunningham. This was probably the 'other' mould (there were at least two - see the page on The Moulds) as production of Marauders overlaps between Melbourne and Adelaide. Martin sent me this photo of the first Marauder he built.

Martin described it as follows:

To wet your appetite regarding further chats etc, I have attached a photo of my first fully constructed factory car, a Marauder Mk 1, sold to a customer for $24,000 in 1983 (I think!!!!).

Specs included were

  • 4 wheel disc brakes
  • 12A Mazda Rotary ported and balanced
  • Imported for USA a 5 speed highly modified VW transmission
  • Air conditioning
  • Electric door lock entry
  • Power windows
  • Full VDO instrumentation
  • Luxurious interior !!!! for back then
  • Modified suspension included specially valved Bilstein shock absorbers
  • Full ADR compliance under 'low volume car manufacturing' using certified accredited provider engineering reports and assessment.

Performance wise, the car was faster and handled better than a Porsche 911 ( not the 930 derivative), 6.5 sec to 100 kph, and a top speed over 140 mph (showing my age here).

Here's an ad for the Marauder

Here's an email that I received from Brad Jackson.

Hi Paul,

I built a Marauder in the late 80s in Melbourne. I bought the shell from Martin Cunningham who was building and selling them at the time. His aim was to only sell complete cars but he sold off a few shells initially to raise some capital. There was a complete car painted white that was owned by somebody at Melbourne Uni at the time so Martin sent me to have a look at it while I was deciding whether to buy one or not. Martin hadn't built that one since he had only recently bought the moulds from somebody else.

My shell had the tail fins and no side scoops when I bought it. Martin explained that it had to be that way so he wouldn't get any grief from Ferrari and what I did with it afterwards was up to me. I removed the fins but didn't add in the side scoops. Mine was originally painted red with black on the bottom (like one of the cars on your website). That was how Martin painted his cars. When I completed mine I had it resprayed all red. I had a 12A rotary in it for registration. They couldn't be registered with a 13B because it was deemed to be a larger motor than the original VW motor but I soon had a ported 13B in it after registration. I put 10 inch wide rims on the back with wider tyres to fill out the guards better and I wouldn't be surprised if the car with rego 39556H in your photos was my car. The body, indicators and wheels are identical to mine although I had a plain bonnet and rear hatch and a rear bumper bar.

The petrol tank was in the front as were all of Martin's and I used a dash from a 3 series BMW and Datsun 240Z seats. The parts used in the car came from a great variety of donor cars, from Gemini visible door hardware and windscreen to Ford door hinges.

The car was very quick too. My brother got it up to 260km/h on the Frankston Freeway. I never went that quick in it, I think he trusted my building skills more than I did. It was reliable too. The only trouble I had with it was running out of petrol since it was pretty thirsty and the tank wasn't big.

Anyway, I can't think of much more to say about it. I sold it about 20 years ago and haven't seen it since.

Regards,

Brad Jackson

It's great to know people have great memories of these cars.

At some point in the late 80's/early 90's the business was sold to Ken Knolder and production moved from Beverley SA to Wingfield SA.

The article below is from the early 1990's from Sports Car World (Australia).

Also linked here is a letter sent to a potential Marauder customer of Ken Knolder

There were a number of Marauders made by Ken Knolder but eventually the business was liquidated about 1991 and the body mould was bought by Geoff Tan. Geoff was a high school teacher and the mould was used for training students in using composite materials. Geoff passed away and the moulds were passed to Norm Clements.

Norm ran the Polymer courses at the Murray Bridge High School Skill Centre and used the Marauder mould as part of the course.

The Adelaide mould was stored at Murray Bridge and the programme was cut by the school in 2012. A new home had to be found for the mould as it had to be removed from the school. Norm was no longer interested in producing a VW based kit car, mainly in part to the success of his Clubman based open sports cars. I had been previously enquiring about having a body made from the mould by the students. A deal was struck and I bought the mould, and brought it back to Tasmania.

It is unknown how many Marauders have been made in the last 30 years. From research it would probably be less than one a year, making them a relatively rare beast.

Mark Fannin from Queensland has the original paperwork on these including parts list, engineering diagrams and more. Mark is on Facebook, so hit him up if you need some info.

Here's the parts list for a Marauder.

Here's Mark flicking through the file!

Mark also has the most beutiful Marauder going around. Check it out in The Gallery