It’s the day where much of the world likes to take our positive views and affection for the people of Ireland and use that as a fantastic excuse to get drunk and wear green, and you know what? Good. Why not? Life is short and the Irish have a beautiful country, great accents, the gave us James Joyce whom we can lie about having read, and their coffee is lots more exciting than normal coffee. So let’s talk about a car from Ireland!
There really aren’t that many really-Irish cars to talk about here. And by really Irish, I mean from Irish companies, not cars from other carmakers that happened to be built in Ireland, because there’s plenty of those. For example, Ford has had a factory in Cork since 1919.
So what do we have for actually Irish-Irish cars? There’s the Shamrock from the ’50s, that’s the one that started it all, but they only made 10 of those over the course of about six months. The most famous Irish car is, of course, the DeLorean DMC-12. Sure the company headquarters may have been in the US, but the only factory was in Ireland, and it was absolutely an Irish-built car.
But that’s not the Irish car I want to talk about today. Today we’re going to discuss the 1983-1987 TMC Costin. You actually may have heard Frank Costin’s name before, or at least part of it, without even realizing it. The cos in the name of the sports car maker Marcos is there because of Costin.
Costin was a British engineer who is known for adapting aeronautical aerodynamic concepts to sports cars, and was a pioneer in monocoque chassis design, designing the bodies for such cars as the Lotus Mark VIII and ’50s Formula One cars, and layter designed racing chassis for Maserati and Lotus. The man knew his shit.
When it came to the TMC Costin (which seems to have been called the Rushabout during development, which is a great name) Costin designed something that looks kind of like a Lotus Seven backed into a small trailer. And, in some ways, that’s kind of what the TMC Costin was – an incredibly lean, purposeful sports car like the Lotus Seven but with some actual luggage space, in this case 16 cubic feet! You could also get a pair of rear-facing kid seats back there, too, which is amazing on so many levels.
The windshield was unique to the TMC Costin, which must make it one of the hardest windshields to find a replacement for in the entire world; they only made about 10 cars a year, and less than 40 were made.
There was also more weather protection than in a Lotus Seven; look up there at that picture of the bigshot being hounded by reporters as he heads to a mostly-enclosed TMC Costin, complete with scissor doors! Also, is he planning to sit on that guy’s lap? Get around to the other side of the car, dummy!
Those taillights look like the same Lucas units I had on my Reliant Scimitar, and also are what were used on Jensen-Healeys, among other British cars, too. It’s kind of charmingly awkward from the rear, but it’s not like the Lotus Seven is all that elegant from behind, either.
You could pick from four Ford fours to power your TMC Costin:
So, a Kent 1600 making 84 hp, a twin-carb XR2 1600 making 110 hp, and a Ford Cosworth BDR 130 hp engine, plus a 150 hp twin-cam version. The chassis, as the brochure mentions, can handle twice that power, something that was later realized, sort of, with the Panoz Roadster, which was built on the chassis/frame of the TMC Costin, the rights to which Panoz bought in 1992.
If you want to dive nice and deep and have some time to kill, this video goes pretty deep into the TMC Costin:
It’s a hell of a car, and arguably the best car ever to be built in County Wexford, Ireland. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Looks a lot like a Prangler, the Prowler prototype with the passenger compartment of. YJ Wrangler.
I live in Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan – the town where the Shamrock was built and, according to Wikipedia, there’s one still here, though I don’t know where, or whether it can be viewed. I may need to investigate. There is a mural to the car on the side of a derelict building – I’ll try to get a photo and post it.
I keep meaning to pop around again to the Ulster Folk and Transport museum to have a look at a much more impressive Irish car, the DAWB 6; https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/it-took-more-than-the-luck-of-the-irish-to-build-the-one-off-dawb-6/
In my childhood I was a regular visitor there. I’d pester my grandad to bring me at every opportunity. I do not remember that being there. I have been meaning to take a trip up again so this might be the impetus to get my ass out the front door.
Looking at the kinda open front suspension, I was seeing a bit of Ariel Atom in it,
As far as “ You could also get a pair of rear-facing kid seats back there, too, which is amazing on so many levels.” goes, I think being in one of those seats would have been terrifying and delivering me in a world of public transport everyday more.
And TBH, the back end did look a little more finessed than the Lotus 7.
Erin go bragh!
Or Erin, go bra-less. Your choice.
All I see is a Lotus 7 hatch. With a 9 gal fuel tank, you would have plenty of time to get out and stretch.
What s beautiful car on a sunny day. However, is a bit of an ugly ducking with the top. It’s like a mini, upside-down dumpster.
Damn, the ass end of that thing is hideous. The front looks like they cared about it, and everything behind the windshield looks like they just taped a couple of empty Amazon boxes to it and sprayed the whole thing one color. I bet they go like stink, but I can’t get past the looks.
It’s not the best looking thing the way it’s sleek and curvy in front and sharp and angular in the back. It’s kind of a car version of a mullet. TMC = The Mullet Car
Whoa.
