Brand: Marendaz

Marendaz Special Cars Ltd

An English manufacturer, despite the foreign-sounding name, Marendaz was founded in 1926 by Captain Donald Marcus Kelway Marendaz, an engineer who had completed his apprenticeship at Siddeley-Deasy before WWI. He had joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, serving as a pilot before being invalided out in 1918, and after the war became a partner in Coventry-based Marseel (later Marseal) Motors, manufacturers of a conventional Coventry-Simplex-powered light car. Following Marseal's closure, Marendaz set up DMK Marendaz Ltd in Brixton, South London, occupying the same premises as the London Cab Company and Bugatti's London agent. Attractive styled and with a distinctly Bentley-esque radiator, his early sports cars were called 'Marendaz Specials' and used 1½-litre four-cylinder Anzani engines, some of which were linered down to 1,097cc to compete in the up-to-1100cc racing category.

Marendaz's first-floor Brixton premises were cramped and impractical, so in 1932 he relocated to Maidenhead in Berkshire, reconstituting his company as Marendaz Special Cars Ltd. His new 'home' was the Cornwallis Works, also known as the 'Jam Factory', where the remarkable Burney Streamline and GWK cars had been made. Modified Continental engines were used at first before Marendaz moved on to power units of his own design. His final model was the six-cylinder Coventry-Climax-powered 15/90. Most cars carried open two- or four-seat bodies, though there was at least one closed coupé built. Captain Marendaz supported a racing programme, entering some events himself, while one of the better-known Marendaz drivers was Aileen Moss, mother of Sir Stirling Moss. By the time Marendaz Special Cars was wound up in July 1936, an estimated 60 cars had been made at Maidenhead in addition to some 20-25 at Brixton, though one source states that as many as 120 might have been completed. Any unsold stock was sold off to Colliers of Birmingham, and Captain Marendaz moved on to building light aircraft.

Source: Bonhams, other