Frank Costin and his younger brother Mike both worked at Lotus. Mike went on to found Cosworth with Keith Duckworth. I would guess that more people have heard of Cosworth than Marcos.
The TMC was said to have the perfect frame geometry from the standpoint of distribution of stress. Not so perfect for an object with doors. It shares a lot of no compromise design philosophy with the Mosler Consulier GTP..
I would love to have either of them.
designing the bodies for such cars as the Lotus Mark VIII and ’50s Formula One cars, and layter designed racing chassis for Maserati and Lotus.
Is this some attempt a humour, like a tyred joke?
9 Imperial gallons of fuel capacity? I don’t know how many freedom units that is, but I bet it’s less than one round of pints at P.J. O’Drinky’s today.
10.8 US gallons, ours is based on the historical Queen Anne wine gallon, the British one is based loosely on the old corn gallon and ale gallon (sized closely in between the two).
There used to be a number of different gallons for measuring different commodities
Deloreans were built in Dunmurry, Belfast which is very much NOT Ireland but is Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.
Sure sounds like you’re askin us to give a shit about details, aren’t ‘cha. 😛 😛
It’s minor thing. I’m sure noone will take it seriously.
No, that’s DEFINITELY not something people would fight over.
We were in London a few weeks ago. I had to give a crash course to my children when they asked why public garbage bins are so few and far between.
It’s much better now, but on the Tube they still use clear bags….
My kids were marveled by how clean the Tube is, despite its age.
Granted, we live in NYC, so low bars and all.
Huh. As someone who annoyingly had to carry a used chocolate wrapper around London literally last week because I couldn’t find a rubbish bin in sight anywhere, I never thought about that.
Well, it’s on the island of Ireland, and in a region that is represented on the UK flag with the Cross of St. Patrick, so that part feels pretty Irish
I was wondering who was going to call that out.
That depends on who you ask, to be fair.
Also, since the Good Friday Agreement, Norn Iron people have the right to either Irish or UK citizenship. I say this as an Irish man living in Ulster (but not in the Six Counties) whose father is from east Belfast, holds an Irish passport and considers himself very Irish.
This situation is a lot more complicated than saying whether Belfast is or isn’t Irish.
Yes it absolutely is, fair comment.
Note for Americans: Up until the Good Friday Agreement in the late 90’s, peace in Northern Ireland seemed about as likely as peace in the Middle East.
Again, it’s probably more complicated than that. There was an appetite for peace from most quarters. Paramilitary organisations had on-again, off-again ceasefires prior to the GFA. And yet, even today some of those paramilitary organisations continue in the form of splinter dissident groups, a lot of which are using their “cause” as a front for common or garden organised crime. The thinking from every conceivable side changed, and yet there are still very faint echoes of what happened during The Troubles.
The most high profile killing I can think of at the top of my head happened just in 2019 when journalist Lyra McKee was shot by the New IRA. When I drive through Crossmaglen, a town near me on the NI side of the border, the PSNI (former RUC) station that was almost the poster child for bombings and The Troubles as a whole, still resembles more of a fortress than a police station, though rumours have been circulating for the past couple of years about it being closed and dismantled, which will be… weird.
Kind of reminds me of a Bricklin version of the Lotus 7 .
Just looking at this car makes me think Temu has been around a lot longer than we think.
So, Torch, does this count as a shooting brake? Certainly has sporting intentions. How big does the cargo area have to be to qualify?
If i remember the Torch rules correctly, there needs to be a cargo area side window, which this does not have
So it’s not plywood?
Some more Costin madness:
https://www.imps4ever.info/specials/costin.html
I didn’t expect the Panoz connection
*looks at the last pic*
“You see, when The Homer and a Caterham 7 love each other very much…”
Reading through the list of available engines, I think the “XR2 1600 with twin Weber 40s (110hp)” would be the sweet spot for driveability and fun. I’m assuming those would be Weber 40DCOEs or similar; twin 2-bbls on a 4cyl is the right thing to do.
Also I like the idea of a manufacturer/seller offering a “Power tweek” kit for small sports cars like these.
Frank Costin must’ve really, really wanted squared-off corners. If he’d settled for rounded ones and maybe made the cowl a little wider he might’ve been able to make a GM T-car one work.
It’s a fine shade of Irish Racing Emerald..
Fine as a hair on a fly’s wing!
Those shamrocks though…
That new windshield will be Costin you a lot, laddy!
One of my favorite Youtube channels (Way Out West Workshop Stuff) is set on a west Irish garlic farm, and features the owner building things like a small railway to haul crops and fertilizer, along with other, similarly-eccentric projects.
https://www.youtube.com/@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299/playlists
He also, though, recorded the process of designing and building prototypes for a wooden electric car. The ‘Mott’ can be purchased as plans or a kit.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlyD5gnqylAph4aNm3psW8YUxt5QNizQr
Derry Girls – Sister Michael Driving a Delorean
https://youtu.be/D-SqMIzf6aA?si=wrKcL2ebySiMfyej
Derry Girls always gets an upvote